viagr aboys
“I found a crouton underneath a futon,” singer Sebastian Murphy intones over a steady bass throb punctuated by flute accents on “Uno II,” one of the many clever and catchy tunes on the quasi-self-titled *viagr aboys*. “Mama said I couldn’t eat it ’cause all my teeth are gone.” Such is the delightfully absurdist world of Viagra Boys, a Swedish quasi-punk group with an American vocalist and an undying hunger for shrimp and shrimp-related products. The band’s fourth album doubles down on the self-deprecating, society-skewering antics and infectious grooves of 2022’s *Cave World* with gleeful abandon. Powered by slashing guitars and a droning chorus, “Man Made of Meat” offers historical perspective for modern complainers: “I don’t wanna pay for anything/Clothes and food and drugs for free/If it was 1970, I’d have a job at a factory.” Jet-propelled bass boogie “The Bog Body” doubles as a commentary on superficiality that plays out like an inversion of the Demi Moore body-horror flick *The Substance*, complete with a zombielike swamp woman. “Pyramid of Health” simultaneously apes and lampoons Marcy Playground’s grunge-esque ’90s hit “Sex and Candy” before veering into carnival music and electronic noise. Resurrecting a successful template from previous albums, Murphy cuts loose with a hilarious, possibly stream-of-consciousness rant over skronky free jazz on “Best in Show Pt. IV.” With breathy backing vocals and a chiming minor-key organ melody, “Medicine for Horses” is more plaintive, reflective, and—maybe—straight-faced. The same could be said of Murphy’s mournful, wavering vocal on closer “River King,” but who knows? Where Viagra Boys are concerned, it’s anyone’s guess.
If you’ve clued into any number of previous Viagra Boys releases, Viagr Aboys will be unsurprising, with barn-burning dance punk, grooves fit for the Richter scale.
‘viagr aboys’, the fourth studio album from the Viagra Boys, is a fun, funny and wise portrait of contemporary anxieties.
On their latest album, Viagra Boys return to form, offering the inner workings of a corroded mind in musical form.
“I’m a man that’s made of meat / You’re on the internet looking at feet.” That line, from the opening track 'Man Made of Meat', might as well be mission
Viagra Boys' self-titled album is a gleefully unhinged feat of epic silliness—just as musically brilliant as it is absurd, as willfully brutal as it is carefully constructed.
Viagr Aboys by V**gra Boys album review by David Saxum for Northern Transmissions. The Swedish band's LP is out via Shrimptech enterprises