Ah ah ah ah ah hi everyone, Stiffthony Liptano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Viagra Boys album viagr aboys.

Here's a new self titled-ish album from Swedish rock and post punk outfit Viagra Boys, their fourth, in fact – the highly anticipated follow up, at least for me, to 2022's Cave World, a record that was equally scummy, groovy and witty in all the best ways, with some and ingenious social commentary to boot that explored many modern social divisions through the lens of evolution, or rather de-evolution, with humanity regressing as a species in a way, kind of bringing the ethos of the band Devo, one of the group's biggest influences, full circle.

And this was done with a series of catchy, thrilling, hilarious tracks about thievery, about cycles of violence and mankind's own self destruction, not to mention the Black Mirror-esque ending that you have to hear for yourself.

Now the band's new record here, I will say, is not as deeply steeped in the social politics of our time, but I think Viagra Boys once again solidify themselves as the most serious, unserious band of our times.

What do I mean by this? Well, for one look at the group's name, or take a look at the lead singles to this record, all of which have characteristics that are deceptively silly and might keep you from investigating further into what the band is saying or doing.

For example, "Man Made of Meat"'s spoken word bridge, which features banter about subscribing to your mom's OnlyFans, or "Uno II"'s opening line, which is "Found a crouton underneath the futon." Or "Bog Body", which is an absurdly esoteric deep dive into a topic I don't think any band has broached before: the body of a woman preserved in a bog.

But there's more to it than that with each of these tracks. In the greater context of the Viagra Boys discography, "Uno II" is maybe the most telling of all the songs, where frontman Sebastian Murphy showcases a severe sense of impostor syndrome, lampooning his own public perception, saying that his personality is based on food. Now, which, if you're a Viagra Boys fan, you know how many food references or shrimp references there are in their music. Plus there's also this struggle within the track that his own feelings and perceptions are insignificant in the face of a world or other people's experiences that by comparison seem worse or more extreme.

On the song "Man Made of Meat", there are lots of self-effacing bars underneath the track's quirky rockin grooves, with a chorus that features the bar "If it was 1970 I'd have a job in a factory," as well as "I hate almost everything that I see / And I just want to disappear." Which makes me feel like there's a real scuzzy 90s alt rock and grunge nihilism to a lot of these tracks.

And furthermore, not only is "Bog Body" an ode to hyperfixation, but the music video also shows a live bog body becoming more famous than Sebastian Murphy and the Viagra Boys band as the bog woman becomes like a character of Sebastian, Adidas tracksuit and all, which is very very "Losing My Edge".

And these moments are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the album's internal struggles, some of which are mental, some of which are physical and health related, like on "Pyramid of Health", which seems to be one of a few tracks on the album based in some kind of health scare or waning health, and maybe as a result of that starting to buy into like alternative crunchy health remedies or psychedelic holistic drugs as a means of getting better. And this isn't a totally weird or alien concept for Viagra Boys. I mean, after all, their last record did deal quite a bit in this idea of hive mind and cults through the lens of crazy right wingers and QAnon that sort of thing.

But this time the narratives on this record seem more infatuated with various hippie dippy-isms and people who might take some mind altering substance to go on a spirit journey or something. I should also mention this track makes some pretty clear music allusions to Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy", and it does it so well. I love that Viagra Boys continue to have this knack to just pull some clear references to a variety of different tracks and bands and turn these ideas into totally different songs.

Another note of consistency is the song "Dirty Boyz", which features a lot of familiar Viagra Boy-isms: a very ominous bass, grooving beats, manic lead vocals, which for the most part tell the story of big group of bad boys. Misbehaved young men who are mean will steal your stuff and turn you into one of them if they get a hold of you. And like past cuts such as "Baby Criminal" as well as "Ain't Nice", this is a continued obsession in the band's music with this idea of being bad and going bad or resisting going bad.

These songs usually feature lots of low down rock instrumentation, buzzing guitars, some synth leads too, as does this track. And yes, it's just classic Viagra Boys through and through.

There is occasionally some new ground broken on this album, like with "Medicine for Horses", which on its face I thought was going to be some track referencing weirdos taking Ivermectin – that sort of thing. Which it might be a little on some level, but simultaneously the track does feel like a bait and switch, as instrumentally the song is more like a sad, downtrodden indie ballad, a very Pixies-esque or even Suburbs-era Arcade Fire to an extent. And while Viagra Boys have definitely made some somber ballads before, this one is definitely down in the dumps, especially with lines like "Life is hard and it's harder when you like it hard / Or at least when your subconscious seems to like it hard." Which again plays into these themes of self destruction and just making things more difficult than they need to be.

From here we go into a pretty strong second half of the record. We have the low down and dirty "Waterboy", which I wouldn't call another bad boy anthem. I would characterize the song more along the lines of a recent Cheekface track, honestly about living lo fi, having a less than ideal or clean existence with references to texting your ex and nodding off on painkillers. The song is very clearly about being in a broken state. If I have any issue with it, it's that instrumentally, vocally, it doesn't really do enough to, I guess, separate itself from many ideas musically that Viagra Boys have indulged in before.

I prefer the much more adventurous and unhinged "Store Policy", which honestly sounds like a complete nightmare, like a twisted version of an old school novelty jungle themed garage rock song with lyrics that make me feel like I'm being yelled at by a store manager while I'm on acid. And I just love how psychotic and primal the instrumental palette the band creates here is with the droning bass and hand drums.

Then following this, "You N33d Me" is actually a pretty cute cut on the album, which on the surface sounds like any other grimy rocker Viagra Boys have created in the past, but it's actually a pretty endearing love song about all of these quirky aspects of your personality and various facts that are kind of bumbling around in your head and how essentially none of that matters if you don't have another person to share that with.

Calling back again to Viagra Boys' past, we have the track "Best in Show Pt. IV", which yes, cool, sick, we're adding once again to the "Best in Show" series, which led to lots of zany, silly spoken word highlights on previous releases. But this time we're not really getting the many weird dog show references that we have gotten in the past. Honestly, the overall vibe vibe and performance of this track resembles that of "Creepy Crawlers" off of Cave World more than anything in terms of just giving us this very immersive and enthralling linear instrumental with frontman Sebastian Murphy just ranting and raving on top of it. But this time, instead of coming across like a guy who has been on maybe one too many Flat Earth message boards, Sebastian Murphy is bringing a lot of the album's themes of psychedelics and spirituality and health full circle, rambling about needing access to heaven and also saying I'm gonna eat insects, amphibians, just to slow down my immune system. Slowly, slowly slowing down.

Following this, the closing track I'm not totally crazy about, but I do think in concept it is trying to provide a sense of place in the same way that the closer to Cave World did. But rather than seeing sort of like this bloody mess where everything is sort of like wiped clean for a total reset to happen and the whole cycle to begin again, we are instead left with Sebastian Murphy performing this very painfully sad tune with whimpering lead vocals over a piano that eventually ends in what sounds like chatter over dinner at a restaurant. Something like that. Which leaves the record feeling like this whole album.

Viagra Boys' whole shtick is like that of a sad, lonely lounge singer that nobody in the area where the performance is happening is really paying attention to. Which again, as a song, as a musical piece, I'm not as impressed with it, but I do think conceptually, thematic, thematically it is saying something pretty profound and hard hitting about where Viagra Boys' own perception of itself as a group is at right now. Which certainly makes this, I think, the band's most meta album so far. And while maybe it's not their strongest, in my opinion, it's an enjoyable album all the same. Which is why I'm feeling a strong 7 to a light 8 on this one.

Anthony Fantano. Viagra Boys. Forever.