I Walk the Line

A neat precis of '80s Fiend-dom, four songs long and just what the doctor ordered. Despite the countryish guitar twang mixed in with the heavy drums and bass synths, the lead track is in fact an original rather than a cover of the Johnny Cash classic. If anything it's even more ominous than the better-known piece, with Nik Fiend snarling about the world "being rotten to the core," as the music builds the aggression level up through the song. "School's Out," in contrast, is a cover, namely of obvious Fiend visual and musical influence Alice Cooper; the reverb gets cranked up high and the production is appropriately murky, and while it isn't the equal of the original, the song itself never can lose its charm. The remaining two songs fall into the typical Fiend song range in comparison, but that's always a good combination no matter what. There's a bit more space and restraint at points in "Here She Comes" than one would normally expect, while "Can't Stop Smoking" has a hilarious synths-played-by-the Munsters hook playing off the jonesin' lyric and wheezing sound effects.