On the surface, the Goo Goo Dolls´ Gutterflower is a seamless continuation of 1998´s Dizzy Up the Girl, with sinewy guitars; muscular, anthemic choruses; and Johnny Rzeznik´s perfectly articulated rasping vocals. But on closer listening, the Goos´ eighth album is made of much sterner stuff. Those quixotic, yearning lyrics of yore have taken on a darker cast, no doubt due to Rzeznik´s divorce. As a result, Gutterflower almost has the feel of a concept album about love gone wrong, with Rzeznik providing anxious commentary rife with images of dislocation and agitation. The listener is given barometric readings of the singer´s bruised psyche as he attempts to put himself back together again. Luckily, Rzeznik is a clever and facile lyricist with a knack for elevating garden-variety neurosis into a rather compelling soap opera, sketching edgy characters that would feel right at home in David Lynch´s world.