GG Allin and ANTiSEEN--Murder Junkies
TKO 2003
When you put legendary artists together to collaborate on music, it can be a volatile situation. Factors like ego clash or simply being unable to get on the same page can turn what should be a sure thing into a nightmare. Then, there are those instances where everything just clicks. When ANTiSEEN got together with GG Allin to cut this Murder Junkies album, all the stars were definitely in perfect alignment. The result is a disc which ranks amongst the best of both camps' respective offerings.
Murder Junkies succeeds in large part because GG and ANTiSEEN complemented eachother so well aesthetically to begin with, nothing could ruin it. The fuzzed out sheet of anger ANTiSEEN always wraps listeners in fit perfectly with Allin's sheer personification of hatred. In fact, GG may have never been better than he was here. Backed up by ANTiSEEN's powerful assault, his rants seem to carry more weight than usual. All around, this is one pairing that delivered as immensely as one would have expected it to on paper.
The real treat of Murder Junkies is that it boasts great musical depth, thanks to colorful overtones evident in the songwriting. On tracks like "I Love Nothing" and the poetic, Sonic Youth inflected "My Prison Walls," GG's vocals flow in a way somewhat akin to an old Beastie Boys rhyme. ANTiSEEN slow down enough on "War In My Head" and "I Hate People" to cultivate a doomy vibe not unlike certain moments of Saint Vitus. In the midst of all this, the pairing manages to produce immediate classics such as "Kill The Police" and "Violence Now"--the bonus single version of this particular cut shining, thanks to the vocal trade off between Allin and Jeff Clayton. Also amongst the bonus material is an incredible acoustic GG origianl, "Layin' Up With Linda." On this country & western workout, a Lou Reed styled magic gets culled, making this the sleeper gem of the entire collection.
ANTiSEEN may have been hurt a bit by Murder Junkies, due to the fact they were labeled as "GG Allin's backup band" for quite awhile afterwards--their already established and superb legacy being ignored by many. Ultimately, though, this union was a very worthwhile one--the album that remains is a classic of musical brutality. Murder Junkies is a great starting choice for those unschooled in either artist, as well as for those folks who simply crave the best of both worlds.
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