Review Summary: Turbonegro tries to reach out of silence after being quiet for 5 years.
After Hank von Helvete left Turbonegro for reasons that center around rehab, trying to stay away from drugs, and the possible chance of musical or internal conflicts. What ever the reason may be, the rest of the Turbonegro entourage had Lebron James sized shoes to fill. So instead of getting a singer that sounds similar to Hank with a tenor range, they instead get a guy with an overall raspy smoker's voice. I know I'm nowhere to judge the man's talent, because he's still a solid singer and all. Across-the-board, the new singer that goes by the epithet of 'Duke of Nothing', can really be the Duke of Nothing on about fifty percent of the album. I don't know how clear my previous statement was, but what I'm trying to say is that he just doesn't fit in Turbonegro, by any of the means. But he is a quality singer, just not in Turbonegro standards.
As the album goes, it's upbeat, in your face punk, that has... (for the lack of better words) retarded party lyrics, as usual. Now I'm not going to quote lyrics, but when you listen to the lyrics from
Mister Sister or
You Give me Worms, you'll know what I'm talking about. But seriously who gives a *** about lyrics on an album that's meant for fun? I'll tell you who, it's the Westboro Baptist Church. Seriously though, the lyrics are comical and is meant for fun, yet it still contains that Turbonegro edge. Even if the main attention for this album is the vocalist replacement of Hank von Helvete, with a singer who doesn't even fit the Turbonegro outfit musically. That doesn't give me an excuse for not talking about the others. The guitars vary in quality throughout the entire album, whether they be typical rhythmic power chord progressions, or entire songs that center around the guitar itself, such as
Buried Alive. Also the guitars don't just throw out solos in every song either, it's like every now-and-again. Surprisingly enough, I'm quite fine with that, because 'Euroboy' and 'Rune Rebellion' aren't rushing and crapping out half-assed solos. So their ultimate verdict on their performance is: great. Unfortunately, there is nothing positive or note worthy of Happy-Tom (bass) and Tommy Manboy (drums), besides saying they were solid at best.
All in all,
Sexual Harassment seems to be a hit or miss album. Instead of entering the ranks of their classic era of 1999 – 2005, we just see another average album that maintains consistency of being rather enjoyable, but nothing ground shaking within their discography. My expected reactions regarding this album will be: Turbonegro elitist are totally raging and condemning this album, and then listens to
All My Friends Are Dead while proceeding to masturbate towards a Bam Margera poster. Or the others will probably keep half of the album at best, and not bitch about it. This album does mark a new era, but their future is very gray.
