Consumable issue 45, review of GASH, 07 Jul 1995.
FOETUS Gash (Columbia)
By Al Crawford
It must be interesting to live inside Jim Thirlwell’s head, as his creative yet decidedly warped mind careers headlong through a maelstrom of styles and ideas. Gash, his first full length release on Columbia is perhaps not Thirlwell’s best effort ever, but this particular twisted grab-bag of material rarely drops below “pretty good” and, as the Thirlwell brain bounces around inside his cranium, he throws out some truly exceptional material.
Gash is dark, synth industrial, grinding guitars, the distinctive Thirlwell “industrial big band” sound, borrowed Indian melodies, and grandiose orchestral sequences, both sequentially and concurrently. I was particularly impressed by “Take It Outside Godboy”, a 2-in-1 combination of haunting strings and driving aggressive rock, the big-band “Slung”, the grandeur and sick strings of “They Are Not So True”, the list goes on. Maybe it’s about time Jim got the same level of recognition as those he’s remixed recently (NIN, F242, EMF, Megadeth). Gash certainly possesses just the right combination of accessibility and the Foetus sound of old to bridge that gap.
Original source.