Rape on the Installment Plan

Boasting a veritable who's who of noise rock, the Heroine Sheiks' Reptilian Records debut is anything but categorically simple. In fact, from this radioactive sea-foam of New York art-scum noise -- from guitarist Norman Westberg -- and left-field Midwestern acid-damaged punk rock -- from vocalist Shannon Selberg -- comes a wacko, purely crystallized noise rock revival album. The Heroine Sheiks -- and Rape on the Installment Plan -- is significantly tighter, and more musically adept, than the one parent group -- the Cows -- and more boisterous, song-oriented, and catchy than the other parent group -- the Swans. As he had begun doing on the Cows' final album, Sorry in Pig Minor, Selberg again proves himself a screwball multi-instrumentalist, playing keyboard and bugle, while singing in his trademark sneer. Something off the beaten track, for certain.