Joan of Arc

The brothers Kinsella move on with their dark, fragmented indie stylings found on So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness for the strangely beautiful In Rape Fantasy and Terror Sex We Trust. This album was recorded simultaneously with Joan of Arc's fourth effort and was initially planned to be a part of it; however, these particular tracks took on a different tone. Joan of Arc are much more abstract and bleak on In Rape Fantasy and Terror Sex We Trust. As if the title wasn't suggestive enough, the Chicago collective strips the heat and gunfire prominent in early Bauhaus singles and condenses it into a grating reel of chimes, synthesizers, and percussion. In a way, Joan of Arc create their own stage show of things breaking and converging, but never too much to sonically make sense. Guitar riffs coil, drums ride a thunderous beat, and glitchy vocals are twisted as Joan of Arc criticizes American conventionality ("Happy 1984 and 2001"), spits on Main Street ignorance ("Gang Language"), and mocks celebrity ideals ("That Radiant Morning"). The nine-minute title track, which is Sam Zurick's own reflection on how he reacted to Bauhaus' The Sky's Gone Out at the age of ten, is a manifesting, distorted waltz that has nothing to do with the title itself, but is thematically just as haunting and bizarre. Joan of Arc have once more surpassed themselves as artists. In Rape Fantasy and Terror Sex We Trust breathes fear into a lovely nightmare, and there's nothing emo about it. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide