Death metal rides again with Sexy
What is sexy? Is it a Brazilian super model in a push-up without padding or a sleazy, drunken bassist with a ‘70s porn moustache? The new album from the Eagles of Death Metal has forced me to consider that very question. Death by Sexy, the follow up to their 2004 debut album, is pure ‘70s rock, raucous and hedonistic to a fault.
EODM was born when Jesse Hughes teamed up with Queens of the Stone Age front man Josh Homme during one of QOTSA’s legendary “Desert Sessions”. The resulting chemistry was so sexy that a record had to be made.
Death by Sexy, which showcases Homme on drums and Hughes on vocals and bass, is full of all the funk, rock and innuendo you would expect from an album titled as such. The first track and lead single, “I Want You So Hard,” is the most energetic song on the album.
Hughes’ falsetto, backed by driving guitars and Homme’s expert drumming, demands that this song be listened to as loudly as possible. From there, the album immediately veers in a bluesier, more sensual direction with a cover of the Stooges’ “I Gotta Feeling (Just Nineteen).”
Thankfully, the record doesn’t try to take itself too seriously. The lyrics cover all manner of sexual innuendo and double entendre, from the frankly titled “Cherry Cola” to “I’m in Too Tight, Gonna feel It Tonight,” and also “Don’t Speak (I Came to Make a Bang!)”
The primary weakness of the album is the simplicity of the songs. In true rock ‘n’ roll form, the drum rhythms are simple, the guitar chords are limited to three, and the choruses are repeated until they’re ingrained in your heavily inebriated head.
Luckily, the length of most of the songs has been kept under three minutes, so the lack of complexity is compensated with a rapid pace. EODM took this obvious cue in songwriting from QOTSA. For an album intended to be background music, this is not a big problem.
Death by Sexy is perfectly crafted for any situation in which large quantities of women and alcohol are involved. Even at a school like Tech where there is a definite shortage of the former, the Eagles of Death Metal seem perfectly willing to let you party by yourself.
