Irish “aggro” band Therapy? resists the straightjacket of a label on their latest album. In the past, the band seemed like a direct descendant of the American musical invasion that crashed and burned on Britain and Ireland’s shores in the early ’90s: the so-called grunge guitar skronk as embodied by Helmet, The Cows and the Jesus Lizard. But the band hasn’t splintered apart like those other metal machine music mavens. In fact, Suicide Pact-You First finds Therapy? attacking songs with a renewed fervor not unlike Black Sabbath (“He’s Not That Kind of Girl”), The Stooges (“Hate Kill Destroy”) or MC5 (“Ten Year Plan”), and exploring moody samples and strings (“Sister”) and bluesy ballads (“Six Mile Water”). Perhaps Suicide Pact’s producer, Head, otherwise known as PJ Harvey, infused the project with her own sense of sonic experimentation.
Producer: Head. Assistant: Mike Senior. Studio: Great Linford Manor (Milton Keynes, UK).
