Milligram

From the album title, one might expect some political punk rabble-rousing in the manner of Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label. Instead, Milligram's debut album (originally titled "Death to America," until a skittish post-9/11 label changed it to something less incendiary) pitches itself somewhere between the insular stoner rock of Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, or even the much poppier Built to Spill and the kind of advanced noise terrorism perfected by Japanese artists of the Merzbow/Boredoms axis. Aside from the 12-minute "Death to America" and the even more intense sludge rock grind "My Own Private Altamont," which between themselves account for a full one-third of the album's playing time, the tracks are admirably concise; indeed, some of the shorter tracks sound more like formal experiments, like the 57-second, Foetus-like blurt "+2 Charisma." Others are simply isolated drum or guitar tracks from other, longer songs, added for no particular reason. Fans of the Butthole Surfers and Steve Albini's more outré sonic experiments will find much to admire here. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide