Their music cannot be classified, but it is a definite attack on the senses. With elements of industrial, punk, and just plain weirdness thrown, this album twists and twirls through your mind with songs like Playground Twist and Christine. This is truly sensual music experienced best when you immerse yourself completely and thoroughly in it.
This is a testament to one of the better, but highly underrated, bands of all time. The sheer dissonance of the 16 selections in this album combined with the haunting lyrics and emotionally charged melodies is enough to give one exquisitely pleasant nightmares. A listening at the surface is not enough to completely grasp the nature of the mystique that Siouxsie Sioux and her band have wrapped around themselves. The album contains songs like Fireworks, Candyman (if you're a fan of the movie, you have to listen to this), Peek-a-boo, Face to Face, Kiss Them for Me, and a twisted gothic interpretation of the Beatles' Dear Prudence.
It has been a long road for for this Sioux, since the days the Sex Pistols opened for them. The Banshees seem to follow the pattern of a sinusoidal curve with their albums---intermingling superbly crafted releases with some pretty lame work at times. The Rapture stands out on a peak, however. The album is less guitar-oriented than I'd like it to be, but definitely dark and almost too serious at times. It fits very well in continuing the image that Siouxsie Sioux has built up around her. The aura of the mysterious and the painful pervades throughout this album, lyrically and musically. There is a very limited amount of experimentation in this album, mainly observable in the 14-minute faster-paced title track where she asks "How can love remain the same unchained?" Although the age is telling on Sioux's looks and voice, the Banshees are still shining brightly long after most of the 70s punk/goth acts have burned out.