"Pagan Icons"
Review
reader's guide (1981)
What distinguishes this local
eight song compendium of anger and alienation from all the others is it's
slightly more ambitious lyrical outlook, full of convoluted abstractions and
addled sub psychedelic imagery. The nasal whine of Joaquin Milhouse Brewer
is perfect for this kind of thing - "My walls are green/ My wall are red/ I
only cry wolf/ When all my sheep are dead" - and the three back-up thrashers
caterwaul their way through the numbers with enough vim and vigor to keep
the nonreaders happy. Melodic invention is minimal, and the songs are
unrelentingly solemn, but on a few of the tunes, notably "We Don't Need
Freedom" and "A Human Certainty," the lack of irony and humor is offset by
sneering, snarling confusion. The lyric sheet insert comes with a menacing
illustration of a crucified rattlesnake by Raymond Pettibon guaranteed to
make parents and youth counselors gulp and scowl.
-Matt Groening
