Fukk

I like bands which straddle the line between stupid jokes and serious art; you get all the fun of being dumb as rocks, but with a little pang of refinement which elevates the artistic value slightly above making fart noises for easily amused children. As such it makes sense I'd be a SadEx fan. These guys are such incredibly obnoxious cunts that their music often approaches asinine fucking about, but at the same time it's not quite as recklessly dimwitted as expected. This is a band primarily existing around the premise that spelling poorly and yelling unmusically about how everyone is a kunt who should get fukked is really funny. They're not wrong -it's hilarious- but this isn't the album I'd make with that idea. If *I* was gonna make a band made around the core attitude of Sadistik Exekution I'd be doing some super sloppy war metal clocking in at 16 minutes in length where the speed never drops under 190bpm for any reason, but Fukk isn't that, not wholly anyway.

Starting with K.A.O.S SadEx crafted a core sound that pretty accurately fit my lazy impression of what I'd do if I owned the band like some kind of paralytic death metal circus animal, and it's certainly in full swing here. Sloth blasts away with a snare that dominates the instrumental part of the mix. Rev. Hades churns out some ugly and fast tremolo riffs which don't really make much sense musically or melodically, approaching a war metal blur in an almost Portal-esque fashion at times but with none of the high art considerations. Dave Slave pops in with a random bass solo or just adds to the maelstrom. Finally Rok stumbles in completely off-his-tits maggoted and starts yelling gibberish at anyone in the room with his construction-site-manager-just-caught-you-forklift-jousting highly accented Australian shouting. This is the sound that the band is known for and they're not afraid to go all in with it. It's big, stupid, noisy, silly and, most shockingly, not even remotely overdone.

This is because Fukk is an unexpectedly versatile album. Sure the album spends a lot of time being fast, but bursts of pure frenzied Fukking are doled out with far more care than a band which dedicates entire minutes to yelling at the listener should be considerate of. Some of the shorter tracks like "Organised Sadistik Abuse" and "Blakk Mass Murder” stick almost entirely to the chaos, but they're always spread about with atmospheric and moody numbers like "Koffin White" or “Fukkminded”. The longer tracks likewise are both placed sporadically and all take some novel adventures like the atmospheric and moody segments in "Spiritual Dynamix". When they drop a rampaging "fukk off ya bastard" section it's still a guffaw laden joy after multiple listens, and it's all thanks to the surprising restraint and care the band has with their careless unrestrained madness.

It must be said the "I wasn't expecting them to be so... not-dipshitty" surprise factor is in some ways more significant than the music itself. Copping a spray from an iced-up under 17's country football coach is a lot of fun, but SadEx aren't exactly incredible riff composers. It's surprising and wild when “Sister Valerie” drops some outright melodic hooks after the churning violence of the opener, but they're not anywhere near Belphegor standards for melodic licks in otherwise violent death/black metal. The chaotic bursts of borderline noise are attention grabbing and fun, but they're not as completely overwhelming and brain melting as Enmity. The bits where the tremolo's start bending and warping are cool and bring Portal to mind, but they don't have any "Glumurophonel" level bizarre hooks in them. The creeping, moody slower numbers are suitably dark and don't harm the momentum of the album, but they're not a shade on a Disciples of Mockery doom break.

None of this stuff is bad, it's all quite good and the way it breaks up the ridiculous silliness without ever killing the mood is impressive, but it's not the best album to really focus on and judge riffs with. Oddly enough the one thing I'd say they are exceptional at is ambiance. Yes, this band built around swearing over noise actually really kicks ass at setting a mood. First off is the creepy death breathing and cutlery rattling intro which is suitably wet and icky to set the mood, then after a volley of ultra-violence "Spiritual Dynamix" gives room for these spacy, gothic and roomy sections. But the real MVP is the 10 minute closing bastard which is some kind of droning industrial ambient track and it rules. It's super dark and mean sounding and grows with more layers of malice and nastiness as it goes along with plenty of variety. It's seriously well composed and genuinely one of the best tracks I've heard of its style.... On the album known for being the one where the guy repeatedly calls you a cunt. Yes.

Fukk isn't the completely mindless jokey mess that it'd make sense to be, and in its own way that’s a unique charm. K.A.O.S and Fukk II offer more deranged and relentless experiences, but this comparatively timid middle child is the one which comes around into my listening cycles the most. II may beat it for weird yelling comedy, intensity, riff quality and a number of classic “hit” tunes, but there’s a lot of times where I’m not feeling a torrent of demented stupidity; this one leaves a smile on my face regardless of my mood. Like a VB longneck you can crack this one open after a hard day at work, a pleasant afternoon watching the footy, or at twenty to eight in the fuckin’ morning. So get this up ya, ya fukkin' dog kunts.

I see there is already quite a bit of controversy here on metal-archives.com as to what to do with this album and where to put it. Hopefully I can clear things up a bit in this review. Yes it is true that this needs more than one listen, because it is chaotic and not so technical, although not entirely without training. The music is very fast, and the riffs are very unorthodox, so it takes some time to digest this material fully. The sound is also not helpful, seeing as the recording quality leaves much to be desired, but it works for this band. The guitars can be heard quiet clearly, as well as the vocals. The drums are kinda quiet except for the snare that is mixed real loud to give you an idea of what tempo they are trying to keep. I do not hear the grind core influence so many are talking about, except that it is pretty fast and that there are blast beats galore on this album. I would link it more to black metal then to grind core. The un-technicality is also more in that vein, I would say. Over all there are slower tracks and nice slow riffs, but the album mostly blasts along at full tempo. The guitar riffs also deserve a mention. They are unique to this guitarist, who brings these strange harmonics, and can really give you quiet a bit of headspace during a blast beat. He is also good at covering up his rhythm sections mistakes, which is important for a band like this in keeping the production powerful. The slow parts are absolutely psychotic and fucked up, and drag on just enough to give you the shits. The intro sounds like a ghost with turrets syndrome yelling and being summoned, and after that the first track explodes. After that we get the rest of the album without any sort of delay. The vocals are the final thing I want to mention, they are quiet versatile. Mostly just screamed black metal like vocals, but sometimes he does this weird thing like in ‘Sister Valerie’ where he just sounds totally inhuman, a little bit nasal, a little bit screaming, mostly just pure psychosis though. The last track is also worth mentioning, it is some feedback and the words ‘Only Death Is Real’ chanted eerily. That about sums up the attitude of the band, which I think in death metal has more than just a place, is quiet fine and dandy. This album provides some real psychosis and filth for people who are seeking that in their death metal.