My Way

Low Pop Suicide
On The Cross of Commerce
1992

Man, what a fucking great record this is. Though they never had much of an impact at all, Low Pop Suicide boasted a few hefty credentials. Bassist Dave Allen was in Gang of Four and Shriekback, while drummer Jeff Ward played with Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Nine Inch Nails, 1000 Homo DJs, and Lard before taking his own life in 1993. (Side note: Ward's brother Jason Ward is the bassist for Flotsam and Jetsam, and on their 2008 live album Once in a Death Time, they cover Lard's "Forkboy" as a sort of tribute to Jeff Ward. It's pretty good. I'll post it some time.) Also, before this full length, they released an ep that was, if memory serves, produced by Trent Reznor.

The album isn't as industrial as you might expect, though. There's some noisy industrial flourishes, but this is all live-band, heavy drumming, and mostly crushing guitars. The production has a 90s chorusy sheen to it that suits the music, and guitarist/vocalist/primary songwriter Rick Boston's warbly, strained vocals are a cut above a lot of the 90s alternative crap. There are a few dreamy, almost shoe-gazey tracks breaking up the heavier ones too.

Some of the stuff I post here has been discovered on the internet, or was stumbled upon in dollar bins over the years and that sort of thing. This is one of the ones I bought when it came out and that has never fallen out of favor. I bought this and The Disengagement ep upon their release and listened to the hell out of both. Great stuff that's sort of hard to categorize.

The final minute of "My Way" will blow your balls off.

On The Cross of Commerce