This Sub Pop debut is satisfying, but a little goofy compared to Hellacopters' live act, which is too exciting to criticize. The album might make a good gift for kids born too late to appreciate real rock. It very effectively exposes Hole and Marilyn Manson's comparative non-mastery of their instruments. Grown-ups should pick this up for something to blast while washing the car this summer. Hellacopters pump enough adrenal power to mitigate even a mini-van.
Seduction is an album-length conceptual piece about the next and last turns of centuries.
The cool thing about the album is that you can either get really into the extended metaphor, conducting extra-credit research on Debussy's break with formalism, or you can just get off on the trippy music. They are yet another example of wimpy U.K. pop invading our shores. Fingerpainting is basically Krayola's first record, The Parable of Arable Land , rehashed and redone with added tracks and sounds, both new and old. It's like a collage of their 30-year career, but this time Mayo Thompson's always borderline ridiculous crooning fight for attention with a heavy drum machine. Alert Today Alive Tomorrow continues that tradition.