BRAINBOMBS Urge to Kill (Load, P.O Box 35, Providence, RI 02901. www.loadrecords.com)

Singles Collection (Load)

If you’re one of the two or three people out there who actually read the paper version of Glossolalia in the early 90's you may recall that we wasted some ink on the then- notorious now- forgotten GG Allin. Little did I know that at the same time there was this band from Sweden called Brainbombs who did the loud/ugly/twisted/sick/disturbed thing a million times better than GG ever did. Brainbombs are actually scary and convincing in their, er, vision of vileness and brutality set to the most grating, pounding, compulsive noise ever recorded. Their masterpiece is the debut album Burning Hell (on Blackjack Records, as is the equally great second album Genius and Brutality). Singles Collection features some live versions of a couple of those songs from Burning Hell that make Brainbombs sound like the most ugly, brutal band that ever hit a stage - all of their releases are devoid of names and photos, so who knows what these guys are really about other than that they have very sick minds. Speaking of sick, Singles Collection features the early gem "Anne Frank".I don’t want to come off like Robert Hilburn, but I have to give you a sample line: "I hate-fucked Anne Frank/ Raped her in her little hole/Anne Frank is a whore!" Be sure to book Brainbombs at your little brother’s bar mitzvah!

As for the new release, Urge to Kill, the guys are back in fine form after the disappointing import-only CD Obey. The phenomenally LOUD guitars are back in full force and the lyrics are ugly as hell with vocals to match. My fave is "Down in the Gutter", apparently about doing the deed with a hygienically-challenged street whore: "You’re a real sexy bitch/But you STINK!!!"

Pure poetry...[Ron K]

(http://www.glossolalia.org

BRAINBOMBS: Urge to Kill (Load, 1999)
Unless you're paying close attention, it doesn't matter whether you start with Urge to Kill or with Brainbombs' other albums -- Obey, Burning Hell, and Genius and Brutality... Taste and Power (and good luck finding any of them). Once you've heard a few seconds of the band in action, you've got the idea. Start with one tuneless Stooges riff; add a rhythm section more monotonous than the Misfits' circa "TV Casualty." Bury the VU needle; repeat everything a million times; throw in an occasional trumpet squeal; and slather the whole mess over lyrics and monotone vocals that're so extreme in their sociopathy, even Whitehouse couldn't top them.
     Of course it's hard to tell just how serious or mentally disturbed these Swedes really are -- not only do such traits translate badly across cultural divides, but even the seemingly PC Alec Empire's a fan. Murder, torture and sodomy translate nicely everywhere, though (which could be the ironic point), so let's just assume that Brainbombs are nightmare storytellers for whom no taboo's too lurid, no cow too sacred. Sample lyrics: "Suck my cock! Lick it! Eat my dick!" (in "Ass Fucking Murder"); "I kill for pleasure!" "I'm gonna fuck you dead!" "I live to hate!" (in "Slutmaster") and, naturally, "The end is near!" (in "Slayer"). Those who care about making associations could lump these creeps together with maximum-rockin' countrymates such as Union Carbide Productions, Turbonegro and the Hellacopters. But in terms of absolutely pure negative vibes and mega-decibel audio destruction, Brainbombs leave those bands sounding like wet farts.
(Originally published in Alternative Press)
- Aaron Burgess

(http://antburg.tripod.com/revsb.htm)

BRAINBOMBS "Urge To Kill" (Load) cd 12.98
     If Eric Harris had a collection of Brainbombs albums, then the media would actually have a story. What the hell are they talking about with KMFDM and Marilyn Manson being the impetus for violence? The Brainbombs embody all things misanthropic and misogynistic. Musically, the Brainbombs crank out some of the best post-Stooges hypnotic sludge rock; lyrically, the Brainbombs are another thing... a whiny Swede recites sexually charged hyper-violence. For whatever reason, all of those classes from Pat Matthews on the feminist interpretations of Duchamp and Meret Oppenheimer did nothing to indoctrinate me to dislike a song like "Ass Fucking Murder". Life is full of paradoxes.

(http://www.aquariusrecords.org/cat/b15.html)

BRAINBOMBS: Urge to Kill CD (LOAD)

Maybe 10 years ago this would've been on Amphetamine Reptile. If so, it would've been one of their very best records. This dirty wall-of-noise Funhouse-rock would've fit on that label, but from the stunning singing and subject matter, right down to the cover art, no AmRep act ever did get this coldly true-crime. The Swedish-accented lyrics can be surprisingly easy to understand, exploring the mind of a homicidal psychopath while the band grinds away. "I'm a sick fuck! I live to hate whores!" he agonizes in "Slutmaster," and in "Driving Through Leeds" he describes a day in the life: "Smashed her head with my hammer/Screwdriver through her chest/Blood on the seats," and then the kicker after the gore, "Tired, so tired," an ever so slight poetic twist, the kind of thing that makes a band not just good, but also NEW. The Brainbombs are a new angle indeed on the same sturdy Load Records manifesto, which is the Revenge of the Nerds. Bad-ass rock music without all the chain-wallet mechanic chic.

(Blastitude 13)