The Gruesomes

Cave-in! is a gorgeous, snarling beast unleashed by Montreal’s seminal garage rock gods the Gruesomes. First released in 2000, the band has reissued this snotty tour de force on their label, Ricochet Sound. Often hailed as seminal garage rock revivalists when they started as teenagers in the ’80s, the Gruesomes were shaped by watching hours of television and devouring ’60s-era records. Their name was taken from the creepy neighbours on The Flintstones and less than a year after picking up their instruments the Gruesomes had cut their debut album, 1986’s Tyrants of Teen Trash. Over 20 years later, they can look back on a career carved out of a snivelling sound and a campy image that has made them cult heroes in the landscape of Canadian music, and Cave-in! is an album not to be missed if you didn’t catch it the first time around. "Stop It, Girl” and "You Gotta Believe Me” are cutthroat masterpieces of trashed up derision, while "You’re Not the Boss of Me” and "Serves You Right” have such ranting appeal that it’s easy to see how the Gruesomes have managed to maintain their cool all these years.