Love Sex Machine - Asexual Anger - LP Gatefold

Merging contemporary post metal with the intricate grooves of Meshuggah and Intronaut and a healthy dose of filthy Southern sludge in the vein of Eye Hate God or Crowbar, LOVE SEX MACHINE crafted an idiosyncratic sound of their own over 10 years ago already. Throughout these eight tracks LOVE SEX MACHINE show tremendous dedication to their riff craft, reducing the guitar work to its absolute gut-wrenching essence. Slow but menacing, the subdued anger and restraint are tangible throughout the album, never losing tension or intensity. They thrive off of pounding the crash ride relentlessly while playing around with nifty syncopated kick drum accentuation to create the heaviest grooves ever. They’re churning out face-melting riffs that will make the corners of your mouth drop as your face takes on a nasty smirk. They give you sore neck muscles and if that sounds like a stupid cliché, just listen to Asexual Anger from the beginning to the end and see how you feel when you’re done.

LOVE SEX MACHINE emerged when the Western world was descending into collective wokeness. Nevertheless, their self-titled debut album was brimming with intellectual song titles such as «Anal on Deceased Virgin» and «Killed With A Monster Cock». It hence comes as no surprise that the album art of Asexual Anger, created by French graphic design duo Førtifem is both iconic and ironic in equal measure.

With their second album, these sludgy charmers from Lille have not sacrificed anything in the riff department nor have they given up on their wayward lyricism, yet both aspects of their art seem to have gotten a little more sophisticated, if we might call it that. The lyrics of the title track are explicit yet quite ambiguous. Is it puerile humour? Is it a subversive comment on the decay of the male sex?

Whatever it is, LOVE SEX MACHINE is a ritualistic, commanding and overpowering experience. It’s punk, it’s dissent, it’s rebellion against all decorum, it’s spits and scratches, it offends you and fucks with your limits and makes you question what is correct or allowed and what is not. Contrast, tension, contradiction, war of the senses… you are feeling repulsed and intoxicated at the same time, mesmerized and offended, and yet or because of that the experience is beautiful and humane. And this is where we see the true grandeur of LOVE SEX MACHINE emerge. In the midst of this total meat grinding madness, Asexual Anger becomes so a-political it becomes political, so anti-woke it becomes aware. A record that is like a triple shot espresso for the tired but still awake.