by Dave Thompson
G.B.H.'s sixth album, 1990's From Here to Reality, marches on in the same direction as the preceding A Fridge Too Far -- only the hardcore is harder, the speed metal is faster, and the energy on display defies any suggestion that G.B.H. were anything but the same committed mob they'd always been. The new musical approach may not have been to everyone's taste -- their most loyal audiences were now in Japan and the U.S., from whence the hardcore influence oozed in the first place. But, within the parameters of that audience's demands, there was no respite. &New Decade& sensibly opens the album, and does so with a discordant edge that proves to be this album's key. From &Trust Me I'm a Doctor& to &The Old School of Self Destruction& and &Just in Time for the Epilogue,&classic latter-day G.B.H. permeates every cut and, though it's all a lot less melodic than Fridge, From Here to Reality compensates for that via a succession of chopstick rhythms and dislocated riffs, a series of edgy anthems whose relentless hammering established this among the crucial punk albums of the 1990s, before the decade was even a year old. Besides, there is respite at the end of the rainbow, as &Moonshine& uncorks a country & western-style knees-up, all sheet-keecking geetars and the world's worst Southern accent, and a guest appearance from Angus Young's cousin, the pseudonymous Casper Wyoming. It's a lunatic way of ending such a hard-hitting album, and it works all the better because of it. Welcome to the 1990s!