by Joe Gore.
Taken from Guitar Player, September 1990.
The Northern California Thrash-funk trio recaptures the anarchic spontaneity of their debut (the high-enery, low-budget Suck On This), but with tighter performances and better production. Guitarist Larry Lalonde hacks a path between speed-metal, hip-hop, and psychedelia with his machete-edged Marshall tones. He favors eerie, substained sounds over standard issue shredding, but his angular lines have more visceral punch than a gaggle of atmospheeric chime-and-droners. And unlike a lot of nouveau funkateers, bassitst Les Claypool does far more than recap the slap hihiglts of the '70s; simultaneously thumbing and strumming, he hammers out dense but groovy lines that flesh out the bony trio texture. Primus cops a unique, loping groove thats far removed from the lock-step crunch of the growing army of Red Hot Chili Peppers clones.(And digital reverb haters can thank 19-year-old Matt Winegar for the dry, ruder than life production.)