REVIEW: the Prowl- the First Room on the Left 7"

I know this record's been out for a while, and the Prowl have since broken up, but I've gotta sound off on this record a little bit. I wasn't totally won over by their first vinyl outing on Gloom Records, which I understand was a first demo anyway, and I didn't pay much attention to them after that. I heard through the grapevine that the Prowl grew darker and adopted a "horror-punk" sound on subsequent records. Now, much as Samhain and T.S.O.L. are pretty damn good bands who've put out some great records, if I want some real "darkness", I'll skip those two and head straight for the Birthday Party or Killing Joke records. Needless to say, I didn't put much effort into tracking down the Prowl's stuff.
Then, in a recent package from Painkiller, I get my hands on this slab of wax, and am totally pummeled by it. It's 4 songs which are over before you know it, but they make for a great little record. Both sides open up with short, dark thrashers, like an american version of Rudimentary Peni with some Brian James-style leads thrown in for good measure. The second song on both sides are sick; lots of reverb on the guitars and thick heavy bass driving the songs into Die Kreuzen meets Adolescents territory. "Hot Agent" ends in an awesome funeral dirge with totally desperate sounding vocals.
I hear there's another record after this one which came out-- I will have to track it down. Shame these dudes didn't get it together to put an LP out; with a little bit of work, that shit could have been a classic. In the meantime, don't sleep on this.
Painkiller Records