Viagra Boys – Common Sense

Sweden’s Viagra Boys are an undeniably cool outfit that float authentic punk into the downstream. The live shows are sporadic, frantic, sweaty, and quite literally puke-ridden, as frontman Sebastian Murphy tends to get choked up during a song or two. He releases the bile kraken onto the stage then goes back to whatever he was doing. The utter lack of intention, paired with the constant industrial kraut foundation, brings a wave of intensity. Speaking of wave, Viagra Boys exist in a very unique part of “The Wave.” They take the likes of new-wave greats like Devo, but they are much more evil than Devo. It’s not no-wave either. It has more agenda than that. I’ve coined Viagra Boys as frontiersman of “Wave-Core” and this new genre is all I give a fuck about right now. As frontiersman, Viagra Boys are the only ones doing it. They’ve got a sound of their own that they can do with what they wish, and the product never disappoints.

Common Sense might be falsely perceived as more of the same, but given the point they’ve reached in their careers and the length of this EP (four songs), it serves as an excellent appetizer of what they’ve done, and what they’re about to do. They’ve integrated new stylistic choices like children’s vocals (in a song about licking the bag for any last remnants of speed) and more clean and ballad-driven vocals that attempt a showcase of true feelings, something you’d think the drug-addled frontman is wrought of.

I think Viagra Boys are on the cusp of a new album, one that will be their best work yet. They’ve kept us hooked with deluxe editions and EPs like Common Sense, and the direction they seem to be taking will result in an album as equally surprising as their 2018 debut. I can say with complete affinity that Viagra Boys were the set I was most excited about for Shaky Knees 2020 before that rat bastard COVID-19 ripped our eyelids out and plagued our streets with floods of phlegm and blood. They have an approach that gets the kids in an elbow frenzy, and I can dig it. Let this EP serve as a warning for what’s to come. It’s a ravenous serpent spitting methyl-venom from twin fangs. Let it bleed.

Viagra Boys
Common Sense
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