III

Though Phil Manley had yet to join the band, by their third album the Fucking Champs were already beginning to explore the kind of electronic-tinged, Krautrock-inspired topography that Manly had been charting with Trans Am — though you wouldn’t know it from the opening cut “Andres Segovia Interests Me” where the San Francisco trio grapples the listener with hawk-like talons before dropping them off smack-dab in the middle of a colossal, heavy-metal solo influenced by Iron Maiden’s eponymous 1980 debut. “Don the Atmosphere” first dabbles with Kraftwerkesque synths, layering cold soundscapes on top of each other to aurally approximate Superman’s icy fortress of solitude before “Heart to Heart” takes on vintage electronic music reminiscent of the pulsing analogue waves found on early-‘70s Popul Vuh recordings. They shift sonic tectonics in “The Trees,” unleashing thrash-metal that boils and blisters with raw distorted riffs and thunderous drumming. Glacial synthesizers and soaring guitarmonies collide on “Dale Bozzio,” a tribute to the singer of Missing Persons where drummer Tim Soete makes a rare vocal appearance.