One of the band's masterworks, sees operating in a squalid wall of sound dominated by tribal drums, swirling and piercing guitars, and 's fractured art-attack vocals. If not for 's marvelous high-pitched guitars, here as reminiscent of as his own work in , the album would rank as the band's most gothic release. and company took things to an entirely new level of darkness on , with the singer taking delight in sinister wordplay on the disturbing creeping out listeners in the somewhat tongue-in-cheek and inspiring her bandmates to push their rhythmic witches brew to poisonous levels of toxicity. Album opener one of the band's classics, ranks among their finest moments and bristles with storming energy. 's mysterious voice emerges from dense guitar picking, lays into his drums as if calling soldiers to war, and things get more tense from there. is perhaps the only track where a listener gets a breath of oxygen, as the remainder of the album screams claustrophobia, whether by creepy carnival waterfalls of guitar notes or 's unsettling lyrics. at least offers a gorgeously melodic chorus, but after that the band performs a symphony of bizarre wailings and freaky imagery. As ominous as the cacophony is on its own, close attention to 's nearly subliminal chants paints a scarier picture. A passage such as "I saw you...a huge smiling central face with eyes and lips cut out but smiling and eating lots of other lips" doesn't exactly brighten one's day. is full of such quips throughout the album's running time, but her delivery packs as much as her message. Her attack-the-world dynamic range on predates and out-weirds 's similar styling years later. , , and bassist deserve just as much credit for crafting an original sound that would inspire a diverse group of future bands from to . All the while, producer maintains the sense that the album is an immediate, edgy performance unfolding right in front of the listener. The upfront intensity of probably isn't matched anywhere else in the catalog of . Thanks to its killer singles, unrelenting force, and invigorating dynamics, is a classic. ~ Tim DiGravina