Atomizer [Vinyl]

Rating

Album: Atomizer [Vinyl]
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Jordan, Minnesota	More Info...
2)	Passing Complexion	More Info...
3)	Big Money	More Info...
4)	Kerosene	More Info...
5)	Bad Houses	More Info...
6)	Fists of Love	More Info...
7)	Stinking Drunk	More Info...
8)	Bazooka Joe	More Info...
9)	Strange Things	More Info...
10)	Cables (Live)	More Info...
2)	Passing Complexion	More Info...	0:03
3)	Big Money	More Info...	0:02
4)	Kerosene	More Info...	0:06
5)	Bad Houses	More Info...	0:03
6)	Fists of Love	More Info...	0:04
7)	Stinking Drunk	More Info...	0:03
8)	Bazooka Joe	More Info...	0:04
9)	Strange Things	More Info...	0:04
10)	Cables	More Info...	0:03

Album: Atomizer [Vinyl]
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Jordan, Minnesota	More Info...
2)	Passing Complexion	More Info...
3)	Big Money	More Info...
4)	Kerosene	More Info...
5)	Bad Houses	More Info...
6)	Fists of Love	More Info...
7)	Stinking Drunk	More Info...
8)	Bazooka Joe	More Info...
9)	Strange Things	More Info...
10)	Cables (Live)	More Info...
2)	Passing Complexion	More Info...	0:03
3)	Big Money	More Info...	0:02
4)	Kerosene	More Info...	0:06
5)	Bad Houses	More Info...	0:03
6)	Fists of Love	More Info...	0:04
7)	Stinking Drunk	More Info...	0:03
8)	Bazooka Joe	More Info...	0:04
9)	Strange Things	More Info...	0:04
10)	Cables	More Info...	0:03

Performer Notes

Big Black: Steve Albini (vocals, guitar); Santiago Durango (guitar); Dave Riley (bass).
Listening to ATOMIZER is a truly unpleasant experience-just as Big Black intended. For the band's first full-length release, the sound has been honed down to the aural equivalent of a back-street dentist's drill. Piercing guitars drill into your molars while you are anesthetized by the incessant pounding of Roland, the group's primitive drum machine. Amongst the carnage, Steve Albini lets out his trademark throat-shredding howl. The bombardment doesn't let up once over the course of this hugely influential album. No wonder Nirvana, Pixies, and PJ Harvey later enlisted Big Black main man Albini's help in capturing their most raucous recordings.
Big Black famously didn't do love songs. Albini thought that the topic had been exhausted in pop music. Instead, ATOMIZER reeks of small-town claustrophobia and the impact it can have on twisted minds. The disco-thrash classic "Kerosene" recounts a tale of bored kids committing random acts of arson, while "Cables" sees thrill-seekers hanging out in a slaughterhouse. The subject matter of a couple of songs is genuinely shocking, but Albini seeks only to expose what he sees as the rotten underbelly of a bloated society. The picture he paints is not a pretty one, and ATOMIZER is not recommended for those of a nervous disposition.

Professional Reviews

Spin (p.78) - "[A] metal-on-metal hybrid of Motorhead and Suicide...."

Q (7/01, p.86) - Included in Q's "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time" - "...A full-on nihilist assault, with guitars like old men phlegming up and that proven lyrical touchstone of heaviness: dumb provincial redneck violence..."

Alternative Press (7/95, p.78) - Ranked #11 in AP's list of the `Top 99 Of '85-'95.' - "...guitar sounds ranged from hitting chain-link fences with aluminum bats to truckloads of iron girders falling from a bridge on top of a long Amtrak train....Add songs about...child-swapping molesters...and a day in the life of a slaughterhouse and you have an underground classic..."

NME (Magazine) (11/28/92, p.30) - 10 - Classic - "...remains Big Black's finest work, ten tales from America's butt end. Rarely before or since has the Land Of The Free sounded so disgusting or so appallingly attractive...sheer unhinged fury..."