Jello Biafra with Nomeansno

Jello Biafra teams up with NoMeansNo for this eight-track album, released back in 1991 after they previously teamed up for a song on the soundtrack to the film “Terminal City Ricochet.” The result is an interesting combination of styles that works really well.

Biafra is in top vocal form here as he lets rip sarcastically in “Bruce’s Diary” and “Sharks in the Gene Pool,” screaming and wailing his way through the longer tracks and there’s even a spoken word part. The delivery is passionate and fierce; in my opinion it’s his best recorded vocal performance.

The lyrical subject matter is quite interesting as Biafra addresses radiation fallout from falling satellites, genetic manipulation and a general theme that the truth is being covered up. Biafra is at his most insane on the chilling “Chew” -- a tale about gigantic rats eating people and how society is losing its sense of compassion. It makes you wonder how he comes up with these kind of ideas.

The music varies from short straight-up hardcore in the vein of Dead Kennedys' Plastic Surgery Disasters to spaced out jazz-influenced tracks complete with a horn section (basically, if you’ve heard any NoMeansNo albums from this time period, then you will be familiar with the sound), beefed up bass playing, crunching guitars, and production that’s just right -- not overproduced, but you can hear everything clear as day. NoMeansNo play tightly on this record and while I’m not the biggest fan of their work, they sound superb here.

While I have read that many people don’t think much of this album, I find that it’s a great listen that I find hard to fault. A downside is that the album only has eight songs, four of which are available at the links at the end of the review. That said, if you’ve yet to hear this you owe it to yourself to give the MP3s a listen and see what you think.

The Sky Is Falling and I Want My Mommy (Falling Space Junk)
Jesus Was a Terrorist
Bad
The Myth Is Real -- Let’s Eat