My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult are an american industrial rock group based in Chicago, Illinois who have been operating since 1987. They were part of the celebrated Wax Trax! Records label alongside such names as Ministry, KMFDM, and Front 242, and helped form a core part of the scene in early 90's that continued to evolve above and beyond what industrial music was originally intended to be. In an era where post-industrial subgenres as industrial metal and coldwave began to take the musical world by force, the group fused elements of electronic dance music, disco and funk with their sound to create something completely unique, whilst adopting the camp homage to b-grade and exploitation film culture aesthetic popularised by such groups as The Cramps.
Sexplosion! is the third outing from My Life With The Thrill Kull Kult, and is characterised by its danceable beats, slick grooves and affinity for samples from horror movies, dealing with lyrical themes as far ranging as sin, depravity, hedonism, and alternative sex, all wrapped up in a tight little bundle that is a hell of a lot of fun to listen to.
The International Sin Set opens with perhaps the most prominent disco funk grooves on the album, a sample proclaiming "
I don't hurt anybody by walking barefoot/I don't hurt anybody by walking in the dark/I don't hurt anybody running around at night/I don't hurt anybody/I just want to be myself". Strong bass rhythms, keys and liquid guitar lines fuse together perfectly as female vocals sing "
The heat is on/Watch out baby here we come". It works.
Leathersex is excellent, a strong beat propels it at the beginning as a sample asks of the listener "
Bored with your sex life?" over and over. The song features lots of moaning, and a cheesy deep voice saying "
Leathersex" intermittently, with the strong blend of female and male vocals that characterises much of the album it's a perfectly hedonist exercise in early 90's alternative dance.
A Martini Built For 2 follows a similar, but winning formula as does title track
Sexplosion! (which feels a bit more rock orientated with its guitars) and
Mystery Babylon ("
Do you dig umm.. masochism all? Do you dig getting beat?"). The album is very sample heavy, and in this case it is a good thing.
Dream Baby,
Princess Of The Queens (The Lost Generation) and
A Continental Touch lean further towards the dance side of affairs then the rest of the album does and could almost pass for early 90's radio singles. The vibrant keys and strong vocal hooks have an uplifting, celebratory vibe that dwell firmly in a love for pop music, and are executed very well. The best song on the album is perhaps the most rock orientated however,
Sex On Wheelz has a fantastic riff and sleazy swagger, as vocalist Groovie Man sings the chorus "
Do my kisses burn? Do they take your breath? You got a lesson to learn/I'm the kiss of death". Its trumpet stabs are unbelievably awesome, but only but one highlight of a great album.
Sexplosion! is an prize example of the fruitful creativity coming out of the early 90's industrial scene, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult feeling comfortably at home with their Wax Trax! labelmates but still managing to provide their own unique stamp of appeal. It's danceable, sleazy, and embodies everything that the individuality and hedonism of rock and roll has always been about just with a great deal more synth and disco beats included for good measure. It feels just like it's title, an orgasm.
