Review Summary: A magnum opus if I ever saw one
Ninja Sex Party have always been a somewhat divisive band. For the most part, this divide stems from the band’s style of sex oriented comedy. While the the writing and humor remain some of the best within that genre of humor, it has a tendency to drive away more “mature” audiences, who have a more complex sense of humor. This has been a bit of an issue that was very potent in the band’s earlier albums. I personally, never took issue to these themes, but it’s understandable how someone could a bit put off by some of the band’s lyrics. Of course, it’s not as intense or as blatant as bands such of “Steel Panther,” or “The Tenacious D,” but it’s there nonetheless.
That last paragraph leads me into one of my main reasons why this album is so much better than any of their previous output. The album maintains a lot of that sexual humor. (It’s still present in almost every song) however, a number of these songs have the sexul themes releagted to a supplemental role, in lieu of being at the forefront. Instead, often times the lyrics are primarily based around a more interesting theme or concept. (relatively speaking, of course) For every song like “Orgy for One,” or “Smooth Talkin’,” we also have songs about Huge Mansion Parties, but instead of ***ing, the end result is actually everyone getting brutally slaughtered by Pandas. Or the song “Heart Boner,” In which the band’s singer, Daniel Avidan, respects women. This adds some variety to the album, and helps to mitigate the fatigue that one could experience when listening to 40 minute album, where every song is about sex. This minor adjustment to the formula help to achieve several things. It keeps old fans of the band engaged, but introducing new ideas and concepts. It also makes the new album more accessible to new fans of the band, who may not have enjoyed it otherwise. And this was managed, while at the same time, keeping the band’s core concept intact, and not sacrificing the bands sound or vulgarity of the lyrics in any way. And speaking of sound, let’s move on to the second main reason for why this album as great as it is.
As I’m sure you gathered by that absolutely fantastic segway, I’m discussing this albums absolutely superb musicianship and vocals. As you may or may not know, depending on how closely you’ve been following this band, another band, known as TWRP (Tupperware Remix Party) Has teamed up with Ninja Sex Party, to provide them with instrumentals. As a band, TWRP is extremely talented. And every album that has been put out before “Cool Patrol” by Ninja Sex Party pales in comparison to this one on a musical and technical level. The band has moved away from a more 80’s style synthpop sound, with rock influences, to an alternative rock band with influences from 80’s synthpop, as well as hints of funk, and jazz.
One song that best accentuates this change is style best would have to be “Smooth Talkin.” This song begins with a simple shaker heavy drum beat, and a single guitar chord being hit and muted, in a rhythmic, and extremely funky pattern. And subtle, reverb laden synths play quietly in the background throughout this first verse. Eventually, within the same verse, an extremely groovy bass line enters the foray, along with a louder, heavier drum beat. It goes on like this for about a minute before something completely unexpected, and extremely welcome. A horns section, that could compete with bands like The New Orleans Nightcrawlers, or Bonerama, in terms of quality. It’s absolutely glorious. Immediately following this up, is a great superb guitar solo. And these two, seemingly unrelated elements both mesh beautifully with an absolutely stellar vocal performance from the band’s singer, Dan Avidan.
“Courtship of the Mermaid” is another song worth mentioning when discussing Dan’s singing. This particular song has some surprisingly emotional and passionate vocals throughout the verses. The song excellently displays his very large vocal range, with some extremely impressive high notes being hit throughout the song. This song also demonstrates Dan’s ability to scream. (for comedic effect) With some glorious lyrics such as,
“HEY DO YOU WANT PIZZA!? I screamed loud as ***, than I grabbed a whole pizza, threw the *** out of it! It soared through the air like some pizza ass doves, now marvel and witness, the glory of love.”
A few more songs that I feel should be briefly mentioned would have to be, “GFY,” With its marching band-esque horns and drumming, this song is very fun, energetic and peppy. “Release The Kraken” is also a standout track, with it being the heaviest song on the album. It’s fast paced, heavy drumming, in combination with excellent guitar work makes for one of the most satisfying songs on the album.
Overall, this album really doesn’t have a whole lot of negatives. Obviously, it’s brand of comedy might not be for everybody, and that’s more than understandable. But at very least, this is one of the best albums of 2018, in terms of musicality, and vocals. If you enjoy the band’s comedy, than that’s just a nice bonus, on top of an album that you would probably enjoy regardless.
