AMG Review of Species Deceases

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

Midnight Oil marked the 40th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima by cutting this four-song EP of driving rock & roll songs on international political themes. "Some say it's "progress," I say it's cruel," Peter Garrett sang in "Progress," a song that disparaged "third world infanticide" and "junk in the stratosphere." Environmentalism gave way to war protest on "Blossom and Blood," which referred specifically to Hiroshima. Species Deceases efficiently presented Midnight Oil's usual lyric concerns and musical style in miniature form, and at an EP price, it made a good short sampler of the group. (Originally released by CBS Records Australia in 1985, Species Deceases was re-released by Columbia Records in the U.S. in 1990.)