Review Summary: Nooses Swinging, The Party's Poppin'
Sometimes I feel like being terrorized by music simply for the thrill of hearing something that is so jarring and mind-bending that I’m forced to adapt and seek out refuge within sounds that I would usually avoid. Street Sects’ brand of noisy, synth-driven industrial rock is something that a few years ago, I would have been completely turned off by. Despite listening to a lot of metal and related genres, the walls of noise, the almost shock-value style of power electronics would be something that would have annoyed me. Fast forward to now where I feel almost like a masochist exclaiming this, but I love the shock; I love the feeling of being on the edge of my seat with every crazy glitch section or crescendo with shrieking vocals and synths blaring at full volume. It’s exhilarating and Street Sects might just be one of the best doing it right now.
‘Dry Drunk’ wastes no time getting right in your face with powerful, speaker rattling electronics and breakbeat style rhythms on opener “A List of All Persons I Will Harm.” With lyrical passages like “I need an erection/Blood in the vein/Lethal injection/Something must change,” I’m finding that the vocalist might need to make this sort of bone-chilling music to satisfy an urge and need for thrills in a mundane, melancholic life. While certainly not a relentless record, as the band does successfully play with loud/soft dynamics very effectively throughout, tracks like “Entertainment Law” feature a much groovier rhythm with hooks and at times, a very danceable beat. “A Dying Wage” reminds me of if Dillinger Escape Plan had a baby with Marilyn Manson featuring a massively chaotic opening followed by some futuristic synth passages akin to ‘Mechanical Animals’ and a much creepier, subdued vocal performance unlike any of the previous tracks. If you’re looking for something more on the shocking side, look no further than the following track “Riding the Clock” which has some of the most aggressive stop/start dynamics of any song on here. Complimented by blood-curdling screams and harsh, static-laced moments, this song is very nasty and a complete mind***.
A unique component featured on this record is that a majority of the tracks sort of have a little outro that leads into the following track, which I find rather interesting. It almost incentivizes listening through the record front-to-back rather than on shuffle. Maybe my only gripe with the record as a whole is that the songs sometimes end a bit abruptly and then awkwardly shift into the little outro instead of just smoothly shifting into it. This is most noticeable on “The Glass ***house” and “Spitting Images” but again, doesn’t really ruin the songs by any means, just a point of criticism that feels necessary to draw attention to.
Overall, this is psychotically fun album; so much palpable energy that it’s addictive. Each track offers similar elements but in unique ways that constantly feels inventive and interesting without being over the top for no reason. I also highly recommend this band’s side project STREET SEX which dropped an album on the same day as this one which features a much groovier, dance-y, poppy industrial sound that is much more listener friendly without sacrificing the energy by any means. Long live Street Sects!
