Skinny Puppy – Rabies

Skinny Puppy – Rabies

Skinny Puppy – Rabies is the influential 1989 studio album from the pioneering Canadian industrial group, and one of the key releases in the band's early catalogue. Produced with significant involvement from Al Jourgensen of Ministry, the album pushes Skinny Puppy's dark electronic sound towards a harsher, more aggressive industrial style, combining distorted electronics, abrasive samples, pounding rhythms and unsettling atmospherics.

The album opens with "Rodent", immediately establishing the confrontational tone that runs throughout Rabies. "Hexonxonx" and "Two Time Grime" continue with dense electronic programming and fractured rhythms, while "Fascist Jock Itch" delivers one of the record's most abrasive and politically charged moments.

Side two features "Worlock", arguably the album's best-known track and one of Skinny Puppy's signature recordings. Built around a hypnotic electronic pulse, distorted vocals and atmospheric samples, it demonstrates the band's ability to make industrial music both unsettling and strangely melodic.

The short, atmospheric "Rain" provides a brief change of pace before "Tin Omen", "Rivers" and the haunting instrumental "Choralone" bring the album to its conclusion. Throughout, Rabies balances aggressive industrial experimentation with moments of eerie beauty and atmosphere.

The album is particularly notable for the contribution of Al Jourgensen, whose production and musical influence helped give Rabies a harder-edged sound. It occupies an important place in the development of the industrial and electronic underground and remains a highly regarded release among fans of Skinny Puppy, Ministry, industrial music, EBM and dark electronic music.

For collectors, Rabies is an essential part of Skinny Puppy's classic late-1980s period, sitting alongside albums such as VIVIsectVI and Too Dark Park as a defining release from one of industrial music's most influential groups.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Rodent – 5:46
2. Hexonxonx – 5:23
3. Two Time Grime – 5:37
4. Fascist Jock Itch – 4:56

Side B

1. Worlock – 5:25
2. Rain – 1:23
3. Tin Omen – 4:37
4. Rivers – 4:43
5. Choralone – 2:41