Mark Stewart’s second solo album, released in 1985, might be his most aggressive work, displaying active hostility to the listener. All the musicians featured on his previous record, 1982’s Learning To Cope With Cowardice, are gone, replaced by the members of Tackhead: Skip McDonald on guitar, Doug Wimbish on bass, and Keith Leblanc on drums, with Adrian Sherwood behind the boards. Stewart’s lyrics are more dystopian and paranoid than ever, and his vocals are often buried in the mix, layered beneath samples of William S. Burroughs, politicians and preachers, not to mention washes of static, synth bass and thwacking electronic drums so loud and blown-out they practically pulse from the speakers, and disorienting dub effects. No groove is allowed to proceed for long without being jerked sideways thanks to a minefield of echo and reverb. This is one of the least fun albums ever, but it’s never less than compelling.