Fifty Tons of Black Terror -- known by the equally inappropriate but far more boring name of
Penthouse outside of North America, where nudie king Bob Guccicone complained -- sound like they would have been happiest if they'd been around in the early '80s, when Australia's
the Birthday Party and L.A.'s
Gun Club were simultaneously coming up with the idea of welding the forms and structures of old-time Delta blues to the assaultive impulses of avant-skronk noise rock. (Youngsters: think of
the White Stripes, only uglier and meaner). This London-based group doesn't sound as fresh as either of their obvious forebears, but they add a hint of turn-of-the-millennium electronica to songs like the propulsive opener "Creepers Reef," and self-explanatory song titles like "Detunabilly" and "Nudie Toon" betray a subtle sense of humor that's largely missing from the uniformly dopey lyrics. Best of all, this is an album that would likely appeal to the modern heavy metal audience on which the lead singer (a sneering lad named Charlie Finke) never once sings like a constipated Muppet. ~ Stewart Mason