Black Junk by Exit International

Exit International's Black Junk is a hip-thrusting, filthy beast of an album. Lurid, anarchic and gloriously trashy, it is impossible not to love this debut offering. Most of the songs featured are body-centric. EI get physical on Glory Horn, Sex W/ Strangers, Shake Your Bad Ass, Body Joyrider, My Mouth is Your Mouth and Blindfolds. An air of menace is pervasive with imagery culled from horror films and the murkier corners of the fairground. Psychosis, claustrophobia and sexual perversion are all present and delightfully incorrect. No room here either for gloomy introspection - Black Junk is as much a trip through the fun house as the mad house.

Exit International consist of TWO bass guitarists and a drummer. Such self-imposed instrumental limitation serves only to bring the best out of the band. The vocal delivery, especially, is highly inventive, shifting from ‘in character’ theatrics to schlocky screams to outbursts of percussive, stabbing speech, where every word hits home like an expertly wielded knife. Carl Bevan who recorded, mixed and produced the album deserves praise for eliciting fine performances from the trio and for capturing their expressionistic verve. Like being chased around your house by a chainsaw-wielding maniac Black Junk proves to be a hair-raising but ultimately invigorating experience.

*The excellent Black Junk by Exit International is out now on Undergroove Records. Watch a video for the track, Bowie’s Ghost, here.