Running at under two minutes “Beheadal” establishes the DNA of the Melbourne-based trio within 20 seconds by edging the prostate of goth, industrial, punk and post-punk just enough to bring together a gooey mess of urgent, exciting and experimental noise. “Part Taoist riddle, part lone gun-mans manifesto,” they say. “Really fucking great,” say us.
The song is about “communicating honestly, even when that’s unflattering,” singer Wry Gray explains. “Being in the throes of truths destructive capabilities. It might sound abrasive, but it’s about being truthful. Through self hypnotism I was able to briefly access the reservoir underneath consciousness and from there it was a tedious process spanning an entire fifteen minutes.”
Brandishing the best Sex- prefixed band name currently in circulation, the trio is made up of Gray – who has his own fascinating body of work pre-Sex Mask over on Bandcamp – along with guitarist Kaya Martin (also an editor for Melbourne music, art and culture mag Beat) and drummer/producer Vicente Moncada.
While Sex Mask have been around for a few years – and dropped a couple of strong tracks throughout 2022 and 2023 – they’ve spent the last twelve months building up their live cred with support slots for Fcukers, Big Special and Fat White Family. This spring they’ll hit the UK for The Great Escape, Dot To Dot, Get Together as well a headline show in London at The Lower Third on 14 May.