Review: “Societal Sects” by Kinkshamer

Accompanied by a haunting music box style synth melody “Foreplay” uses a sample of an American talk show about sexual addition to bring a cheesy horror film style introduction to “Societal Sects”. First track proper “Behind Closed Doors Between Beauty and the Beast” has a Deathcore chug to it with a nice Downtempo styling slow down in the bridge. The lyrics are around the topic of beastiality, thematically something more in tune with far heavier bands in the Deathgrind genre of perhaps Cannibal Corpse, though musically it’s far more in tune with the likes of Spite or Xehanort but perhaps more primitive. In a good way. After all, we’re talking about basic human function here, right? The lyrics are broken up by an intriguing sample loop and unapologetic sample look with the clever use of a dog bark where you might have a gang vocal in Hardcore tune. “A Most Vulgar Display” has some tight lead work in the introduction work while Riley Rowe’s cut glass gargling vocals bring to mind Daniel Weyandt of Zao in their brutal delivery. That riffage then builds into the more melodic bridge before diving into the Deathcore grooves of the opening track. If you hadn’t guessed from the title, the song is about Exhibitionism and the final verse plays out like a movie scene from a cheap porno.

“Disregarding the Generational Gap” opens up with some full throttle blast beats, driven Metalcore riffage and a guttural roar from frontman Riley Rowe. The bounce of staccato riffs with lead flourishes builds into a surprisingly bright chorus musically that is in stark contrast to the vocals which take on a harsh whispered quality. As with all the tracks on “Societal Sects” the samples give the track a dark humoured edge that aren’t laugh out loud funny but instead have that “what am I listening to” vibe that gets very close to a fine line in taste but never quite manages to go all the way (pun intended). It’s an in depth (how can you stop the innuendoes, you can’t, just roll with it) look at going at it with older women and while it takes itself seriously enough to not be a gimmick, it’s funny enough to make you think, “damn, this stuff goes on” which it does. There isn’t a point in the EP where the lyrics or samples are cringe worthy, which was the concern before starting to listen to it. There was also the question of replay ability and that’s something it achieves in the same way what Dr Acula do by making the humour part of the sound but also crucially backing it up by enough solid musicianship that it isn’t reliant on it. In that way, unlike a number of shock bands, it’s not a one trick

pony that gets old after a couple of spins. It works simply because its fun.