Rusted Shut Dead CD

It is a bit of a cliché now to speak of a Load label sound -- especially since there's always been plenty of variety within that outfit and noise rock as a whole, and because some bands, like Houston's Rusted Shut, have been going for ages and ages well before the label got going in the first place. Dead proves both descriptions to be accurate -- if no label seems more appropriate than Load to release this particular disc, then at the same time the group has long had its own extreme stamp. This last often comes courtesy of the harsh, sometimes strained staccato speaking vocals of bandleader Don Walsh, whose declamatory approach on songs like "Home" holds a fierce command. On more conventional songs like the punk/trash sneers "Shot in the Head" and "Heart of Hell," which turns the basic melody into a mesmerizing mantra, the whole group shines, but the more fractured numbers give Walsh a chance to practically turn the band into his spoken word accompaniment. "Intellect," with its bleeding into the red distortion and seemingly endless grind, might be the album's most representative song, a monstrous powerhouse. ~ Ned Raggett