THE THE “Mind Bomb.” Epic: * 1/2 : *****Great Balls of Fire:**** Knockin’ On Heaven’s *** Good Vibrations ** Maybe Baby * Ain’t That a Shame

Matt Johnson, the mastermind behind The The, has one of those lugubrious voices destined to utter the phrase “I drink your blood.” The classic vampire’s come-on doesn’t turn up on this, The The’s third LP, but some equally pretentious lyrics certainly do. Johnson is a poet, you see, a deadly serious chap big on prophesies of doom and over-the-top eroticism, and “Mind Bomb” is an embarrassing exercise in breast-beating. God himself turns up as the star of the album’s first three tracks, while the bulk of the songs concern themselves with global politics and larger-than-life romantic obsessions.

Johnson (who brings the band to the Roxy on Aug. 16) has nothing particularly original to say about the big subjects he addresses so vigorously, and by the end of “Mind Bomb” you want to tell him, “Matt! Chill out for a minute!” This bloated record is doubly distressing considering that it’s the work of the same man who turned out one of the most mysterious and lovely pop tunes of the ‘80s, “Uncertain Smile” (a hit in the UK in 1982). Go back and check out The The’s U.S. debut LP of 1984, “Soul Mining” (which includes “Uncertain Smile”), and hear Matt Johnson at his best. “Mind Bomb” is an unworthy follow-up his excellent work of the early ‘80s.