Viagra Boys – Cave World
Viagra Boys' third album continues their run of warped, but excellent, post-punk excursions
Cave World starts with a bit of a fakeout – a busy, bluesy song about crime, Sebastian Murphy splitting the difference between Nick Cave croon and David Yow yelps, and some banging sax. So far, so Viagra Boys. But, after a little interlude, Troglodyte gets us into the substance of the album – loosely considered takes on evolution and the descent of man since we first crawled out of the sea.
Anti-vax conspiracies, David Icke, QAnon and 5G all make appearances, particularly on Creepy Crawlers and Return to Monke. These concerns suit the paranoid ranting style and shrieking saxophone that Viagra Boys revel in. The Cognitive Trade-Off Hypothesis approaches the above more thoughtfully, as if to be clear which side of the argument the Boys are on, but it's a little less exciting with the curtain pulled back.
Elsewhere, Ain't No Thief is an industrial-tinged rocker with one of the album's only(!) shrimp references, Punk Rock Loser treads that Alex Cameron line between sleaze and parody and Jason Williamson pops up during Big Boy for some trademark sing-shouting.
Viagra Boys are still copping from the William S. Burroughs playbook when it comes to surrealism and degenerates, but there's a confidence and heft throughout Cave World that keeps it sounding fresh.
Listen to: Creepy Crawlers, Baby Criminal