Hissteria
Richie Records
In the tradition of both High Rise and the Comets first record,Hissteriais gloriously recorded with total disregard for any AOR notions of high fidelity. There’s probably not a single instrument on this LP that wasn’t recorded completely in the red through some dust-, nicotine-, and fried-chicken-grease-encrusted analog desk to an equally decrepit reel-to-reel 4-track. And that makes it even more remarkable that these heavy grooves and tunes come through loud and clear. Some of it can be chalked up to a vague familiarity in some riffs. “Down on the Delaware River,” for instance, is a strutting twist on Iggy & the Stooges’ “Penetration” splattered with searing wah throws and daggers of squealing feedback. “Whipple Dam” sounds like Bill Ward and Geezer Butler sparring with a crazed gaggle of hardcore kids after a week of ingesting Twinkies and RC Cola.
There’s absolutely nothing subtle or timid aboutHissteria, but it’s far from joyless guitar-punk nihilism. This is a muscle-car cruising recordpar excellencethat, behind the lo-fi barrage, swings and shimmies like a killer Creedence single. It makes about 90 percent of the last year’s rock ’n’ roll sound about as exciting as a wet ramen noodle on Wonder bread.