I love random. I honestly thought when I received Transmaniacon it was just… random fate. Then I put on my glasses and actually read what I had been sent. Transmaniacon featuring Lydia Lunch and Maya Berlin. Lydia Lunch… Lydia Lunch… the same Lydia Lunch of my childhood? The same Lydia Lunch from the Lower East Side? The Lydia Lunch from those movies? The Lydia Lunch I had just seen with Anthony Bourdain on Parts Unknown?

It’s kismet. So here I sat, listening to Transmaniacon’s The Strange World Of Suzie Pellet (New Heavy Sounds), the sounds translocating me back to the gritty, seedy NYC of the eighties. I was a teen. I loved it; the dirtiness, the decay, the raw energy of it all, and that’s what The Strange World of Suzie Pellet is.

For those who weren’t there, or not born, the sound is the bastard love child of Siouxsie Sioux, X, and Blue Oyster Cult. It’s Punk Rock. It’s Progressive Rock. It’s Trance. It’s story-telling on an astral level. Forty-eight minutes of psychedelic shenanigans, The Strange World Of Suzie Pellet is way too short. The vocals and spoken word are strong, however, I’m not impartial as I’ve always dug the way Lydia sang. It’s an earthy tone that reminds me of chernozem and the instrumentation supports the vocals wonderfully. The music envelopes you in blackness, cigarette smoke, and scurrying rats. The guitars are straight-up Rock n’ Roll and the organ playing provides that seventies platform heels grooviness. The pulse of the songs inspire black eyeliner rave like dancing. I believe the word is “heady”. It’s not an album you can sit still to.

The Strange World of Suzie Pellet evokes memories long-buried. The music is like muscle memory; familiar. It’s a fully immersive album with a comprehensive storyline set to music. Yes, it can be construed as a niche album or worse, a period piece. Transmaniacon’s The Strange World of Suzie Pellet won’t appeal to all listeners and it’s not supposed to. For those who take off their shoes and walk through the chernozem, you will be rewarded with an amazing piece of work that you won’t soon forget.

8 / 10

VICTORIA ANDERSON