Sexcrement - Sloppy Seconds

Boston, Massachusetts has been know for it's swelling but vital metalcore scene in recent years, but underneath that there's more than meets the eye. Take Relapse Records death metal band Revocation for example, or the subject of this review Sexcrement. Beginning in 2005, Sexcrement have been playing depraved death metal with just a hint of sexual perversion, which has seen them release a demo, a single, an EP and two full-lengths in that time. Sloppy Seconds was released last year through US death/grind label Comatose Music. They also have a sense humour, which I guess is a must if your singing about there choice of subject!

Tracklist:-

1. Heard It Through the Rape Vine
2. Chemical Handcuffs
3. Well Hungover
4. Heels Up
5. Trucker Bombed
6. Assisted Living Lapdance
7. Obestiality
8. Ride Johnny Ride

That sense of humour is immediately obvious in opening track Heard It Through The Rape Vine. This is pure heavy, groovy death metal with deeply growled vocals and head smashing rhythms. The guitars are tuned low as well, which means you get that dissonant and sometime atonal riffage associated with death. There's a hint of Boston's metalcore lineage within Sexcrement's riffs, but the good sort, not the modern overproduced carp! Sexcrement play with plenty of sass too, as buried within extremity is plenty of rock n roll groove. You can definitely sense it in second song Chemical Handcuffs, which leaves nothing to the imagination. 

Well Hungover (another great song-title) is as too the point as the previous two tracks. Sexcrement's ability to groove grows throughout the song, as does their song writing. Their use of samples bridges the gaps between songs well. They are at their off-kilter best with Heels Up. The ability of the band to weave modern metal elements into their death metal makes for a good listen, especially if you're new and treading your first steps into the world of extreme metal! That said, the members of Sexcrement have been around for a long time in modern terms. Serving time in an endless array of fellow Boston death metal bands.

In terms of variation, Sloppy Seconds has lots of it the guitar, which comes across during songs like Trucker Bombed, but overall the sound remains largely the same throughout. Sexcrement don't go a mile a minute though, which is good, especially if you're not a fan of bands that shoehorn every sub-genre they can into one song. All you need is fast, heavy music, which Sexcrement bring in spades. Oh, and also I defy anyone not to try and think about what Assisted Living Lapdance is about!

They produce their shortest and most brutal hit with Obestiality right before their mammoth thirteen-minute epic, Ride Johnny Ride. Have they pulled a death metal rock opera out the used g-strings of their victims? The answer to that is not quite, but what they have done is produced a truly progressive song full of clever flourishes. It shows their expansive side as musicians and their absolute disdain for convention. Ride Johnny Ride is almost half the length of the entire album, but for that you get a time signature shifting song full of classy riffage and focused ideas.

At about four and a half minutes in, there's some thick slow riffs ala Seven Sisters of Sleep and more of that metalcore influence. Sexcrement probably won't like me comparing them to what many consider metal-light, but it's undeniably there and it makes their music more listenable and relevant. I have to admit, I did wonder what they would do for thirteen minutes, but my expectation was simply blown to pieces by the song.  You may feel a bit cheated towards the end, as the song closes with four minutes of silence, but it's not an issue in the grand scheme of things.

Sexcrement have the chops and musical technique to really go place, so lets hope that with their new album being written/recorded as I write this, that they pull it out of the bag and take their game to the next level.

Sloppy Second isn't streaming on the Internet as far as I can tell, but you can pick it up here from Comatose Music - http://www.comatosemusic.com/store/ 

Sexcrement Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/sexcrement 

Comatose Music Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Comatosemusiclabel