Butthole Surfers

There really was nothing like this debut album from the Texan gods of genuine dementia and the true inventors of metal-punk art rock. Two drummers lay down tribal beats, guitarist Paul Leary plays an unhinged classic rock/hardcore hybrid and screamer/laugher Gibby Haynes garbles sicko nonsense. There are a many great songs on here, but "Cherub" may be the band's best.

Truly repulsive music imposes the most stringent of aesthetic standards--who wants to listen if it's just good? So while I'm sort of impressed by the (relative) accessibility of their first full-length LP--guitar that might actually win over some wayward metal freak seeking X-rated thrills--I must report that only "Lady Sniff," punctuated by perfectly timed gobs, pukes, farts, belches, and Mexican radio, lives up to "The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave." (Grade - B+)