Skunk Anansie: Stoosh

Skunk Anansie frontwoman Skin sure is mad about something: On "Yes It's Fucking Political," she shrieks at the top of her lungs that "everything's political." But too many songs on Stoosh get mired in aimlessness and one-note rage, and it's never really clear what Skin is so pissed off about. At least the band's 1995 debut single, "Selling Jesus," had an easy target in televangelists; here, when Skin is at her maddest, she's just howling about sex and politics in the broadest possible terms. But Skunk Anansie is learning to vary its approach on Stoosh: The ballad "Infidelity (Only You)" is pulled off in creepy style, while "Twisted (Everyday Hurts)" is a good, catchy rock song. It helps that the hardcore wailing is often tempered with acoustic work and atmospheric touches like the occasional use of strings, but unfortunately, they don't salvage Stoosh altogether. Lots of media types love to celebrate the fact that Skunk Anansie sports a bald, black, lesbian singer, but despite a few improvements, the band's albums still aren't doing much that hasn't already been done by a thousand musclebound white-guy hardcore meatheads.