4 out of 5

Label: Big Cat

Produced by: J.G. Thirlwell (compiled by)

Though somewhat clunkily sequenced, Mesomorph Enduros is an awesome journey through the early 90s world of noise and art punk, forefronting hardcore but drifting into the weird, thanks to being compiled as something of a mixtape by forever weirdo J.G. Thirlwell.

Mesomorph hammers at the listener with a first half of industrial metal, bass-sloppy fuzz, stoner grunge, and then cherries-it-on-top with a genre swirling entry from Thirlwell himself, offering up a track otherwise available on a flexi-disc. While the throaty screams of all the male-fronted bands in this first run of tracks are of a similar register, with a squint-and-they’re-similar playbook – loud drums, throbbing low-end, metallic guitars – thus making the set a bit tedious, these are also all superstars, so each track has the power to get you going, even if the first glance suggests it’s not so different from what came before. And Thirlwell’s Foetus work has no peer, of course.

The other side of the album’s sounds are then introduced by San Fran oddballs Thinking Fellers, with a typically anarchic and wandering track that see-saws between noodling and noise. While there are some other experimental offerings here, this is maybe the most “off” song in the set, but it’s interestingly placed as the gateway to some of the more outre stuff; if I’m otherwise complaining, it’s only that this song maybe isn’t a great summary of TFUL282, which may’ve sent fans of The Melvins and the like off to purchase Lovelyville and being rather disappointed.

After this, Enduros swings very heavy or very loose: Pain Teens’ sound manipulations; Barkmarket’s inside-out hardcore; Unsane’s assault.

While only a few of these songs were unreleased at the time, I’d guess it would’ve been hard to have claimed a collection with all of the originals, then or now (not all of this stuff is available digitally), which makes this absolutely a worthwhile compilation. And even if you own the ones you want, assuming some of the names mentioned or that appear on the disc appeal, there’s likely to be at least one other band you’re less familiar with that’s good to get some exposure to; I know that 30 years after the release of this thing, I’ve still been enticed to add a lot of its roster to my playlist.

But, fine, let’s say you own it all – then we’re back at the criticism of how the songs are grouped, with that very blustery first half, and then a kind of bumpy clustering of two similar songs, side-by-side, thereafter. I’d say a smoother representation of this would’ve stuff spread things out more. Making up for that, though, are the excellent liner notes, which provided full credits, and included if a song was unreleased, or where you could find the original.