WITH a tangle of guitar riffs and shouts of defiance and frustration, That Petrol Emotion played a high-adrenalin set Friday night at the Ritz. That Petrol Emotion hails from Northern Ireland and was founded by Sean O'Neill, formerly the guitarist for a punk-pop band, the Undertones. And while Mr. O'Neill's songs for That Petrol Emotion still have the economy of pop, their guitar lines layer on dissonances and the lyrics are filled with fury, political as well as personal. ''You think I should show some respect,'' one taunts, ''I'd rather tear down all I can wreck.''
The frenzied drive of That Petrol Emotion's two albums, ''Manic Pop Thrill'' and ''Babble,'' came through clearly at the Ritz. In slower songs, such as ''Big Decision,'' the band can sound like a youthful, unjaded Rolling Stones, and occasionally it tries a funk beat. But most of its songs, and its best ones, suggest a revved-up revival of the New York band Television. Fast, gnarled, modal guitar lines propel tune after tune, barely leaving space for Steve Mack's lead vocals.
Mr. Mack was a boyish figure on stage, wearing bicycle shorts and bounding and skipping around; he spent most of the set on one foot or in the air. But with his exuberance came a sense of genuine urgency - an urgency that makes That Petrol Emotion essential listening.