I like Oneida. They're one of those bands who are always unpredictable and gloriously messy about their music and their ethos; half of the stuff that they produce is utter crap, but the other fifty percent of their output is good enough to excuse that. So, upon learning that the band are going to be recording a one-song album that is a lead-in to a trilogy of albums, my reaction was mixed. There were so many ways that such a thing could go wrong, but if they could actually execute it well, the possibilities were endless.

So, did they execute the idea well? Well, they tried their hardest, but the answer to that question is a definite "no". Preteen Weaponry, rather than being the awesome jam that it could be, is instead a forty minute exercise in the worst excesses of prog-rock filtered through the prism of the band's unique mixture of stoner rock and swirling psychedelia.

Not that Oneida are any strangers to extended song forms or repetition as a form of artistic expression (indeed, a lot of their best material consists of songs that pass the ten minute mark and consist largely of the one riff repeated over and over again), but the plain fact of the matter is that the ideas that they use here just aren't all that interesting. Part 1 is the pick of the three tracks on offer here, with a very simple melody in the background serving as the anchor for a directionless swirl of bass and percussion that promises to build up into something, but never quite gets there.

Part 2 features a much more plodding and atmospheric sound that owes something to the closing minutes of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" album, with the only real point of interest being a brief vocal interlude, consisting largely of echoed and unintelligible lyrics. From there, Part 3 picks up, which is similarly directionless, although the tempo is kicked up a few notches and the band finally opens up in a few places with some actual jam work that provides a few brief moments of interest.

Statistically speaking, going on Oneida's past output, the chances of the next album in this trilogy (entitled "Rated O", and due out in early 2009) being mind-blowingly awesome are fairly good. And who knows, maybe when taken in the context of the three albums in this triptych, I'll learn to appreciate "Preteen Weaponry" for what it is. In the meantime though, this is one of Oneida's less illustrious moments, and is best stored away with all of their other failed experiments.