On
Electriclarryland, their second major-label album,
the Butthole Surfers continue the streamlined direction they began with
Independent Worm Saloon, which basically means it's a loud guitar rock album. Even though there's potential for the record to become unnecessarily generic, it's to
the Buttholes' credit that they still have the desire to throw enough bizarre wrenches into the machinery to keep most of their diehard audience satiated. Certainly,
Electriclarryland will sound way too tame for fans of
Locust Abortion Technican and
Hairway to Steven, and they're right, to a certain extent. For listeners accustomed to their unhinged, perverse '80s recordings, there is nothing on this guitar-heavy record to please them. But
Electriclarryland is a logical maturation for the band. It's odd to think of
the Buttholes maturing, but that is the case with this album. They have a couple of jangly pop numbers that appear to be played relatively straight and the heavier numbers have a piledriving inevitability that make them memorable. In short,
Electriclarryland rocks and it rocks hard, with enough energy for bands half of
the Buttholes' age. And underneath the seemingly normal surface,
the Buttholes have thrown in enough jokes and have twisted around enough cliches to prove that the band may mature, but they'll never really grow up. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
