In honor of Wave of Mutilation, let's sprinkle a little Pixie dust on this week's new releases. The newly reunited Pixies drop their second version of a complete best-of album (Death to the Pixies being the first), highlighting their work from Doolittle, Surfer Rosa, Bossanova and Trompe le Monde, and including special features like rarities, B-sides and cover songs.

Next up, last season's "American Idol" finalist Kimberley Locke releases her album of adult contemporary songs, One Love, featuring the single "8th World Wonder."

Lola Ray say I Don't Know You, but you will know them and their power pop after the release of their debut album on Benji and Joel Madden's DC Flag label. Meanwhile, the Magnetic Fields' I is an album full of songs beginning with the letter "i," and the French Kicks begin The Trial of the Century this week with their pretty, synthy album.

Mission of Burma's Onoffon presents the band's first new music in 22 years, Porno for Pyros guitarist Peter DiStefano releases his solo album Gratitude, and Icarus Line attend a Penance Soiree.

The Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix features unreleased material from Prince, Eric Clapton, and other tracks by Sting, Santana, Lenny Kravitz, Musiq and Cee-Lo.

Finally, considering this will be the third time this album title has been used (first released as individual EPs and now the two combined into a full album), Ryan Adams really, really thinks Love Is Hell. Meanwhile, the equally negative Beta Band go from Heroes to Zeros with the help of Nigel Godrich, and comedian David Cross isn't too confident about his own work either, because his album is called It's Not Funny.

Out Tuesday, May 4:

• Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell (Lost Highway)
  Buy Now: Love Is Hell (Lost Highway)
  
• Atomship - Crash of 47 (Wind-Up)
• The Beta Band - Heroes to Zeros (Astralwerks)
• Big & Rich - Horse of a Different Color (Warner Bros.)
• Black Cat Music - October, November (Lookout!)
• Blueprint Car Crash - Rhetoric of a Marionette (Militia Group)
• Bo-Keys - The Royal Sessions (Yellow Dog)
• Broken Spindles - Fulfilled: Complete (Saddle Creek)
• Buddahead - Crossing the Invisible Line (Sanctuary)
• David Cross - It's Not Funny (Sub Pop)
• Peter DiStefano - Gratitude (Sanctuary)
• The Divine Comedy - Absent Friends (Nettwerk)
• Eliane Elias - Dreamer (Bluebird)
• Amy Farris - Anyway (Yep Roc)
• Flaw - Endangered Species (Republic/Universal)
• Rosie Flores - Single Rose (Durango Rose)
• French Kicks - The Trial of the Century (Star Time International)
• Happiness Factor - Avoid Danger (Paisley Pop)
• Patterson Hood (of Drive-by Truckers) - Killers & Stars (New West)
• The Icarus Line - Penance Soiree (V2)
• Informatik - Re:vision (Metropolis)
• Jackpot - F+ (Surfdog)
• Carolyn Dawn Johnson - Dress Rehearsal (Arista)
• Eyvind Kang - Virginal Co Ordinates (w/Mike Patton) (Ipecac)
• Angélique Kidjo - Oyaya! (Columbia)
• Patti Labelle - Timeless Journey (Def Jam)
• Oliver Lake - Dat Love (Passin' Thru)
• Mark Lane - Golden State of Mind (Orange Deuce)
• James - Last Spring Fling (Eagle Rock)
• Kimberley Locke - One Love (Curb)
  Read: "American Idol' Finalist Kimberley Locke Is Radio's '8th Wonder' "
  Buy Now: One Love (Curb)
  
• Lola Ray - I Don't Know You (D.C. Flag/Epic)
  Read: "Good Charlotte Hope To Make Lola Ray Rich And Famous"
  
• Los Lobos - The Ride (Mammoth)
• Joe Lovano - I'm All for You: Ballad Songbook (Metro Blue/Blue Note)
• Magnetic Fields - I (Nonesuch/Atlantic)
• Jennifer Marks - Jennifer Marks (Bardic)
• John Arthur Martinez - Lone Starry Night (DualTone)
• David Mead - Indiana (Nettwerk)
• Mirah - C'mon Miracle (K)
• Mission of Burma - Onoffon (Matador)
• Múm - Summer Make Good (Fatcat)
• Willie Nelson - Live at Billy Bob's Texas (Smith Music Group)
• Not Long After - Tomorrow Come Save Us (New School)
• Open Road - In the Life (Rounder)
• Outlie - Companions to Devils and Saints (Porterhouse)
• Pip Pyles Bash - Belle Illusion (Cuneiform)
• The Pixies - Wave of Mutilation: Best of the Pixies (4AD)
• Vernon Reid & Masque - Known Unknown(Favored Nations)
• Lionel Richie - Just for You (Island)
• Seabound - Poisonous Friend (Metropolis)
• Frank Sinatra - Three of a Kind (Capitol)
• Steven Sondheim - "Bounce" soundtrack (Nonesuch)
• Michael Tolcher - I Am (Octone)
• Torchbearer - Yersinia Pestis (Metal Blade)
• Univers Zero - Implosion (Cuneiform)
• University of Errors - Jet Propelled Photographs (Cuneiform)
• Armand Van Helden - New York: A Mix Odyssey(Tommy Boy)
• Vision Divine - Stream of Consciousness (Metal Blade)
• The Wildhearts - Must Be Destroyed (Sanctuary)
• Various artists - The Buzz (Razor & Tie)
• Various artists - "The L Word" soundtrack (Tommy Boy)
• Various artists - Power of Soul - A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix (Experience Hendrix)
  Read: "Prince, Santana, Others On Board For Jimi Hendrix Tribute Album"
  
• Various artists - Totally Hits 2004 (BMG Heritage/Warner)
• Various artists - "Van Helsing" soundtrack (Decca)
• DVD: Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Godfathers & Sons, Red, White & Blues and the Road to Memphis (Hip-O/UME)
• DVD: Celine Dion - CBS Special (Epic)
• DVD: John Oates - Live at the Historic Wheeler Opera House (Phunk Shui/dke)
• DVD: Ween Live in Chicago (Sanctuary)

May 11:

• Judas Priest - Metalogy (Sony)
• Teena Marie - Dona (Cash Money)

May 18:

• Lenny Kravitz - Baptism (Virgin)
  Read: "Lenny Kravitz Ditches Funk, Feels Reborn On Baptism"
  
• Method Man - Tical 0: The Prequel (Def Jam)
  Read: "Missy, P. Diddy, Snoop, Busta Join Method Man On New LP"
  
• Alanis Morissette - So-Called Chaos (Maverick)
• Morrissey - You Are the Quarry (Sanctuary)
• New Found Glory - Catalyst (Drive-Thru)

May 25:

• Everlast - White Trash Beautiful (Island)
• Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin (Arista)
  Read: "Avril Lavigne: No Looking Back"
  
• Monster Magnet - Monolithic Baby (Hunter)
• Slipknot-Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses (Roadrunner)
  Read: "Slipknot Album Preview: More Structured, But Still Programmed To Kill"

June 1:

• Auf Der Maur - Auf Der Maur (Capitol)
• Truth Hurts - Ready Now (Pookie)

June 8:

• The Calling - Two (RCA)
  Read: "The Calling Returning With New LP, New Hired Hands"
  
• The Corrs - Borrowed Heaven (Atlantic)
• Gene Simmons - A--hole (Sanctuary)
• Velvet Revolver - Contraband (RCA)
  Read: "Velvet Revolver Album Preview: GN'R + STP = Uphill Battle"
  
• Stevie Wonder - A Time 2 Love (Motown)

June 22

• Mobb Deep - Amerikaz Nightmare (Jive)

• Kimberley Locke
• The Pixies
• Patti Labelle
• Lola Ray
• The Beta Band

Flaw's Chris Volz
Photo: Universal

If art could accurately imitate life's many nuances, Flaw's Through the Eyes would be one of the most powerful, traumatizing nü-metal records ever.

Not that it's at all tepid as is. The songs are simultaneously harsh and melodic, filled with pulverizing beats, power-sander guitars and agonized, hook-laden vocals.

But frontman Chris Volz's childhood experiences have been so damaging that even his most abrasive, confessional songcraft couldn't possibly reveal the pain he endured growing up, first as an orphan bouncing from foster home to foster home and then as an adopted child confronted with a whole new set of challenges.

Flaw's new single, "Whole," which is about how Volz's adoptive mom committed suicide when he was 12, is probably the closest the singer comes to a breakdown.

"Everything in that song touches from sadness to anger to grief to blaming myself to confusion," Volz said. "I just really wanted to go as deep into it as I possibly could and still be able to come back. She was the one who got me into music. She was an operatic singer, and for me to go wholly into music has kept a part of her alive inside of me."

As devastating as his adoptive mother's death was, the way in which the news was delivered intensified the blow. Volz and his mom had been in Germany visiting his grandparents, but she headed back a few days early, telling her son that she wanted him to get to know his relatives better.

"I was literally on the other side of the planet when it happened," he said with a sigh. "I was flying back to Washington, and I was supposed to transfer flights in LaGuardia [Airport in New York]. So I get off the flight, walk into the terminal and look to my left and I see my entire Stateside family standing there waiting for me, and no one was supposed to be there. I saw everyone except my mom, and I knew at that point that something had happened to her."

Other songs on Through the Eyes including "Inner Strength," "Reliance" and "Get up Again" were written about Volz's trauma and frustration. Unable to cope with the pain, grief and guilt, the singer began to rebel, embracing aggressive rock music and disrespecting authority figures including his teachers and his father.

Unsure of what to do, Volz's dad shipped him off to military school, which only worsened matters. The boy ran away from school to hang out with his neighborhood friends. So pop sent Volz to various juvenile detention centers. When Volz was 14 his father caught him with a homemade bong and sent him to a long-term drug rehab center.

"I was 14, and there were 19-year-olds there who were intravenously shooting up, and I felt really out of place," Volz said. "It was one of those rehabs designed by Nancy Reagan, and you were stripped of everything. You couldn't even walk to the bathroom by yourself. You couldn't listen to music or wear rock T-shirts or do anything that they felt led you to do drugs. I would stand up in these meetings, and people would talk about robbing stores to get money for cocaine, and then they'd point and me and say, 'OK, Chris, tell us about your worst experience.' And I'd be like, 'Uh, my worst experience was smoking weed in my bedroom and spinning.' "

Volz dealt with his rehab nightmare the same way he reacted to military school. He ran. Not long after going AWOL, Volz was picked up by the police. It was the best thing that could have happened. The fuzz tossed the youngster in a juvenile detention center, where he explained his situation to a social worker.

"They were very concerned that my civil rights had been taken away," Volz explained. "The court system decided to hire me a public defender, and then the courts would decide whether I needed to go back, instead of just releasing me to my dad and having him stick me back in there."

Volz won the battle. Not only did the court decide he wasn't a candidate for rehab, it forced his father to take him back.

"They basically said, 'Quit sending this kid away and live up to your responsibility,' " Volz explained. "From then on, my dad was kind of bitter with me because I publicly humiliated him."

As life became more uncomfortable at home, Volz sought further escape in music. When he turned 17, money he inherited from his mom was legally turned over to him, and he left home for good to start a band. That led to the creation of Flaw, which became the cathartic vehicle he needed to dilute the venom that was poisoning his system. Of course, that only led to more guilt about how his mother's death triggered his rock career.

"At times I feel I wish it didn't happen or that it was wrong to happen," he said. "But at the same time, I wouldn't be at this same place emotionally without that happening. Not that it was a gift, but in a strange sense it all led up to molding me into what I am today. The cover of our album is a 12-year-old little boy who doesn't look like he's in pain, but it looks like he's got a world of things he wants to say, but his mouth is zippered shut. And that's kind of the way I felt throughout most of my childhood."

• Flaw

Flaw Live From Ozzfest 07.19.02

• Flaw