The Mentally Ill
Gacy's Place: The Undiscovered Corpses (Alternative Tentacles)
By: Jeb Branin
Gacy's Place: The Undiscovered Corpses is the CD re-release of the 1979 7" by Chicago's twisted punk fiends THE METALLY ILL (I sit in a Chicago hotel room as I type this, somehow fitting). It includes all eight tracks from the original recording sessions plus a gaggle of other tunes recorded in various places.The "other" tunes are all basically throwaways and are barely listenable. They seem to be rehearsal tapes and other unfinished tunes, many with new vocals slapped over top of them 25 years after the fact.
Yuck.
This CD is basically centered in the original eight tracks, everything else is superfluous. It is amazing that these eight tunes were recorded in 1979 because they are still lyrically pernicious and disturbed by 2004 standards. One can't help compare the depravity here to the DAYGLO ABORTIONS or CRUCIFUCKS.
Musically this is tremendously raw, just as it should be. It is somewhat reminiscent of MEDIA DISEASE or UNITED MUTATION. It should be clarified that MENTALLY ILL predated all of my references, an influence, maybe?
