1992 CMJ Review Clint Ruin Lydia Lunch: Don’t Fear The Reaper

CLINT RUIN/LYDIA LUNCH: Don’t Fear The Reaper

The lead cut isn’t as much as a de(con)struction of the Blue Oyster Cult classic as we expected, the lead guitar lines remaining safely intact, but Lydia’s trademarked snarl and what sounds like a New York City street block tumbling to its death in the instrumental break leave this rendition standing on its own Doc Martens. The other cover-the Beatles’ “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road”-is carried to its limits in far more typical Ruin/Lunch fashion, a repetitive, moaning groove sustained by way-flanged-out guitar, samples of a car crash and a meddling of Lydia’s sultry crooning and a bluesy backing vocal. “Clinch” and “Serpentine,” the original half of the EP, respectively showcase both the upfront evil assualt and the more subtle, suggestion of evil these two are capable of.

CMJ New Music Report, Issue# 266 (10 Jan 1992), author unknown.