Album Review: Couch Slut – You Could Do It Tonight (Brutal Panda Records)

Couch Slut, the abrasive extreme metal band, will release their brand-new album, ‘You Could Do It Tonight’, on April 19th, 2024, via Brutal Panda Records.

Aggressively honest, unashamedly coarse, and undeniably extreme, it’s Couch Slut and they are something else. Uniquely ugly sounding, but with an addictive quality that keeps you listening on, You Could Do it Tonight is a game-changing record. Which might seem like hyperbole, but I stand by it, because direct and abrasive intensity like this is rare. Not only that, but Couch Slut also make it all so listenable, even if you’re grimacing as you listen through.

They’re on the rise, but one listen through of this record will tell you everything you need to know as to why. This is an album that offers up a cacophony of sounds. As weird as it is intense, as unpleasant as it is enjoyable, as exciting as it is distracting, and as lovable as it is hateable. You don’t listen to Couch Slut, per se, but rather, you get attacked by it.

An attack that begins in savage fashion with the noisy intensity of Couch Slut Lewis, a strong summation of the Couch Slut sound. However, it’s not the complete picture and that’s because this band’s creativity is limitless. Case in point? Ode to Jimbo, which is a love song about a bar and one you can well and truly groove to.

Then there is Wilkinson’s Sword, a track that must come with a trigger warning, as lyrically it deals with self-harm in the most unflinching way possible. While musically, it creates convulsing heaviness that showcases the range of this band.

Though there may be no better example of the roughness that exists within Couch Slut then The Donkey. Whereas Presidential Welcome is no better example of their experimental nature. Featuring a peculiar spoken-word section with a trumpet and piano backdrop. I’m not sure if I love it or hate it, but I am fascinated by it, and you will be taken in too.

Bloody Couch Slut and their bizarrely brilliant ways.

So… what else? We have the sound of bleak and blackened chaos with Energy Crystals for Healing, a body shaking blast of wackiness and heaviness with Downhill Racer, and a tumultuous noise-rock experience with Laughing and Crying. Couch Slut continuing to show a wealth of creative ideas across this albums near 40-minute run time.

Leading to, perhaps, their most creatively challenging track of all, The Weaversville Home for Boys. Take that for exactly what it is, if you’ve made this far, you’re not giving up on Couch Slut now, and chances are that you’re all in. If so, you’re going to find this closer to be uniquely enticing, even if, like the album overall, it is so polarising.

Couch Slut – You Could Do It Tonight Track Listing:

1. Couch Slut Lewis
2. Ode To Jimbo
3. Wilkinson’s Sword
4. The Donkey
5. Presidential Welcome
6. Energy Crystals for Healing
7. Downhill Racer
8. Laughing and Crying
9. The Weaversville Home for Boys

Links

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