The album opens with the title track, Carrion Crawler; a perfect intro. A lone ride cymbal accompanied by Brigid's keyboard line and a dying-cat saxophone tells the freaks that they're in the right place. 

Contraption puts the album into overdrive early. Even at 5 minutes long, it keeps you locked in. It grabs your wrist and pulls you into the world of the Soul Desert. Will you be able to escape? Yes. But only when the song ends. Live versions of Contraption are often 10 minutes or longer, meaning that escape is futile and you may as well enjoy the ride. 

Robber Barons drops the high tempo but keeps the drive and the bar high. Seriously underrated. John's jangly 12-String drenched in delay and pushed through a dimed Music Man with Petey's bass line is better than sex. And I really mean that. 

The instrumental track on the album, Chem-Farmer, is a ceaseless machine with no frills. This is honestly one of the only songs on the album in which both drummers are clearly distinct from one another. I don't normally listen to the album version, as I find Chem-Farmer into Nite Expo far more appealing. As much as I like Chem-Farmer, I think it might be the weakest track. But what do you expect with an instrumental? 

Immediately following Chem-Farmer is the shortest song, Opposition, at only a minute and 39 seconds long. I want you to keep in mind that it's not about the length of the song, but the feeling it gives you. A gross way to put it, but necessary. It's slightly frantic, which is further intensified by its short stature. Opposition is, from my interpretation, an acid trip gone wrong. Read the lyrics in that context. I feel like you'll get it.

Now we've made it to the most popular track from the LP (2 EPs in one), The Dream. Holy shit. As one of the strongest tracks in their entire discography, it is no surprise that The Dream is as popular as it is. I don't think the track's popularity diminishes its value in any way, shape, or form. It cannot be "overrated". From a surface level view, it is a great garage song, but I think it's the lyrical content makes it attractive. The dream referred to in the song is actually a nightmare that tears through the sky into real life and scars the narrator. They look into the sun in an attempt to burn the dream from their eyes, but nothing can erase what they saw. The dream had already become real. This is such an interesting concept to me. It is up to the listener to figure out what the hell the narrator saw. I love that it leaves it up to interpretation. You can't really understand what John is saying unless you really really focus, so a lot of people miss the coolest part of the song. 

The eerie and frenzied Wrong Idea follows. This is not a song that I've listened to a ton to be quite honest. I think in the last 12 hours I've had it blaring in my headphones around 10 times. Wrong Idea is a track that I can't quite seem to grasp. Spastic 12 string guitar and thumpy drums pounding at the door of your mind, telling you something evil is waiting for you to open it. A whistling synth line sits deep in the mix but peers out just enough to make you anxious. If you weren't already, that is.

Crushed Grass comes in at just the right moment to relieve the tension of Wrong Idea. It explodes almost immediately. Similar to Contraption, it kicks on the overdrive. There's no reason not to contort yourself when you hear this one. John's lead lines are what you'd expect from someone ripping speed and playing guitar. Absolutely fantastic. Wouldn't change it for the world. 

The slowest and heaviest song on the album, Crack In Your Eye, drones and squeals in a slightly dissonant way, spinning the album in a different direction for a second. Following the energy that Crushed Grass exudes is definitely tough, but Crack In Your Eye holds a different kind of power. My mind paints a picture of the Earth cracking and splitting, spewing molten rock and turning the sky a shade of crimson red. God I wish I had synesthesia. There's an uneasy feeling that lingers during the entire song. One that could bend and break you at any time. Badass as f**k. 

Thee Oh Sees wrap the album up with Heavy Doctor, a psych-punk mashup of sorts. While this mantra of "psych-punk" is a reoccurring theme throughout their discography, Heavy Doctor oozes the very definition, which according to my sources is, "mostly the bands which prefer mixing booze with strong acid instead of speed or meth. Lack of personal hygiene, fuzzboxes turned to eleven, song titles that don't mean shit..." (Tableau on RateYourMusic.com). This is mostly true of the Thee Oh Sees, with the exception of mixing booze with strong acid AND speed or meth. You can really tell what they were doing when you listen to Heavy Doctor. The fast treble-boosted guitar, pounding drums, and fraught chanting vocals mixed with droning keys and delayed lead licks make it a staple for anyone's psych-punk repertoire.

From a view of this record as a whole, I think the most important thing to mention is John and Brigid's vocal melodies. Even though they had made their way into the "Era of Less Reverb but Still a Shit Ton of Reverb"* that put more emphasis on forming a slightly different sound, they made sure to keep the vocal dynamics intact—arguably the best part of the original lineup's sound. I'm a real sucker for the OH's and AH's trope (specifically in the Brigid era) that is consistently scattered throughout the first 8 or so albums. Some of the songs either don't feature Brigid on vocals or they're so buried in the mix that I'm too dumb to know they're there, and that is my biggest peeve with this record. Obviously when Thee Oh Sees became Oh Sees, we lost Brigid entirely so I shouldn't be complaining that she's not on this record enough, but come on now, she was in the studio. Let her record! 

Overall, this is a fantastic record. No skips. You can tell that their sound was starting to evolve with this LP. I was also unaware that the entire record, according to Petey Dammit, was recorded live in studio. F**kin rad. Major cool points for JPD and gang. As if they didn't have enough already... By the way, I'm aware that I'm reviewing this album nearly 15 years after its release, but a retrospective perspective on this album from a die-hard fan is needed. This record is widely regarded as one of their best. Of course, I'm inclined to agree with this sentiment. It is, in my humble but noteworthy opinion, the perfect intro to Thee Oh Sees during this era. Sometimes you might get lost in the delay trails and washed out reverb of their first few albums, but this one keeps you engaged. It provides context to the albums that follow but lets you fall back into the earlier parts of their discography. Carrion Crawler/The Dream is a wildly eccentric foray into what makes Thee Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees. 

If you made it to the end, good job! You've now read someone else's opinion on an album. Go listen to the record and form an opinion of your own. Or stick with mine. You do you. I do want you to take what I've written and listen to the album to see if our ideas and feelings line up. Maybe this is the fresh perspective you needed to listen to this record for the first time. Maybe it deterred you. Who the hell knows...

Stay safe out there! See you next week...

Cheers,

Jack

*My way of describing that era of Thee Oh Sees lol