The Filth

Continuing on from Fire Records excellent release last year of the Jazz Butcher’s Wasted Years – which compiled their first four albums – the label has now beautifully repackaged the bands next four albums which were released between 1988 and 1991 and titled them The Violent Years.

Now that the Banshees are no more, Budgie and wife Siouxsie Sioux have reactivated the Creatures project, this time permanently. The techno revolution has had no real affect on the Creatures' sound since 1989's Boomerang LP, mainly because Sioux and Budgie started mixing tribal drumbeats and electronic treatments way back in 1981. Fans of the Banshees will not be disappointed here, the arrangements are similar to Sioux's old band, and her imagery is still the stuff of bad dreams. This is a solid record, especially for Sioux, with a fresh sound that rivals her early-'80s albums with the Banshees. A step in the right direction for these punk/goth icons.