Sex Glands

Raw, frantic, and borderline satanic, Toronto’s own Sex Glands featuring Jared Mitchell, Molly Rapp and Marko Visnjic, are a resurrection of 90s Steve Albini era noise rock with 80s Texan punk psychedelia. Their self titled debut EP traverses the lines of furious rhythmic assaults, and abrupt, guttural shouts, with spacious melodies and skillfully crafted guitar lines, emerging into a symphonic disarray of sound and raucous energy. The EP’s amphetamine laced drumbeats, coupled with the manic vocal howls of vocalist Jared Mitchell are well complimented by the band’s momentary lapses into hushed, dissonant melodies that resemble nightmarish lullabies. The band serves as a perfect gateway for those toeing the line on up-beat pop punk, towards an innovative reinvention of classic hardcore punk, building upon the likes of legendary acts such as Husker Du, Scratch Acid, and Butthole Surfers.


“Business Meeting” is tumultuous, a spasmodic mash of stop-start breaks and hysteric crescendos, indicative of Fugazi’s primality brought together with the progressive intergalactic soundscapes of Rush and topped with piercing, guttural, abrupt vocals resembling the likes of Nirvana’s Bleach.

“Lip” sounds like Minor threat in the grunge era, but Ian Mackaye being replaced with the manic desperation of a shrieking Billy Corgan. The throttling backbeat is interlaced with a healthy dose of Butthole Surfers Psychedelia, creating an all out assault of feedback and noise with euphoric and sweet, hauntingly claustrophobic melodies.


“Be My” serves as an interlude for the album, with a more brutal form of Shoegaze tendencies, allowing for momentary breaths of harmony and sweetness before further plunging back down into the now homely sense of havoc laid out on the previous songs. The sudden shifts in dynamic marked by heavy drum fills and menacing guitar lines are a modern reflection of Black Flag’s ‘My War’

‘Cat Mom’ returns towards the frenzied energy of ‘Lip’, complete with Dead Kennedy’s Surf Rock inspired guitar and the now signature hallucinatory interludes of echoing guitar before the band implodes on itself once again.

“Government Cheese” the closing track, is a highlight of the album for its clean break from the destructiveness of the previous tracks, allowing a brief moment of repose and melodic savour, The song cleverly manipulates spaciousness and minimalist elements to bring a clear focus on the rich, emotive, despairing vocal melodies of Nathan, along with the sweetly decaying guitar hooks.

For all its madness and crazed delirium, the album leaves a deafening silence in its wake, leaving the listener begging for a return to the EP’s harmonious descent into full a blown psychotic breakdown.

Listen Here: https://open.spotify.com/album/1ERjn0VrnYGW8rnOnCemCC?si=GndsFJMQTSeUTqv-iF2NHw

Matt Render is a musician, comedian, and writer hermit from Toronto Canada - Incerto