There's no overestimating Melt-Banana's impact in the mid-'90s. Much like Slayer and Black Flag before them, the Japanese band laid waste to accepted notions of speed, power and precision in an underground-rock context. On its debut album, Speak Squeak Creak, the quartet doesn't even sound human, as it strip-mines hardcore, thrash and experimental noise in the process of producing nuclear-powered cartoon music. It's a fusion of mechanical intensity and chirpy cuteness that would go on to inspire an entire generation of American noise-rock: Lightning Bolt, Arab on Radar, The Locust and more.