This spirited debut from
Chuck Mosley and company has a deliberate rawness and subtle humor that listeners might expect from the ex-
Faith No More vocalist. More metallic numbers like "Prison Love" set this 1993 release apart from
Cement's sprawling, sometimes aimless, 1994 follow-up, The Man With the Action Hair -- although the noodling of "I Feel" does suggests the freehand half-funk of the band's sophomore disc. Like fellow '90s freak rockers Life, Sex & Death,
Cement combine polished, heavy groove rock bordering on metal with outlandish, even bizarre, vocal performances. The lyrical content of
Cement leans toward the primal or sometimes farcical to generally good results. Tracks like the
Wesley Willis-reminiscent "Shout" seem to celebrate aimlessness with an exalted incoherence that can sound amateur at first, but clarify with more listening into witty celebrations of rock's expressive purity. Fans of Mosley-era
Faith No More and
Bad Brains should check out this self-titled debut to get a taste of
Cement's peculiar hard rock, but listeners looking for something even more adventurous might want to consider The Man With the Action Hair first. Either way,
Cement's punch-drunk shamanism via progressive garage rock shouldn't disappoint.