After guitarist Clint Werner turned his basement into a 16-track studio, the band members self-produced their fourth album with a clear debt to the surge of grunge. Their punk roots are given a good Bleach-ing as the band turns up the Nirvana-isms, with roaring guitars and greater use of dynamics along with more measured tempos. Still punchier than most of their Sabbath-bred Northwestern contemporaries, cuts such as "Card Tricks" and "Wait for the Fade" alternate slow, heavy riff-driven passages with loud and fast rule breaks. There's a lot to recommend this album, not the least of which is the band's ample energy -- as evidenced in the open-throttle attack of "In Fairness" -- and swooning, melancholy guitar melodics. -All Music Guide

1991 Sub Pop release from the Tacoma, Washington punk band.