Thee Headcoatees were stripped down to a three-piece for 1999's Here Comes Cessation, which proved to be the final album from the U.K. garage punk gals. If the group didn't seem to have progressed especially far from where they started on their sixth album, they hadn't lost touch with their virtues, either -- with their friend and guiding light Billy Childish writing the songs (except for a cover of Bo Diddley's "Road Runner") and producing the sessions, it comes as no shock that Here Comes Cessation is proudly rough around the edges, and the guitar bashing leans more toward meat-and-potatoes chording than anything fancy. But this heroic trio certainly knows how to deliver the rock, with the rhythm section keeping the big beat pounding loud and proud, the guitar delivering a heaping helping of fuzzy swagger, and the harmonies a sweet and sour expression of girl power in powerful, unpretentious form. Thee Headcoatees also show off their multi-lingual side on the title cut (sung en francais), sound almost seductive on the pleading "Is There Any Chance of You Coming into My Life?," and reinforce the notion that they're nobody's fools on "You're Gonna Get What's Coming" and "Keep Your Big Mouth Shut." In short, thee Headcoatees went out on Here Comes Cessation the same way they went in -- as the coolest, most rockin' gals in the British Isles. No small accomplishment, that. ~ Mark Deming