Sugar's
Beaster is actually outtakes from their previous dynamite album,
Copper Blue. It comes off as some kind of deranged, ugly sister of that sparking album, a yin to
Copper's yang, a violent, angry, and seething wall of aggression with (this time) little concession to
Bob Mould's
pop prowess. Perhaps the most densely recorded, heavy trip the man has produced since
Huesker Due's
Metal Circus in 1983,
Beaster is what you might get if
Mould had been in the mood to construct a full album of songs like
"Slick"'s insanity instead of
"Helpless" and
"Changes"'s monster hooks. Not that it doesn't still make for great listening once one gets used to the change in focus.
"Feeling Better" could have made
Copper, with its hooky base (more so than the others here), and the best song,
"Titled," is ferocious, fast, furious, and a total knockout, the most aurally exciting post-
Huesker Due track yet. Again,
David Barbe and
Malcolm Travis are such a superior rhythm section to
Grant Hart and
Greg Norton,
Sugar is a better update rather than nostalgic reinvention, and bits of
Zen Arcade and
Black Sheets of Rain aside,
Mould has never come off so twisted and out of his gourd.
"Come Around"'s "vocals" are all but demonic, and
"Judas Cradle" matches
metal pounding with
MBV/
Sonic Youth brutal tones slashing out of the guitars, which gives way to "JC Auto"'s meld of "The Act We Act"-style pounding into a thundering, insane, heavy chorus. When
Bob starts seething "I'm your Jesus Christ, I know, I know, I know," you wonder what exactly inspired these straitjacket fits! Man, that's something. Now, there is one major flaw: all the songs need an editor, as with excessive length they approach overkill from too much repetition. Never mind. This is a pretty killer experience more than a record. Whereas
Copper Blue made you want to sing along,
Beaster makes you hide under the bed. Can't say they didn't warn you;
Beaster is well-titled. ~ Jack Rabid
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