Assphixxxeatateshun

Album Review

If nothing else, the title is memorable. Fans have said that White Mice need to be experienced live first and foremost, and based on contributions to the Pick a Winner DVD and other evidence of their stage presentation, it's definitely not just the music with the trio. Still, Assphixxxeatateshun does offer one of the more tweaked instrumental lineups around — bass, drums, and oscillator — and from the grinding feedback cut-up rumble of "Foreskin Rug" that starts the album, it's clear enough that the White Mice do love their noise. Mostly consisting of tracks barely a minute or two long, the album shows that the secret heart of many Load-affiliated acts — a healthy love of classic rock/heavy metal stomping monstrosity warped through no wave sensibilities — is present here, as the slow rhythm blast of "Slo Poison" and "The White Mice" song itself shows. The band lays everything on thick, with the oscillator in particular finding a similar "sweep through the mix" role as Cotton Casino's work did for Acid Mothers Temple, an extra factor of chaos. For all that sheer high decibel amorphousness has its visceral thrill as is, finding a riff to center something around does wonders, and the band does this a number of times — "Mouse Trap" in particular has a great clipped riff that could just as easily be Pig Destroyer as much as anything else. The occasional titular nod and wink to the past is fun — thus, calling one extremely demented, barely-audible-vocal rampage "Limburger Lady" calls to mind what Throbbing Gristle might have done if they loved death metal. The album ends at an economic 23 minutes, but bonus track fiends will get a brief further blast after scanning through nearly 45 minutes of silence, if they're so inclined.