A Glorious Lethal Euphoria
"The Drowning Man Knows His God" is a song title that immediately lets you in on just what kind ofnouveausurf band the Mermen are: a strange, mysterious one best approached with caution. Guitarist Jim Thomas picks up the gauntlet thrown down by thrash master Dick Dale, in turn tossing it into realms of overamped sound generally occupied only by the likes of Neil Young, Sonic Youth, and Glenn Branca. OnA Glorious Lethal Euphoria, Thomas eschews the feel-good for excursions into riff wreckage ("Pulpin' Line") and lengthy wavescapes that crash over the living room ("Obsession for Men"). Add a wry nod to theGilligan's Islandtheme on "The Intractable Boy" and a passage from Brahms's Third Symphony, and you've got one that not even Brian Wilson would have thought up.--Rickey Wright