Last Plague

Sex and Murder (2009)

Mike M.

Last Plague's debut full-length album, Sex and Murder, is a 35-minute blast of energized hardcore from Vancouver, Canada.

However, calling the release purely a hardcore album doesn't really do justice to the mixed bag of musical genres heard in the songs, ranging from touches of jazz to straight-ahead rock 'n' roll to early '90s D.C. hardcore. These styles merge to create something different and not easily categorized. What is obvious is the high level of precision and skilled musicianship displayed on the album, from the furious guitar and bass riffs to the tight drumbeats and rhythms.

Several songs contained layering of riffs and beats with different time signatures--and the band pulls if off flawlessly, with the resulting sound flowing and pulsating, making the listener forget about the odd rhythms and instinctively bang their head to the beat.

Sex and Murder is a marked improvement in both quality and musical maturity in comparison to the band's 2008 self-titled EP release and should earn Last Plague some well-deserved accolades for their effort.