If this isn't Polly Jean Harvey's best album, it's her most vitriolic; almost every song has a different version of her idea of love and hate- there's songs about vengeance, anger, sex, insanity, betrayal, angst and possibly some BDSM. Her nastiness is only intensified by Steve Albini's production (or lack there-of) which leaves the entire album sounding raw and cut open, which was probably the point. It's noisy, punky, blues-influenced, jagged, muscular; all the things Albini loves to make sound more than they are- here he mostly leaves it alone, trusting Harvey and her bandmates Rob Ellis and Steve Vaughan.
I don't know if PJ's the ultimate man-hater, I'm just glad it ain't me she's singing about...
