Steroid Maximus

J.G. Thirwell creates a new moniker for each of his musical outings -- Foetus for the pioneering, whip-smart industrial urges; Baby Zizanie for the electric and eclectic; Manorexia inadvertently scoring the sequel to They Live, the synopsis of which still resides just behind John Carpenter's left eye. And now Thirwell's...

By Shawn Bean

July 4, 2002

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J.G. Thirwell creates a new moniker for each of his musical outings -- Foetus for the pioneering, whip-smart industrial urges; Baby Zizanie for the electric and eclectic; Manorexia inadvertently scoring the sequel to They Live, the synopsis of which still resides just behind John Carpenter's left eye. And now Thirwell's right temporal lobe -- a.k.a. Steroid Maximus -- offers Ectopia, a digital pregnancy where the fetus gestates somewhere other than the uterus. The bottom end of each track is a full-on sprint: piano, snare drum, woodwinds, synth running beneath a Truffaut-inspired plot line, a jumble-fuck of sight and sound that veers from dueling arias of the Japanimated apocalypse to screaming trumpets heralding the arrival of our hero in the movie trailer. Thirwell has arranged, composed, and orchestrated an old-fashioned blaxploitation spy horror musical, an LP truly at home on former Faith No More frontman Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings.

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