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Reviews (3)
18 March 2006
Loud Love!
3 of 3 found this helpful This album is the bridge between Soundgarden's early years as a crushing punk/metal crossover band, and their later years as a crushing hard rock grunge outfit.
You will find no "Black Hole Sun" here. However, when you hear those guitar chords crash in at the beginning of the first song "Ugly Truth", you know that in that moment the 80's were officially over. Soundgarden is a much more dangerous band on this album than most others, and this translates to a raw, dark sound. One bludgeoning riff after another pummels you until the last track, which sounds like a joke on the whole G&R power-hair-metal style.
Actually the song "Big Dumb Sex" is probably a better approximation of that parodical style. In the end, if you like Badmotorfinger, but are lukewarm on Superunknown, this is probably what you're looking for. Then try Ultramega OK, way darker, and more experimental.
29 March 2006
Not even a funny joke
2 of 3 found this helpful My decision to buy this album was a poor one indeed... this disc is stupid & pointless even by Melvins standards. One long "ambient" track where nothing really ever gets going, and a truncated version of "Eye Flys" at the end.
I'm sure the Melvins are laughing at me right now. I'm just glad that I didn't shell out even more hard-earned cash by going to the live "show" where this was recorded.
20 June 2008
Albini's primal scream
The last reviewer on here is entitled to his or her opinion but I think they got it all wrong. This album is about as confrontational and ascerbic as any other one released by 1987, especially in terms of subject matter. Between the guitars that sound like antifreeze smells, "Roland" pounding out industrial-tinged beats and Albini's primal scream of rage (he is actually a fantastic front man), this band was one to be feared. But it's not just about that - there are some very good songs under the shards of acidic guitar. Bad Penny is surprisingly catchy and L Dopa is pure fist-pumping adrenaline. In fact the only low points on the album are the covers (of Kraftwerk and Cheap Trick). Bottom line - there is no other band that sounds like these guys and for someone looking for the harsher side of 80's underground rock/punk, you can't do much better than Big Black.