Spike in Vain - Death Drives A Cadillac

Never before released second album from Cleveland post-punk/hardcore scatlogists recorded in the early-mid 80s. Why this was shelved until now is a mystery, for its every bit the equal to the band's only other record, though someway evolved from their pure hardcore origins. On Death Drives a Cadillac, Spike In Vain owe some debt to their Ohio brethren, drawing on the cultural nihilism of Pere Ubu, the clusterfuck vim of Electric Eels and any number of weirdo outliers from the Cleveland Confidential collection. Yet, it's perhaps LA to where they belong most, recalling both X and especially the Gun Club in how they take the energy of hardcore and bastardise it in the image of country, blues and gospel, the spectre of religious iconography wrapped in this new secular form. Great digging from Scat here, and a much welcome addition to the ever inspiring Ohio punk underground.