When you're dealing with an all-female band who wear kicky matching outfits and have named themselves after a Herschell Gordon Lewis flick, it's temping to think "novelty act," but the Gore Gore Girls have both the talent and the cojones to convince anyone that they're a top-shelf rock roll band, and the 7X4 EP is 23 minutes of tangible evidence that they've got what it takes to knock you flat and make you love it. While Amy Surdu's guitar work on the Gore Gore Girls' earlier records was always good and her solos here are things of fuzzed-out beauty, having Marlene Hammerle on hand to add some extra six-string rumble gives these recordings a fuller sound and the deeper impact works in their favor, while Nicky Styxx and Jen The Deuce Pirch hold down the backbeat with muscle, swing, and a minimum of fuss. Surdu's pipes are every bit as good as her guitar work here (and that's saying a lot), and her original songs on 7X4 are just as memorable as the covers (just when you wonder what forgotten girl group cut "Sweet Potato," you notice in the credits that Surdu wrote it herself). 7X4's only real flaw is that its seven songs are over far too quickly -- this is the Gore Gore Girls' more effective effort to date at getting their great live sound on plastic, and it leaves listeners wanting more, though hopefully we'll be getting a full set this strong from the band before too long. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

1		Casino
2		All Grown Up
3		Loaded Heart
4		Sweet Potato
5		Mary Ann
6		No Big Thing
7		You Lied to Me

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