Fade Out (2008 Remastered Edition)

Where Heaven's End had caught a mean drone, Fade Out builds on that sound with some of Loop's toughest playing to date. Drummer John Willis sounds as if he's tearing down a building underneath the growls of guitars in "Black Sun," while skies clear up for "This Is Where You End," in which Robert Hampson's vocals are suddenly in front and Stooges-like guitars weave their magic into the circular patterns of a Moebius strip. Elements of The Velvet Underground, Hawkwind, Can, Amon Duul II, and Suicide coalesce into punkish psychedelia, where the tribal rhythm of "Fever Knife" creates perfect nod music and "Torched" breaks into a music far heavier than by-the-numbers heavy metal. It's the sound of a wah-wah pedal giving listeners whiplash. In 1989 this was revolutionary music, far afield from the sounds of pop radio or MTV's spandex-clad hair metal. In the following few years, Pacific Northwest grunge bands and British shoegazers alike would partly reflect this heavy sound, but the title track's beautiful visions and the mechanized insanity of "A Vision Stain" belonged only to Loop.