SEXCREMENT: “SLOPPY SECONDS”

Sexcrement.  Now THAT’S a motherfucking band name!  From the name alone I was drawn to the music, like a bee to honey, like a moth to flame, like a fly to . . . uh . . . wait . . . forget about that last metaphor, because this band’s second album Sloppy Seconds is really good.  And it wasn’t just the band’s name that suggested the kind of deviant intelligence I felt pretty sure would produce music to my liking. Get a load of the song titles:

“Heard It Through the Rape Vine”
“Chemical Handcuffs”
“Well Hungover”
“Heels Up”
“Trucker Bombed”
“Assisted Living Lapdance”
“Obestiality”
“Ride Johnny Ride”

You see what I mean? Deviant and clever, perverted and politically incorrect. I figured the odds were pretty high that I’d get some jollies from the music — though that wouldn’t necessarily mean I’d write about it here. No, dear brethren and sistren, believe it or not, I don’t write about everything I like. I do try to apply a quality filter, because even my rudimentary intelligence tells me that provoking spontaneous regurgitation isn’t a winning formula for holding on to readers. But in this case, I not only got some jollies, I also heard some fine metal worthy of your refined attention.

With a few notable exceptions, the music is mainly atonal, Florida-style death metal with a little thrash, a little death ‘n’ roll, and a lot of . . . deviance. It also includes a dash of grind, a dose of d-beat, a sprinkling of slam, and a fistful of groove. It’s fast-paced and in-your-face and as headbang material goes, it’s aces.

Sexcrement bring the gritty, dirty riffs and a hard charge of chugging. But they also work the rhythm changes on most of the songs, and they can get flashy with the guitar and drum work, especially on “Well Hungover” (which includes this memorable sample at the end: “I use alcohol not only to celebrate, but to forget. I can find just about any reason to drink”), “Trucker Bombed” (which is full of jumping, staggered riffs and ends with another nice sample: “and now if you don’t mind, it’s time for the liquor to take effect”), and the closing track (which I’ll come to eventually).

I dig the raucous flurry of riffing that begins “Heels Up” and the thumping bass notes that push that song along. I dig the tremolo nuttiness and the unstable rhythms in “Assisted Living Lapdance” and that song’s general aura of squealing, smashing mayhem. I like the cymbal crashes and the murderous double-bass on “Heels Up” (and elsewhere).

Shit, I like every damn song on the album. But I do have to make special mention of the closing track.

“Ride Johnny Ride” is more than 13 minutes long — though it includes around four minutes of silence at the end before a final nanosecond of a gang shout (which I can’t make out). It’s like some kind of tech-death manifesto, reminding me at times of bands such as Gorguts, old Pestilence, and even Origin. It includes a progressive winding down of the pace to the only truly slow instrumental interlude on the album; it includes a sweet little bass solo; it shifts into a repetitive jam session near the end that will snap necks; and I think there’s some cowbell in there, too.

I had so much fun with this album — which is more proof that death metal doesn’t have to be grim and corpse-strewn to arouse the metal-loving masses — that I decided to prolong the pleasure (not very manly of me, I know).

I’ve read raves on other metal sites about Sexcrement’s official video for “Trucker Bombed”, which was made by underground filmmaker Victor Bonacore, stars horror scream queen Linnea Quigley (Return of the Living Dead, Silent Night Deadly Night), and includes cameos by members of Origin and Revocation, among others. But I haven’t seen it as of this writing. I decided to wait and watch it only after this post appeared on NCS.

You see?  An unusual display of deferred gratification. Here’s the video, which I’m sure will be disgusting and which I’ll be eagerly watching right along with you:
 

 

Sloppy Seconds will be released on May 29 by Comatose Records. Sexcrement will be hitting up the West Coast this June on the ‘West Coast Penetration’ tour (clever, eh?). Get the dates and places here. And now here are band links:

http://www.sexcrement.com

http://www.facebook.com/sexcrement