The
Brainbombs are Swedish, but anyone expecting cute, natty garage rockers like
the Hives or psychedelic vikings like
the Soundtrack of Our Lives should immediately recalibrate their heads. Imagine early
Throbbing Gristle's sociopathic obsessions with rape and murder (minus the performance-art pretensions) mixed with the willful amateurism of
Half Japanese, and that's still only the half of it. The creepy thing about the
Brainbombs is that unlike, say,
G.G. Allin, who was clearly simply unhinged, this lot explores its seedy obsessions with a detached, almost offhand quality that makes the snuff-film fantasies of songs like "No End" that much ickier. Musically, these 12 songs are an intriguing blend of proto-punk stomp and arty explorations (think of pre-
Pere Ubu art-punk weirdos like the
Electric Eels), but the lyrics will be a dealbreaker for many. ~ Stewart Mason