Sick and Wrong – Hot Beef Injection – Review July 1, 1997 Two women – one gruff-voiced and one kinda sweet – singing less-is-more rock about un-PC good stuff. With cover art by Hate comic’s Peter Bagge.
Shades Apart – Seeing Things – Review July 1, 1997 If cinema ever reverts to rehashing the ’80s style Mad Max format, look for Shades Apart to be pounding out the soundtrack.
Red Krayola – Hazel – Review July 1, 1997 O’Rourke’s got a chop shop in the back, cut ya a tape loop like it’s a hunk of gabardine and lace it with electronics like they were sequins.
Radio Flyer – In Their Strange White Armor – Review July 1, 1997 Fugazi goes Northwest and takes a coffee break in Emo-Town (Pop. 13/23 of the Disenfranchised Youth Generation).
Polara – C’est La Vie – Review July 1, 1997 No matter how much undefinable noise you layer on a bland pop song, it’s still… well, you know…
Pinhead Gunpowder – Goodbye Ellston – Review July 1, 1997 Sounds like Green Day (It oughta – it’s Billie Joe’s “other band”). The good stuff. Produced by Kevin Army.
Peter and the Test Tube Babies – Test Tube Trash – Review July 1, 1997 English versions of good ole boys they are, four yobs you can sit back and have a few with as they thrash out unmistakably British proto-Oi.
Not Breathing – Sangre Azul – Review July 1, 1997 More electronic creepiness. Without getting too purple with my prose, gibbering nightmare creatures cavort with Queen Mab inside a computer.
Napalm Death – Inside the Torn Apart – Review July 1, 1997 Inside Torn Apart is the most memorable Napalm record in a long time. This should’ve been the followup to Harmony Corruption.
My Dying Bride – Like Gods of the Sun – Review July 1, 1997 Slow, down-tuned anthemic guitar riffs and dark organs stand in for the frayed-nerve speed blasts, but in no way is this a kinder, gentler band.