Mike76

Compared to their debut, it feels less "guitar-heavy," both due to the volume (guitars are less prominent) and the greater presence of synths. There are some rather bland compositions, like the tune "Secret Agent Man," which is too smooth for their standards, or "Pink Pussy Cat," which wants to be funny but sounds like a gray, poorly made copy of "Uncontrollable Urge." On the other hand, there are pieces that can rightfully be considered among their classics, such as the wild "Smart Patron/Mr. DNA," the paranoid "S.I.B. (Swelling Itching Brain)," and the robotic "Blockhead." A good album. P.S. where have you been, Bogus?

Read at least a dozen years ago, I don't have great memories but I also don't recall it being so empty and superficial; it's true that reading it now, I would do so with a completely different critical spirit. From Austen, I've also read "Northanger Abbey," which is indeed a little book.

The idea of a serial killer who kills inspired by the seven deadly sins is probably as old as cinema itself (e.g., The Abominable Dr. Phibes killed inspired by the plagues of Egypt, to name one), but the film is well-directed and well-acted, and it has an ending that avoids the usual overused tropes like "surprise, it was the butler!". The film does not conclude with the identification of the culprit; in fact, the most interesting part happens right after that. The ending is raw, tragic, and disorienting at the same time, even if there is something that doesn’t quite match in the timing.

The tribal and dissonant darkness of "Tragic Figures" is lost to reach more ambient and harmonious shores, if not (at times) even melodic. It feels like music for contemplating vast natural open spaces. For me, it’s a very successful album that has the minor fault of a bit too much length and bombast.

Never listened to it in full, but "Are We Here?" (seen and reviewed on MTV Chill Out during sleepless nights) I remember as a great melodic track with a sultry female voice.

Crazy as a loon, all I have of her is "Nunsexmonkrock." Great voice, perhaps her limit was always being out of bounds and excessive when she could have sung "well" without selling herself short. A huge disappointment for me when I discovered she wouldn't be at Sanremo with Bertè and D'Alessio.

Strange creatures, the MX-80, I can only appreciate them through intensive listening, thus entering their "world"; otherwise, if I pick them up after some time, I find myself saying, "What is this mess?".
The positive aspect of their music is that they have a unique style that remains imitable/unmatched to this day, while the negative side is that in terms of songwriting they have never managed to approach the anthems of the neighboring bands from Ohio. Additionally, as unconventional and brave as Stim's vocals were, they never came close to the charisma of a Mothersbaugh or a Thomas.
Anyway, a curious and interesting record, just like their debut EP Big (tits) Hits (whose cover appears, held by the shady figure in a raincoat in the background above), reissued in the Atavistic reprint of "Hard Attack," divided into two tracks and with a completely scrambled tracklist.

Like The Decline in comment 4, I couldn't see the depth in it either... I don’t know, certainly a little better than the other two chapters of the trilogy but light years away from Salò or Uccellacci.

Orchestral pop with extensive use of guitar work in The Edge style (overused throughout the 2000s, from Interpol to Coldplay and many others). It didn't excite me much, but I have to admit that I've listened to it too little to give a fair judgment.

I'm not sure what R.I.O. might be (maybe the second album by D.u.r.a.n. D.u.r.a.n.?) but indeed the CD reissue "The Visit + The Seduction" is one of the best things in my collection. What makes it special? Surely the housewife's frustrated voice of Sterling blends perfectly with the guitar splashes and the spankings of the percussion. Hats off to Lao for filling this gap in the Debaser database (sorry for the pun).