Further research uncovered it as a term used to describe the rhythm sections of early 1970s Krautrock bands like Can and Neu! The drum part being in and of itself, without any formal fills or separate parts for verses and choruses. The doubled layered vocals hint more at schizophrenia than harmony, and the tom heavy drums on the album are often referred to in reviews as being вЂmotorikвЂ™.Д«eing children of the 1970s and raised on a diet of Chirpy Chirpy Cheep-Cheep and Clive Dunn singing вЂGrandadвЂ™, вЂMotorikвЂ™ was not yet in our vocabulary. The opening bars of The Scream features SeverinвЂ™s sliding bass, McKayвЂ™s spacious guitar, and eventually the booming, almost war-like drums of Morris, as SiouxsieвЂ™s distant wails make their first dramatic entrance. Drawing from a darker emotional and musical palette, the Banshees introduced themselves with an altogether more foreboding presence than their contemporaries. Despite already being familiar with earlier versions of the songs Overground, Carcass, Mirage, Metal Postcard and Suburban Relapse which had been included in the bandвЂ™s John Peel sessions, The Scream presented the opportunity to hear them as a single piece of work.

Even to its young listeners it was obvious that this LP was somehow different, and вЂњnewвЂќ sounding. The finished album sounded like nothing else. With the classic early Banshees line up of Sioux, Severin, Morris and McKay it used art school sensibilities and reference points to make one of the most influential albums of the post punk era. The album was recorded during August 1978 at the RAK studios in London, with the still rookie producer Steve Lillywhite at the controls. Post punk was already up and running, and bands like PiL and Magazine had already put the brakes on simply whining and screaming at a voluminous 90mph, but post punk might have evolved very differently had it not been for The Scream. However, the timing of their debut album release allowed them to spearhead and define something more interesting than the repeat continuation of the short sharp shock punk rock of their earlier contemporaries. The Banshees were already behind in acquiring a record deal, and had been forced to sit out the first wave of punk releases by bands like the Pistols, The Clash and the Adverts. Released on 13 th November 1978, The Scream was the debut LP by Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Banshees fast and low