Like a less pretentious and sloppy version of
the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the bass-less trio
Vertigo makes a high-end, three-chord racket, but the band's song structures turn the central conceit of grunge on its head. If one accepts as fact that grunge began around the time of
Black Flag's
My War, when the boys from Lawndale discovered
Black Sabbath and weed, it follows that the style's central tenet is a low-end rumble and plodding tempos. These ten songs have the basic feel of pre-
Nevermind grunge (perhaps with a little of
Screaming Trees' psychedelic fancies), but they're played notably faster, and songs like "Big Brother" have a squealing, pealing upper-register edge that puts them closer to
Mudhoney's fuzzed-up garage rock than
Soundgarden's sluggish grind. In fact, the songs lack only
Mudhoney's knack for naïvely brilliant pop hooks for
Vertigo to be an early classic of the style; as it stands, it sounds more like Kill Yr. Idols-era
Sonic Youth trying to write straightforward punk songs. ~ Stewart Mason