Sexpill: In Dust We Trust 12"

There's something to be said about the great state/nation/planet of Texas and it's ability to seemingly ooze vicious hardcore punk from the cracks of the land mass it claims. After a series of demos and storied live performances home and elsewhere over the course of nearly a decade, SEXPILL gives us "IN DUST WE TRUST" - the band's first venture onto the 12" format. Each slab harnesses twelve tracks of belligerent and noisy hardcore punk, capturing Houston's finest at their most maniacal to date, featuring brand new tracks flanked by some reimagined fan favorites from the earlier mentioned demo days. IN DUST WE TRUST. IN DUST WE MUST.

Our take: In Dust We Trust is the proper debut vinyl for this long-running noisy hardcore band from Texas. While you could place Sexpill in the same category as noisy hardcore bands like Enzyme and Lebenden Toten, their execution is so over the top and unique to them that comparisons only go so far. Sexpill’s formula is straightforward and doesn’t vary much from song to song: apocalyptic riffs inspired by 80s Japanese hardcore, a pogo beat played at “violence tempo,” a manic, drug-fueled madman on the mic, and a thick blanket of noise draped across the top of everything. While there are minor variations (“South East Santa,” for instance, zones out and stretches to twice the length of the other tracks), Sexpill finds a lot of room for expression within that formula. The vocals are very creative, not only finding interesting rhythms but also making strange sounds that sometimes don’t sound like the human voice at all, as well as using the microphone creatively, backing away strategically at some points and, at others, pushing so much air that it goes into the red. The noises over top of the more standard punk instrumentation are also consistently fascinating, varying in texture from song to song and orchestrated to accent the particular dynamics within any given song. You could remove the bass, guitar, drums, and vocals from this record and have a compelling harsh noise record. Whether you’re a wasted punk who just wants the loudest, craziest music possible or you’re a brainy appreciator of aural sculpture, In Dust We Trust has plenty to love.