Life Sex & Death
The Silent Majority

There were few news about these Life Sex & Death (coincidentally abbreviated as LSD) at the time of the release of this album, we are in 1992, even less now after 17 years. A few videos on Youtube, a fan site on Myspace, and little more.

Having emerged at the end of the eighties, they made headlines for their bizarre singer and his strange story, which still hovers in legend today. It was said, in fact, that he was a homeless person noticed on the street by the rest of the band, who were struck by his voice and wanted him with them in the studio. The guy who called himself Stanley agreed to put his art at the service of the group, made up of somewhat intelligent and provocative lyrics, compared to the vast majority of street hard rock bands. Stanley, however, decided not to clean himself up but to remain just as he was, with his dirty and tattered clothes, his black nails, and his broken shoes, seeing him as almost an Elvis Costello abandoned on the street for at least two months.

Stanley is an outcast, falling into depression after his father's suicide, hiding within himself an artistic soul that the band will manage to bring out. Then there are some amusing stories that circulated around this enigmatic figure, such as one that tells of a high-as-a-kite Stanley throwing up on the shoes of a big shot from an equally big label, I doubt the contract was signed. Now, the point still to be moved is: was it an invention to draw attention to the band, or is the legend of Stanley "the homeless" all true? Also on Youtube, there is a visible 1993 interview, where you can see the three members, classic American metalhead youngsters with long hair, and Stanley with his worn-out jacket and bottle-bottom glasses crouching embarrassed between them on the couch. Actor or real embarrassment?

One thing is certain: the record is worth it and Stanley, real or fake, is a good composer who sometimes even resembles Tom Waits from "Bone Machine" (1992) in his vocal performance, listen to the fierce "Tank" where he endlessly repeats "I'm a tank" or the final "Rise Above", a piano ballad with Stanley just voice and piano telling his story of loneliness and marginalization. A poignant performance as a singer-songwriter. Accompanied by a solid and powerful band that often hints at blues influences, formed by Bill E. Gar on bass, Alex Kane on guitars (who would later form Antiproduct), and Rian Michael Horak on drums.

Listening today to a song like "Jawohl Asshole" (the titles and lyrics were censored at the time, as well as the cover), still sounds damn modern, a raw and pounding hard street as well as "Fuckin' Shit Ass", with a radio-friendly chorus that would have made a hit if the song had been titled differently.

"Train" is a bluesy number with harmonica, fired at a frantic thrash metal pace, a gem, while the ever-fast "Big Black Bush" seems to come out of Van Halen/Lee Roth's early works. Also amusing are the small country roots pearls scattered throughout the album like "Farm Song" (recorded almost lo-fi with street noises in the background), "Hey Buddy", and the spoken blues of "Guatemala".

An album that deviates significantly from the street hard releases of the era, far from other Californian bands with their cleaned-up sounds and improbable looks, Life Sex & Death were pure, aggressive, ironic and were abandoned to their sad fate...Rise Above sang Stanley...