Throwback Thursday: SEX VIRGIN KILLER - SEX or DIE

For today's Throwback Thursday article we take a look at SEX VIRGIN KILLER. SEX is one of my personal favorite bands and they bring an interesting mix of old-school visual kei aesthetics with more modern musical stylings. Their debut release "SEX or DIE" is one of the best, and most overlooked, contributions to Japanese rock/metal in the 2000s and I am going to share my thoughts on this amazing 5-song EP release!

(Note: At the time of this release SEX VIRGIN KILLER was known/stylized as "SEX -virgin killer-" I have used the current version for the sake of consistency.)

Track List
1) I.BA.RA
2) Vagina Fucker
3) Aigan Doubutsu
4) SEX or DIE
5) Nothingness

"I.BA.RA" starts off innocently enough with a simple lone vocal track and some ambient noise, it doesn't take long for the song to kick into gear though. This song is a nice introduction to SEX VIRGIN KILLER's sound. We get some good mid-tempo thrash, complete with a very catchy melodic chorus, and the song rounds itself out nicely with some amazing guitar work that sounds amazing even for the EP's otherwise slight muddy production. I should note here that while the production isn't the best, the mixing is fairly on par and we get to hear most of the instruments (including much-forgotten bass) quite clearly.

"Vagina Fucker"'s drum roll-laden intro set a more heavy tone and we get a bass-heavy, rhythm-driven track here. Before we go further we must talk about this particular song title choice and what it means for the song's lyrics. Lyrically the song is pretty out there and that's to be expected from a song called "Vagina Fucker", but you have to love the drawn-out somewhat odd pronunciation of the shouts of the actual words "vagina" and "fucker" which come in a call-and-response type chorus. This trade-off chorus style is indicative of SEX's style. I personally think this is the weakest song on the release, but it does stand out a bit thanks to some interesting song structure complete with tempo changes and good old fashioned heavy riffing.

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"Aigan Doubutsu" is a bit different than the rest of the tracks on "SEX or DIE". Unlike the thrash metal sound of the others, this one owes a bit more to the melodic power metal style and features an interesting break where we get that rare bass solo (with some spoken bits placed over it) before we shred and riff our way back to the main track. I haven't mentioned vocals much here because they're not really the focus of SEX VIRGIN KILLER's style, but they actually shine on this track. It is also one of the longer tracks on the release and has that sort of "epic" metal track feel to it.

Now we move onto the title track. In my opinion "SEX or DIE" is a classic in Japanese rock music and should get more attention than it does. One of the heaviest songs on the EP, it is fast and heavy on the galloping riffs. The lyrics are strong and we that trade-off chorus where the English doesn't have the distortion we saw in "Vagina Fucker". The bass is strong here and the solo section takes one's breath away and comes with some headbang-friendly riffs in the bridge. Who can hate a song with a title like "SEX or DIE"?

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"Nothingness" closes out the EP in good form and is a nice mix of all the styles we have heard so far on "SEX or DIE". It is both hard and melodic and the amazing guitar solos are juxtaposed with more interesting song structure complete with even more tempo changes then we've seen before. The song's progression repeatedly goes fast to slow in a way that I love and the whole thing speeds into itself back up until we arrive at a nice finish. I mentioned "Aigan Doubutsu" as having that "epic" song feel and that's the case with "Nothingness" as well. While it doesn't have the outright catchiness of "I.BA.RA" or "SEX or DIE" its probably the best written and produced song on the release. It's also worth noting that this is "SEX or DIE"'s longest song.

There you have it! If you haven't checked out SEX VIRGIN KILLER then there is no better place to start then "SEX or DIE"! Be sure to keep an eye on A-To-J Connections in the future as we will be bringing you lots more from SEX in the future!

-Manuel (alavic_222)

For More Information:
Official Website: http://sexvirginkiller.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sexvirginkiller
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SexVK_staff

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SEX VIRGIN KILLER - I.BA.RA