This is good ol' Jim Thirlwell at his 80's peak, recording his deliciously witty, musically insane songs in some scummy studio with no sequencers or Pro-Tools or any of them other computerized falsifiers of evidence that abound these days. You have to imagine this one man, undoubtedly drunk, locked in a dark room with a delay pedal, recording the beginnings of "I'll Meet You in Poland, Baby," spending hours twiddling the delay knobs to get all those samples to line up JUST RIGHT. You gotta imagine him laying down the drum track, then the next drum track, then another and another and another... then a bass track... then horns, organ, guitar, millions of vocals - like Satan's version of Prince. Knocking off everything from punk to jazz to Iggy Pop to the Beach Boys to old school funk along the way... nothing is safe from the Foetus tirade.

But as much as I love his music, the real reason why I love Foetus so much is the words. The dark humor, the endless puns, the never-ending string of witticisms - I don't know why, I just love them. Example, from "Satan Place" : "I'm knock-knock-knock-knockin on death's door / do you remember where you've seen this cadaver before / this swan song's sung on a watery grave / blow your brains out, baby!"

Foetus isn't for everybody, much as I want to believe he is; very few of the dozens of people I've played him for have picked up the ball and run with it. Let's just say this: if you are looking for an artist truly out of the ordinary, truly weird, ridiculously talented, and with many, many axes to grind - then Foetus is your man, and this is your next album.


A Lost Masterpiece   June 9, 2000
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

From the self-designed faux-"propagandart" cover, to the manic coda of "Sick Man" (which quotes from the Batman theme), to the Wipeout of The Damned epic ("Satan Place", with one of the best couplets in rock history: "I've been knock-knock-knock-knockin' on Death's door/Do you remember where you've seen this cadaver before?") to the slow meltdown of "Cold Day In Hell", this one-man orchestra of clatter demands your attention, and... by gum, shouldn't you answer?


Foetus' Revelations   August 23, 2002
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This is one of the best albums I have ever heard. Every song on it is a masterpiece. It also works amazingly well as a concept album. Trent Reznor always says his albums are concept albums, but really, they are not. This is a concept album. You follow Foetus from his earthly days of sinning, through death, purgatory, arrival in Hell, and eventually, acceptance of an eternity among the Damned. Hard dance songs are combined with TG-type sound collages to provide the backdrop for Thirlwell's satirical tirades. Foetus is probably one of the greatest lyricists ever. This is just such a smart record. I can't endorse it enough. It's catchy as hell.


Not the penultimate, but damn good.   November 6, 2004
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful


If you're easily offended, well, THIS IS NOT FOR YOU.

"Satan Place" is a song about a man going to hell set to surf music...

Compare this with music made by poseurs like Marilyn Hanson, ten years later. They made music without one iota of the inspiration or passion (or dare I say it... HUMOR) that exists here. This is the real deal. Circa '89 you got an extra disc when you bought this album on vinyl, seek it out if you care...

This was provacative madness via mid 80's agitpop... Mr. Thirlwell's opus "Nail" is better, but not by much. Awesome cutting edge music not for the faint of heart.

I'll see you in Poland, baby.