Lizzy Borden Terror Rising

Following up the misguided Visual Lies album and recorded as the original lineup of Lizzy Borden was breaking up, Terror Rising is a four-song EP pairing two covers (Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and the Tubes' snot-rock classic "Don't Touch Me There") with two originals that sound like album leftovers. The version of "White Rabbit" is just as much of a bad idea as it sounds like it would be, an irritating reworking of a song for which the band seemingly had no particular affinity. On the other hand, the Tubes cover is a whole lot of fun, a duet with Bitch singer Betsy Weiss and one from which campy vocalists milk every ounce of goofy humor. The two originals on side two, "Catch Your Death" and the title track, are slight riff-rockers with little to recommend them. The belated 1990 CD release added the four tracks from Lizzy Borden's spotty 1984 self-released debut EP Give 'Em the Axe, for the sake of completists. ~ Stewart Mason