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To really enjoy the Gaza Strippers' sound, you have to like lead Rick Sims' unique singing style, which suggests a pissed-off, revved-up Kermit the Frog. His high-pitched screams escape through his nose rather than his throat, resulting in a nasal-y sort of whining; so domineering and rowdy is the sound that if you don't like it, you won't like the band — and their guitar-driven, intensely fast punk rock — at all. Powered by a Motörhead-style guitar sound, lead track "Throttle Bottom" is so cocky and egotistical you know Sims (formerly of the Didjits) was sneering when he wrote the lines: "I got an ego that shines like a bright burning star/ A cock so heavy that it hangs like a chain/ I like to rock baby/ Kick it or not." The Chicago four-piece does a sped-up version of Elvis Costello's "Lipstick Vogue," a great song dominated by cool, tribal-like drumming and muffled, distorted vocals. Slowed down by swaggering, zombie-paced bass lines and wire-y guitar, "Brainwasher" feels as contagious and creepy as the title implies. Overall, Electric Bible is fast, piercing punk rock. But you'll only like it if you fancy those amphibian squeals.
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