Sex Positions

Sex Positions (2004)

JanelleJ

Believe it or not, Sex Positions' music is even more intriguing than the band's name. Yeah, in a day and age where many bands sound way too similar, Sex Positions, an act that includes ex-members of Dedication, sound pretty original. A successful chaotic hardcore punk/art-core hybrid, they offer up some intense and urgent music with tons of time changes, electronic noises that are used sporadically in songs like "Worse than the Plague", "The Dead Lay Very Still", and "We Already Went Over This", and inventive dueling guitar parts that keep the listener on his/her toes throughout the entirety of this 11-track self-titled album. The music takes one unexpected turn after another – you really never know what's coming next, which is partly what makes this disc so exciting.

During most of the album, the vocals are screamed and frantic, almost bordering on disoriented, and in turn, add much to the innate sense of immediacy of Sex Positions' compositions. The lyrics prove to be quite interesting as well, with lines like these from "Heroes of the Novel": "Continue to believe everything you read/Continue to believe you really know me/I will never sleep/‘Cause sleep is for the weak." And they do touch upon the current political trend with "Aphrodite Dear" in particular, and though some lines overtly deal with this topic ("It's just this fucking king that we're fighting for/Soldiers fight to win laying ruin to the land"), it's done for the most part in a not-so-blatant way and written in the context of ancient history ("As the stars align and the gods take flight/The battle rages on"), so it's not so in-your-face political. These sentiments aren't found much on the record, meaning they don't become a main focal point.

In any case, some standout tracks are "Sleeping", which has a crazed, almost confused feel to it especially towards the end with overlapping hectic screams of "It's all your fault/It's no one's fault"; "We Already Went Over This", which begins with an eerie yet rather beautiful, sedate intro that culminates with some speeded-up, indecipherable distorted, far-away-sounding vocals that initiate the quickening of the tempo and the return of the "normal" screamed vocals; and "Doors Are Harder to Slam in the Summer" is reminiscent of the great DFL (especially during the opening verse) and is one of the only songs that features some clean vocals mixed in with the mostly-ever-present screams. However, the real anomaly on the record is the elaborate, subtle seventh track – an instrumental – that is kind of trippy and is basically just comprised of subdued guitars and minimal percussion topped with odd industrial noises and towards the end, piano.

The last track, the noteworthy "Ruined", is pretty fast until around the one-minute 15-second mark when things are slowed down and dominated by guitar noise anchored by steady bass and drums, which paves the way for the final, most emotional breakdown of the entire record, and hence, Sex Positions end it all on an incredibly affecting manner.