Nearly a decade after their State Property EP in 2018, powerviolence veterans Sex Prisoner are back with their latest album, Cautionary Tale. This latest outing by the band is misanthropic, nihilistic, antisocial and brutal, and many of these descriptors apply to both their sound and lyrical content.In powerviolence fashion, the album is active and energetic, forceful and in your face. It's one of the best-sounding punk records of recent memory and has maybe the best bass tone of the year.Cautionary Tale is crushing and metallic; it quickly moves between being frantic and in-your-face, to looming and dark. It feels like a slasher villain that you're trapped with in an abandoned steel mill, and it knows exactly when to chase and when to stalk. There's also a nice variety of sounds and styles on the album beyond just breakdowns and blastbeats. The end of "Los Cardinals" almost reminds me of a Shellac song, with the feedback and main riff all cutting in and out, and the start of "Glass Worms" has a very surfy, almost black metal sound to it.The whole album has an interesting creative flexibility. It doesn't completely adhere to conventions and typical riff styles for powerviolence. It has moments where it sounds sludgy, atmospheric and sometimes thrashy. None of this is drawn out, however, and the album never lingers. Anything unconventional acts as a creative accent before giving way to the heavy chugged riffs, stomps and uncompromising grinding blasts the band has perfected.Lyrically, this is maybe one of the most miserable punk albums I've ever heard, but largely in line with powerviolence, and par for the course when it comes to Sex Prisoner. Most of the songs are just about being miserable, hating life, hating the world, hating everyone around you and hating the scene. There are tracks where this ire is turned inwards, like the opening track "Judgement" (one of many songs the band has with the name), which speaks of the "foul things I've done" before raging against those who judge others and not themselves. This is right before "The Last Things" judges everyone else in the scene, calling them losers, clowns and freaks.I wouldn't want to get too into the psychology of the band, or how genuine these songs are. To a degree, everything you write can have a hint of truth in it, which is then exaggerated and heightened, but the hypocrisy of the lyrics never ruins the album.These songs are coming from the perspective of someone who lives a bleak life, hates how they're judged by their scene, then judges the scene in reverse, and goes on to drink themselves stupid and be completely alone. Tracks like "Built for Speed" and "Alone at Last" make everything well-rounded and almost true to life.The songs on Cautionary Tale form together into a human shape, which you can then project onto anyone you know who goes to local shows. I've met this album before, and I've seen it get kicked out of Hard Luck for being too drunk. It's got a texture, grime and life to it.If you're into powerviolence and somehow missed this release, wake up! A new Sex Prisoner doesn't come around too often, and this is not one to sleep on.
Wavelength
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