Richard BodinOkay! Alright! Okay… Let’s talk about the Viagra Boys.
The Swedish punk band formed in 2015 made their name by tackling controversial themes with a satirical bite. They take sneaky pleasure in skewering toxic masculinity, far-right paranoia, and the absurdity of modern life with a smirk and a snarl. Now, with nearly a decade behind them, the band has just released their fourth album, Viagr Aboys.
The Journey So Far
Their previous album, Cave World (2022), marked a turning point—earning them spots at major international festivals like Coachella, Primavera, and Glastonbury, as well as an opening slot for Queens of the Stone Age during their 2023 North American tour. That momentum paid off: they took home Rock of the Year at the 2023 Swedish Grammis. But even with the acclaim, the band hasn’t lost any of their bite—or their deeply weird sense of humour.
Humour to get the point accross
Lyrically, frontman Sebastian Murphy walks a tightrope between the ridiculous and the painfully honest. “It is very personal,” he admits. “But it’s fucking awesome that people like our music… I probably use humour as a mask to get my point across. I just feel like things should be kind of funny, you know. (…) It makes things easier to cope with. Especially in this dark, dark world we’re living in right now. You gotta laugh.” And laugh we do. With vitriolic, self-aware humour, his lyrics dig into a wide array of subjects: in “Man Made of Meat,” consumerism is pushed to grotesque extremes; “Bog Body” drips with jealousy and decay; while “Pyramid of Health” and “Dirty Boys” spiral into tales of drug use and antisocial descent—always delivered with a wink and a sneer.
A Post-Punk Alchemy
But of course, the lyrics land because they’re delivered with that brilliant post-punk energy. It’s a whole—an alchemy. Fuzzy guitars collide with warped electronic textures, locking in perfectly with Murphy’s rant-like delivery and surprising flashes of sharp melody. The band shows off their range across the record: there’s the slow, grinding stomp of “Man Made of Meat,” the frenetic, tightly wound blast of “Uno II,” the dancefloor-ready throb of “Pyramid of Health,” and the stripped-back, synth-led minimalism of “You N33d Me.” Then, as if to pull the curtain gently down, comes “River King”—a poignant piano ballad that closes the album with unexpected tenderness. It’s a chaotic ride, but always sharply controlled, always compelling.
Best In Show…
Scattered throughout the Viagra Boys’ catalogue is a recurring oddity: the Best in Show series. It began with a strange little number on their debut, returned with Best in Show II on Welfare Jazz, and now reappears—skipping a number—as Best in Show IV on the new record. Part III is, of course, nowhere to be found. Each track is brief and cryptic, mixing surreal lyrics with the sound of a demented awards ceremony or a twisted national anthem. Whether part of a long-running in-joke or a fractured concept series, they perfectly reflect the band’s love of chaos, satire, and deliberate nonsense.
Final Thoughts
With Viagr Aboys, the band doubles down on everything that’s made them a cult favourite—raw humour, abrasive charm, and a refusal to take anything, including themselves, too seriously. It’s loud, absurd, strangely moving at times, and unmistakably theirs. Four albums in, Viagra Boys are still the best in show—and they didn’t even need part III to prove it.
