Secret South brings back pleasant memories of the days when bands used to write entire albums rather than jotting a few singles and spackling the holes with indigestible filler. Although 16 Horsepower is from Denver, the quartet's sound is best described as Appalachian Led Zeppelin: electrified country blues with just the right amount of bombast.

Vocalist David Eugene Edwards is the grandson of a traveling preacher, and on Secret South, he wails with the fervor of Son House and growls as menacingly as Jim Morrison. His songs are filled with religious references, from the titles ("Burning Bush," "Praying Arm Lane") to lyrics such as, "You see me with the Lord's eye, girl/ And you see right through." But Edwards is not pushing a particular agenda, just letting us know he's the God-fearing sort. The strange thing about Secret South is that it sounds like it was recorded ages ago, yet it still feels fresh. Even a version of the traditional song "Wayfaring Stranger" has a vitality that keeps it from sounding like a cover from a band winking at its roots.

The band's former label, A&M, couldn't really figure out what to do with 16 Horsepower, and it's not hard to see why. On Secret South, the psychedelic swashes of "Cinder Alley" float alongside the somber piano of "Burning Bush," and the quiet blues of "Poor Mouth," the songs flowing into one another as they rise and fall. It might do Edwards good to lighten up more often, as he does on "Nobody 'Cept You," a love song that is either about God or a woman--it's hard to tell. Secret South is 16 Horsepower's most fully realized work, a brooding but beautiful collection of songs about the heavy questions of faith.

*** (out of 5)