The noise-rock scene had a somewhat macho reputation, not without justification, but Minneapolis’s Babes In Toyland — guitarist/vocalist Kat Bjelland, bassist Maureen Herman, and drummer Lori Barbero — provided a powerful counterweight. Bjelland shifted between a girlish coo and a range of demonic shrieks and bellows, embodying rage and despair with terrifying immediacy, and the music was every bit as fierce as her voice. Their sound was somewhere between grunge and metal, but Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo’s production allowed the dissonance in Bjelland’s guitar style to come to the fore in between the crushing riffs, while keeping Herman and Barbero nice and loud in the mix, too. The songs had a punk-rock concision, mostly coming in well under the three-minute mark and getting to the point quickly and emphatically.

– Phil Freeman