Additional personnel: Winston (vocals); Gavyn Wright, Perry Montague-Mason (violin); Bill Hawkes (viola); Frank Schaefer (cello).

Recorded at Sarm Hook End, Berkshire, England and Abbey Road, London, England.

"Swallowed" was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance.

Bush were criticized from most quarters of the music press for sounding too much like Nirvana on their debut album, Sixteen Stone, so in order to shed all of the comparisons, well, they hired producer Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, PJ Harvey) and proceeded to record their own version of Nirvana's dark, difficult In Utero. Actually, Razorblade Suitcase, Bush's second album, cribs heavily from two of Albini's best productions, In Utero and Pixies' Surfer Rosa -- they even hired Vaughan Oliver, the designer behind Surfer Rosa, to do the artwork. Albini helped make the band sound tougher by stripping away the layers of effects and concentrating on a hard, driving rhythm and stop-start dynamics. Although lacking in memorable hooks, Razorblade Suitcase is more pleasing and visceral on the surface. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Bush were criticized from most quarters of the music press for sounding too much like Nirvana on their debut album, Sixteen Stone, so in order to shed all of the comparisons, well, they hired producer Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, PJ Harvey) and proceeded to record their own version of Nirvana's dark, difficult In Utero. Actually, Razorblade Suitcase, Bush's second album, cribs heavily from two of Albini's best productions, In Utero and Pixies' Surfer Rosa -- they even hired Vaughan Oliver, the designer behind Surfer Rosa, to do the artwork. Of course, relying so much on their idols only brings out Bush's weakness. Granted, Albini has helped make the band sound tougher, simply by stripping away the layers of effects and concentrating on a hard, driving rhythm and stop-start dynamics. The problem is that Gavin Rossdale has not come up with any hooks, which means that while Razorblade Suitcase is more pleasing and visceral on the surface, it offers no hooks to make it memorable, unlike the hit singles from Sixteen Stone. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Bush is now a household word in rock and roll, but 5 million records later, with its two-year-old debut still in the Top 100, the British band's blustering alternative rock hasn't lost its bite or its cynicism. Several songs on the band's second record will pummel you with blistering guitar feedback, burly bass lines and pounding drums, while the slower tracks will drag you down into the deepest recesses of rock melancholia.

If there's one thing for certain on RAZORBLADE SUITCASE, it's that Bush is attempting to record its disillusionment with as much fidelity as possible. The band gets a good push toward that goal from Steve Albini, whose production magnifies the band's desperate edge. The songs twist and turn in a prickly verse-chorus-verse format, in pursuit of a comforting closure that doesn't always arrive. Gavin Rossdale's wavering tenor shoots a dose of internalized turmoil straight into the heart. And when Rossdale sardonically rasps, "we're all the confusion, we're all the rage," it's clear the band's success hasn't dulled its edges. Bush's righteous bitterness, along with its forceful, uncompromising musicality, gives RAZORBLADE SUITCASE sharp teeth.