They’re no longer raconteurs in the political sense, but the Scream hasn’t raised this much hell since 1994’s Give Out But Don’t Give Up. And with the Kills’ Alison Mosshart singing backup on tracks like the Stones-y “Dolls,” Riot City Blues might break down the commercial walls Give Out couldn’t. The stomp, jangle, and mandolin of “Country Girl” set a relentless pace for Bobby Gillespie‘s whiskey-soaked tales of “Suicide Sally and Johnny Guitar” and “Junkie Jesus on the cross” (“When the Bomb Drops”)–just a few of the characters in his still-psychedelic, slightly blurry world.