All out of safe words to try and cresting on a yet unspecified drug cocktail Sardinian stoner rock/garage punk trio Loose Sutures exit the panic room at half-mast and masked up with a butcher knife in each hand as this third time around threatens to finally get all the way out of hand. Of course I hate to say it, and I do so without any cheek in mouth, but ‘Sado Sex for Dummies‘ feels great as an easier-going and accessible yet still kinda hackles-up dual-throwback heavy rock record. Some of it gets a bit rocky and raw in an unnecessarily rough sorta way (as these folks are prone to) but seems the steadily darkening world around ’em has offered a boon of inspiration, stories to tell and an even more sardonic attitude to lay upon freshly loosened shoulders as they cut into their latest stretch of bumbling, punkish and stoney garage-fuzzed doomed rock.

Loose Sutures formed as a quartet back in 2019 and kinda just fell into the laps of the unsuspecting public as a salad of garage-level sleaze and serial killer eyeballing with nods to post-’69 heavy rock rebellion and 90’s stoner rock/metal. Their self-titled debut (‘Loose Sutures‘, 2020) followed swiftly, a rushed and slobbering work which hit at the first cresting horror of the pandemic in late March of that year. It was a sparse record scattered with instrumentals, jams, quick punk rolls and nothing all that serious beyond making some noise. All the elements they’d be working with from that point were evident when I’d given short review of the album but it was a rough sketch which hadn’t bothered to connect the dots. ‘A Gash with Sharp Teeth and Other Tales‘ (2021) honed in on psychedelic sleaze rock, edged out some of the garage punk kick in their sound and made for a somewhat drastic shift for the quartet as they’d more firmly set themselves in the underworld of grittier early 90’s stoner fuzz rock without losing their grip on their bikesploitation toughness. It’d more-or-less serve as a defining release for the band and one I’d liked quite a bit for its jammed sound, creeped-out lyrics, and overall eerie qualities upon review.

As it turns out part of the reason each record has been a bit different from the last within Loose Sutures‘ discography is they’ve had somewhat significant line-up changes occur between each release. Original vocalist and guitarist Gianpaolo Cherchi was replaced by Giuseppe Hussain for the second album and on this third record as far as I know the band have chosen to operate as a trio without Hussain and with an additional fourth member when performing live. What does that mean for ‘Sado Sex for Dummies‘? A bit of a shift away from their early 70’s rumble, a bite or two at a half-Sabbath groove or three, and a much heavier dose of their 90’s California-aged stoner rock vintage overall. On the downside they’re kinda starting to sound normal, polished and well-adjusted, but on the upside this is probably the most coherent and accessible release from these folks to date and if a harder kick towards classic stoner rock/metal is their cut going forward it won’t be a mistake or a surprise based on this one.

Side A starts out angling up to spin a yarn, to talk all of its most pressing and disturbed shit up front while the party favors still have their sharpest edge. “Highway Shooter” has this big grunged-out presence as it swings in to start with a ‘High Visibility‘ twinge to the vocals to start and a strong jogging paced whip to its rhythms. It doesn’t necessarily give you a full view of what’s to come but it does speak with a clear sense of direction compared to the previous two openers Loose Sutures fired up their prior records with. The “desert rock for late 2000’s Electric Wizard fans” hustle of this record has only just begun as we slip into “Another Hell” and “Sadism and Gallows” from there, songs with dark tonal shifts and inspired heavy rock solos that pour a bit of gloom upon rhythms with a groaning energy to their movement. Most of the first half is solid, consistent and shows these folks can carry a proper 4-5 minute stoner rock song with a blurry-eyed bent. The only aspect of certain pieces, which hit in the middle of the record, that’d flopped for me came with bored-assed lyrics about cocaine.

Side B makes good on the punk borne desert rock/stoner metal lean for obvious reasons with thee Alain Johannes guesting on the album-burning peak of “Kinky Katy” and Nick Oliveri howling into a peaking, distorted mic for “He’s My Friend” with inane lyrics about coke that he just kinda rifles out. The former lines up really well with the vibe of the record as you’ll find the rest of Side B kinda keeps up with the tuneful, stoned and (eventually) bopping elephant rock feel of the song but the latter piece with Oliveri just kinda gives a rawest fart of punkish grit in the middle of the room. I dunno if it adds anything to the spin but it was definitely memorable enough to break up the momentum of the album and keep it from being too focused on one dig. The bluesy dread of album closer “Black Star Flashing” eventually played a big part in me picking this record up time and time again, an appropriately big closer that finally reaches the desert plateau the rest of the album had been scrambling toward, yearning for.

As often as Loose Sutures have aimed for nastier, hot-trotting rhythms or dogged hooks in the past they’ve only just begun hitting upon consistently effective ear-worming pieces on ‘Sado Sex For Dummies‘, which generally improves upon the listening experience of ‘A Gash with Sharp Teeth and Other Tales‘ and simplifies their songcraft down to slightly more bare essentials. Even if their gig is cut down by 25% in terms of personage it doesn’t feel like they’ve a phantom limb haunting the ride. No doubt the guest spots threaten to steal the show here but the album is all the better for the tonal boost they provide in the second half. After spending some considerable time with this record I’d found it held up best to the review process compared to the last two without losing the raw and retro abandon of their work. A moderately high recommendation.

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