ALBUM REVIEW: Viagra Boys - viagr aboys
Getting back to basics in a world that's anything but basic.
Much like the rest of us, Viagra Boys are restless in this restless world. The Swedish punks have spent years skewering the hypermasculinity plaguing many terminally online men, but as good as they are at it, they reached a tipping point with 2022’s Cave World. Who doesn’t want to just delete your Twitter and get away from that shit sometimes? Instead, their latest self-titled (sort of) record gets back to basics, focusing on the simple and stupid because that’s just how these guys are. They find ways to make some political statements for sure, but the emphasis is clear: they’re matching this world’s weird energy with a weird energy of their own.
If the politics have taken a backseat, the band’s musical skill has not. These songs churn and croak like creatures emerging from the grave, or maybe, the bog on “The Bog Body”. “Dirty Boyz” is as filthy as it gets, with early LCD Soundsystem-energy that gets scuzzy as all get out. Synths pop up time and time again, like on the loopy “Waterboy”; at its peak, “Store Policy” buzzes like it was produced by The Prodigy. Some may want a little more chaos from their punk rock, but these boys have so much fun with this slick, funky sound, it’s hard not to go along. Just forget the moments where they slow things down; without the reverberating guitars and drums, “Pyramid of Health” and “Medicine for Horses” fall to the wayside of the more energetic tracks.
Lead singer Sebastian Murphy has little regard for manners, burping in between lyrics on “Man Made of Meat” and grunting for emphasis on “Store Policy”. When he does sing, he’s never short on erratic, memorable lyrics. Some of my favorites include: rhyming “crouton” with “futon” on “Uno II”, his corrections on the differences between swamps and bogs on “The Bog Body”, and the stream-of-consciousness on “Best In Show pt. IV”, the record’s longest track where Murphy’s insecurities are on full display over a banger sax solo. The political statements are weaved into the mentality of certain songs instead of outright into the lyrics like on Cave World standout “Troglodyte”; the way Murphy mansplains his way through “You N33d Me” is tell enough his thoughts on how lame incels are. Thankfully, the unpredictability of the album’s lyrics (and a dynamite instrumental) never make things feel forced.
For the most part the songs are quick punches to the gut, here for a good time because they know we won’t be here for a long time. Viagra Boys have gotten damn good at keeping things punchy while fighting mental exhaustion; it’s only when the album ends on “River King” that the record really slows down and we get a moment of rest. It’s an uneventful end to an album that nonsensically charges through this weird thing we call life, because if we’re all gonna crash out, we might as well do it in style.
Verdict: 7.6/10
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