Faster Pussycat's 2001 reunion tour was a definite hit with America's thriving metal underground. But rather than capitalize on that success with new songs, or even a greatest-hits release,
Faster frontman
Taime Downe decided to dress up his old band in the ridiculous black vinyl of his new one. With
Downe's post-
Pussycat project,
Newlydeads, as its yardstick,
Between the Valley of the Ultra Pussy drops 11
FP classics into a den of industrial dance buffoonery. Vestiges of the original tracks leave their ghostly signature -- a guitar riff here, a snatch of lyrical catch phrase there. But mostly,
Ultra Pussy is a short-circuited mess. It's like throwing a boom box blasting
My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult's Sexplosion! into a retention pond full of
Rob Zombie impersonators. "Bathroom Wall" and "Arizona Indian Doll" (from
Faster Pussycat and
Wake Me When It's Over, respectively) are arguably the best thing here. But even these last at least a minute too long, so that the pushbutton percussion and disembodied guitar become interminable. Longtime
FP or
Newlydeads' fans might be interested in "Blood," which is listed as an unreleased demo. But there's no excuse for pulling
Kiss' "I Was Made for Loving You" into this mechanistic morass. It's one thing to sully your own material, but to damage another band's is doubly disappointing. ~ Johnny Loftus