"The record is the sound of children being thrown from a carney carousel. A caffeinated, incorporated cog in the machinery...naked aggressive, nightly news-ish and stress related. Album of the Year (1989)"

That's how Gay For Johnny Depp described the sound of this, their sophomore album, on the press sheet that accompanied the album when it crawled into URHQ. A press sheet that disappointed me actually; in the past, GFJD's promo material has ranged from condoms and amyl nitrate to explicit homosexual photography and, when promoting debut album 'The Politics Of Cruelty', the media were sent a pornographic fan letter to Johnny Depp himself, written by a mysterious "Brad" - me, I get a printed sheet of A4 with song titles and tour dates....

If I told you that the gloriously titled 'What Doesn't Kill You, Eventually Kills You' was mixed by Alex Newport - the former Fudge Tunnel/Nailbomb noisemeister now based in New York - you might already know what to expect from this record, aurally at least. But, like all great albums, the very fact that you never really know what this bunch of crazed Brooklyn hardcore bastards are going to do next is what makes it essential.

Containing eleven tracks and coming in at under twenty-two minutes, this album is fast, furious and, seriously, fucked up. One of the slowest songs on the album, 'Humility Is For People Who Don't Comprehend Their Own Mortality', is also the shortest at an amazing one minute and twenty-four seconds. It'll probably take you longer to read the song titles than it will listen to the album; the great 'No, I'm Married To Jesus. Now Keep Your Fucking Hands Off Of Him' for example.

A snatch of dialogue from the Coen Brothers' 1990 gangster flick 'Miller's Crossing' - "Take your flunky and dangle" - precedes album opener 'Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny And Artistic Integrity' (what was I saying about titles?) which veers from screaming angst to chanted mantra with probably more ease than it really should. 'Suckcess' is possibly the most accessible (i.e., stunted music fans will have more chance of 'getting it'), being a somewhat more straightforward track that echoes something that you might hear from Cancer Bats. 'She Has The Hottest Limp (It's All Noize)' is a real standout track and the metal scream and "Pick up that guitar and talk to me" hair metal homage to Poison had me giggling on the vinegar stroke.

'We Are The World? Burn It Down!' is an anthem of sorts, though to what is questionable. 'Nine Inch Males (Born To Hate)' and 'Pink Flag' owe more to the band's traditional hardcore roots than some of the more eclectic offerings, and the slow burner (as if!) of a title track is a moody album closer....except there's one more; 'Cum On Feel The Boize', a lightly doctored version of the Slade classic, is way more straight ahead than you could possibly imagine...with screamed backing vocals and perfectly placed profanity, of course.

We're only in the middle of the second month of the year yet the really good albums are coming at us thick and fast; add 'What Doesn't Kill You, Eventually Kills You' to the list. Like the 'Spazzcore' label that often gets attached to Gay For Johnny Depp, it may not be to everyone's taste but, as legendary trash auteur John Waters once wrote, "To understand bad taste one must have very good taste."

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