No band today epitomizes Southern rock more precisely than Athens, Georgia's Drive-By Truckers. Sometimes they sound even more Dixie than Skynyrd, The Marshall Tucker Band or the Allman Brothers. Not only do they possess the rough and tumble sound of their southern ancestors, but they'll often co-opt country, punk and folk in creating a sound that is as deep fried as poultry on a Sunday afternoon in rural Mississippi.

The band is the brainchild of lead songwriters, guitarists and vocalists Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, who both came from musical families and both hail from the Muscle Shoals region of Northern Alabama. Most of the rest of the band has been changed out at one time or another; until 2006 there was even a third guitarist, Lynyrd Skynyrd-style. But the sound and vision has stayed pretty consistent.

Throughout all of their eight proper releases, the DBT's have doggedly stuck to a single theme: what they once explained on the song "The Three Great Alabama Icons" as "the duality of the Southern Thing." That means blowing up some Southern stereotypes and explaining the meaning behind others. But mostly, they mean to show that blue collar Southerners (or rednecks, as is often the case here) live more complex and often contradictory lives than what might be commonly believed. Today's release is no different in that regard. It follows much of that same template established early on for all of their records.

But after being seemingly stuck on cruise control following the tour de force Southern Rock Opera (2001), Brighter Than Creation's Dark reveals in many discreet ways that the Truckers are expanding their craft again. Hood and Cooley have long been masters at spinning tales of flawed Southern figures who are portrayed with neither much sympathy nor scorn, but something in-between. Their songwriting styles have always complemented each other and both have honed their craft further on Brighter, with Hood the plain-spoken sketcher of characters with little or no hope ("You And Your Crystal Meth," "That Man I Shot") and Cooley the clever storyteller ("Self-Destructive Zones," "Lisa's Birthday").

However, the band's principals have added more nuances in their songcraft and less heavy-handedness just for the sake of being heavy-handed. That is, they're now mastering the nuances of setting the right tempo to match the subject matter. The Truckers still rock out Crazy Horse style when the need arises, but they're understanding better the impact that lower-key songs in getting a point across, too.

For example, compare the scowling, raucous "Why Henry Drinks" from their debut album Gangstabilly to Brighter's tender portrait of a family man needing a wind-down libation to deal with the stress of everyday life in "Daddy Needs A Drink."