Super Heroines
, that gloriously warped
gothic
female death squad, finally have their proper dues, having been a seminal part of the Los Angeles
goth
scene in the '80s, best-documented on the 1981
Time Bomb
label's compilation
Hell Comes to Your House, Vol. 1
. The
Cleopatra
label previously issued
Love and Pain
, a
compilation that acted as both a best-of and a rarities collection, featuring tracks from the band's unreleased third album. (One wonders why they didn't make
Anthology
a double disc and put that one in this set -- with compilation tracks -- and make it a complete discography?) In any case, the label slaps both of their issued albums --
Cry for Help
and
Souls That Save
-- on a single disc,
, offering more
than anyone outside of Southern California would ever need. That said, this band were great extensions of what
the Runaways
had begun with their protean incursions into
riot grrrl
rock
, and added plenty of muscle, dark imagination, and stylish flair to the otherwise dreary death
scene in L.A. ~ Thom Jurek