From the Austin Chronicle, July 29th, 1994
Record Reviews
Course of Empire
Initiation (Zoo)
Though there are 11 individual songs here, including the terrifically propulsive
radio breakthrough, "Infested," this Dallas quartet specializes in a grinding wall
of sound that pulverizes in a more listener-friendly way over the course of an
hour than your average Chicago-born Wax Trax chaos or Ministry madness. With two
drummers, there's an obvious predilection towards percussive meditations like
"Minions," but Mike Graff's expertly echoed Jimmy Page noodlings always keep the
ear alert, even toward the album's end when things disintegrate into industrial
wreckage. Initiation is an album that bears listening to as a whole as it lurches
menacingly down the dark, tangled alleys of a very Nineties swirl of sounds.
[three and 1/2 stars]
-Raoul Hernandez
[photo: the album cover]
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