Razorblade Suitcase

AMG Review of Razorblade Suitcase

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Bush were criticized from most quarters of the music press for sounding too much like Nirvana on their debut album, Sixteen Stone, so in order to shed all of the comparisons, well, they hired producer Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, PJ Harvey) and proceeded to record their own version of Nirvana's dark, difficult In Utero. Actually, Razorblade Suitcase, Bush's second album, cribs heavily from two of Albini's best productions, In Utero and Pixies' Surfer Rosa -- they even hired Vaughan Oliver, the designer behind Surfer Rosa, to do the artwork. Albini helped make the band sound tougher by stripping away the layers of effects and concentrating on a hard, driving rhythm and stop-start dynamics. Although lacking in memorable hooks, Razorblade Suitcase is more pleasing and visceral on the surface.