CD Review: Civet - Massacre

Ms. Liza Graves, Suzi Homewrecker, Bombshell Brenz, and Jackie Daniels offer up plenty of sugar and spite together in Civet on their new Duane Peters produced album for Disaster Records titled Massacre. The cover alone should warn the pansies away with its graphic image of four tattooed biker chicks covered in blood. The biker chicks are actually Civet and I’m pretty sure the blood is fake. The punk rock schlock the band plays is real, but not very good. It’s a case of attitude and ability. You rarely find both of them together.

Civet is not proficient enough to thrash, so their songs sound like slop. Bombshell acquits herself nicely on the drums, but the rest of the ladies…yech! Can we hold Kim Fowley accountable for the raspy voiced Joan Jett impersonation that Ms. Graves attempts? Ah hell, while we’re at it, how about including L7 and Hole in that list of bad influences. How come there aren’t any Go-Go’s inspired bands out there? Civet makes even the god-awful Lunachicks sound tolerable.

Civet’s lyrics are violent, obnoxious, and filled with the drama of living under the heel of male chauvinist bastards. There are probably some guys out there right now thinking, “All right, I like a girl with spirit.” They’ve got so much spirit they drop the F word bomb 10> over the course of the album. “Everything Everythin” has a freakout section in the middle that’s responsible for the biggest share of them. The title cut does take the time to make fun of the “Emo” movement so I’ll give the ladies points for that. I also liked the tune “Extra” which shows more thought than the rest of the thirteen tracks on Massacre. But their attitude is in some severe need of ability. Until that ability comes, all they will be peddling is banal dross.