Primal Scream - XTRMNTR (Vinyl)

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XTRMNTR (pronounced "Exterminator") is the sixth studio album by Scottish rock band Primal Scream. It was first released on 31 January 2000 in the United Kingdom by Creation Records and on 2 May 2000 in the United States by Astralwerks. In a departure from their earlier, more hedonistic recordings, the band took a more political stance on the album, attacking government, police, and multinational corporations. Its sound is more aggressive and forceful than Primal Scream's previous output, with harsh, electronic sounds reminiscent of industrial music forming the basis for many of its songs. Although Gary Mounfield joined the band in 1997 and recorded a selection of tracks on their previous album Vanishing Point (1997), it marked the first time he shared songwriting credits with them, as well as his first full album since his time with The Stone Roses. The album is notable for being the final full-length release on Creation Records, with the track "Accelerator" later lifted to become the final single released on the label.

On the cover art, the fanciful typographic treatment of the band name and album title happens to omit vowels, apparently just for aesthetics. Sometimes another part of the release disagrees and fully spells out one word or the other.

 

 



There are protest albums that take stabs at the administration or social situations, and a lot of punk albums that take a nihilistic stance toward such things, but XTRMNTR is one of those extreme cases that sees no solution apart from the total immolation of everything and everyone, to burn down the world and dance in the ruins. "Kill All Hippies" opens the album with ringing noise and static under a series of samples from the Dennis Hopper film Out of the Blue, a young teenage girl on a CB radio spouting anti-establishment jargon like 'subvert normality! Kill all hippies!' then the new face of Primal Scream rides in on rolling guitars, bass and synthesizer, the harder house sound of Vanishing Point honed to a knife-point and merged together with the messy Rolling Stones-influenced heavy rock of their earliest work, Bobby Gillespie crooning 'you got the money, I got the soul'. Then "Accelerator" blasts in, a fuzzy wailing army of guitars, Kevin Shields' Loveless approach applied to ballistic punk, howling vocals and a dozen guitars buried under feedback and static. This album means fucking business. The title track is mammoth, a punishing rhythm section rolling over a multitude of weird noises and Gillespie laying out the details of the destroyed, destitute world we're living in - 'exterminate the underclass', references to A Clockwork Orange and Bob Dylan. Throughout the album, the lyrics are filled with an obsession with insects and insecticide, diseases rampant and a new Nazi regime hiding under the guise of democracy, unmitigatedly angry, dark, confrontational shit. The only misstep is Gillespie's horrid attempt at rapping for the first part of "Pills" (redeemed by the vile spew of the closing section). The rest of the album is molten fucking gold, a vicious, syphilitic height they will likely never reach again. Ten years on from "Come Together" they returned to blow us apart, and not a moment too soon - ugly music for ugly times.

By: JShopa.



Kill All Hippies 4:57
Accelerator 3:41
Exterminator 5:49
Swastika Eyes (Jagz Kooner Mix) 7:06
Pills 4:17
Blood Money 7:03
Keep Your Dreams 5:24
Insect Royalty 3:35
MBV Arkestra (If They Move Kill 'Em) 6:41
Swastika Eyes (Chemical Brothers Mix) 6:33
Shoot Speed / Kill Light 5:19




Record Label: Sony / Creation / Re-press by Music On Vinyl.

Credits
Musician – Bernard Sumner, Brendan Lynch, Darren Morris, Gay-Yee Westerhof*, Greg Knowles, Kevin Shields, Marco Nelson, Phil Mossman, Zac Danziger*
Performer [The Primal Scream Is] – Andrew Innes, Bobby Gillespie, Darrin Mooney, Duncan Mackay*, Gary Mounfield, Jim Hunt, Martin Duffy, Robert Young 
Sleeve – House*
Written-By – Discovery Productions Inc. (tracks: 1), M. Nelson* (tracks: 1), Primal Scream

'Kill All Hippies' - The voice of Linda Manz is taken from the film 'Out Of The Blue' [Courtesy of Discovery Productions Inc.]

'Pills' - Mixed at The Glue Factory S.F.

Bernard Sumner appears courtesy of London Records.
Kevin Shields appears courtesy of Island Records.

Sleeve by House@Intro London