THE JESUS LIZARD

Rack (Ipecac)

More than a quarter of a century out of the album-recording game, a reputation that has only grown with absence, branded “the greatest band I’ve ever seen” by Steve Albini. No pressure, then.

But Rack, the seventh album by The Jesus Lizard, owes its existence not to a sense of duty or unfinished business, or a desire to school the upstarts who’ve emerged in the Chicago group’s wake, but simply to the fact that – in the words of bassist David Wm Sims – “we thought it would be fun”. And it shows.

Hide And Seek is straight out of the traps and up in your face, and on Armistice Day and Alexis Feels Sick Sims’ lurching, lumbering bass and guitarist Duane Denison’s seasick guitar playing combine to familiarly unsettling effect. Like its predecessors, Rack is like being confronted by an unpredictable drunk swinging haymakers at your head.

Rambling/raging frontman David Yow remains frustratingly low in the mix and, as with fellow noise-punk veterans Les Savy Fav, the deranged aggression has perhaps been dialled down a touch. But overall, Rack is a robust, bruising reminder of why that reputation is well deserved.

words BEN WOOLHEAD