Review Summary: 14 tracks in 16 minutes, you do the math.
Circle Jerks are everything you could want from a hardcore punk band. They’ve got the speed, the fury, the shortness and all the elements a band like them should have. Group Sex is considered their peak clocking in at 16 minutes. Now, to compress 14 tracks into 16 minutes is quite the feat and the product of it is desirable. The longest song is 1:35 and the shortest is 24 seconds, so this is here to pwn you in the nuts and run away laughing and taunting. The superior tracks are the high-speed ones while the slower songs end up bumping the tempo in the end. Group Sex is full of humor that can give a guy a laugh, and will leave the listener immersed in the ’what the hell’ factor of the album. All this is contained in a power chord wrapped punk rock attack!
Now, it is a big feeling that the album is supposed to meld into each other, most of the songs have an analogous sound without sounding too much of a rip-off but what the hell does it matter, it’s just fun music, a fast blast of hardcore, there really isn’t much too it. "Deny Everything" is a rapid 24 second song, there isn’t a lot of substance but it’s enjoyable as long as that certain adrenaline rush stays. "I Just Want Some Skank" and "Beverly Hills" meander into each other, both have slow parts and then suddenly speeding up dramatically, more so on the first mentioned. All the songs are just speed oriented punk songs, there isn’t a big mystery flying around it and to a certain extent all the songs are enjoyable. The only song that fails at this is the title track with a big ‘filler’ stamped on it’s forehead. Front man Keith talks about a fantasy sexual experience with square chanting in the apparent chorus, this is the album’s low point as the quality doesn’t drop at all.
The only failure that the album has is it’s over a bit too soon which isn’t actually anything to complain about considering a lot of hardcore albums were rather brief. Keith Morris can’t sing for his life and his voice is rather graining throughout but with this type of music, a beautiful singing voice is what’s not needed. This will do well for fans of hardcore (in fact, it’s essential for hardcore fans to listen to this) and punk fans. Also for someone not afraid of a bit of gruffly, under-produced speedy music. This album has very low production but that just enhances the feeling and that’s the end to that.
