INFECTIOUS GROOVES — Sarsippius' Ark (review)

INFECTIOUS GROOVES — Sarsippius' Ark album cover

Album · 1993 · Funk Metal

3/5 · 2021-06-15
siLLy puPPy

INFECTIOUS GROOVES was pretty much the side project of Suicidal Tendencies lead singer Mike Muir where he could unleash his sense of humor in a funk metal context. The band started out as a quintet with Muir on vocals, fellow Suicidal Tendencies and future Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo, ST guitarist Dean Pleasants, Excel guitarist Adam Siegel and Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins. This band was something of a metal supergroup if you will.

The band released its debut “The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move… It’s The Infectious Grooves” and pretty much bridged the gap between the funk rock of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the crossover thrash of Suicidal Tendencies. The album was amazingly good with a Mr Bungle styled nonchalance that mixed humor, novelty and funk rock with thrash metal. The band was always a side project so was never taken seriously by many but for my tastes i consider that debut album a true masterpiece of innovation and actually prefer it to Suicidal! Oh blasphemy!!!

After “The Plague” made its splash, INFECTIOUS GROOVES sort of took a risk by taking the novelty to the next level and two years later released what is considered the second album SARSIPPIUS’ ARK which saw the departure of Perkins on drums and replaced by John Freese of the lesser known band The Vandals. While considered an official album, this second offering feels more like an EP of flotsam of jetsam including not up to snuff material that was rejected from the debut, cover songs, live tracks from the first album and a remix of “Infectious Grooves.”

All things considered it’s not surprising that this one is a major step down from the amazingly excellent debut album. The originals aren’t as strong as the material that preceded, the whole SARSIPPIUS spoken word skits had grown a little stale and the covers aren’t that interesting. Add to that the fact that the live tracks showcase a band that doesn’t deviate from the studio recordings and Mike Muir clearly couldn’t sing as well live as in the studio. All of these factors conspired to make a rather inferior second offering which is why i like to think of this as an EP as opposed to a bonafide album simply because it sounds like a release of flotsam and jetsam.

While they were unofficial members, the debut album included three guest musicians that added extra guitar parts and keyboards. That album was much fuller in sound with an incredible breadth of creativity but this second album sounds a bit forced actually and is a bit of an anomaly between the strength of the debut and the following “Groove Family Cyco.” Personally i think the whole SARSIPPIUS Sulemenagic Jackson III shtick was OK for the debut but at this point was pretty stale since the whole lizard man sounding like a conceited African American with a George Clinton fetish was pretty silly actually.

When all is said and done there is nothing on this album that is better or equal to the debut but that doesn’t mean it’s a total dud. The musicianship is as tight as ever and a few stand out tracks like “Don’t Stop Spread The Jam” and “Three Headed Mind Pollution” are really nice funk metal tracks. Add to that list the funky junky “These Freaks Are Here To Party.” The problem with this album is that the Led Zeppelin and David Bowie covers are OK but nothing special and some of the tracks are fairly lame like “Savor Da Flavor” and “Slo-Motion Slam.” The highlight of the album is that SARSIPPIUS who sort of acted like Lucy on “I Love Lucy” always trying to get in the show, finally get to debut his single “Spreck!” A decent track and showcases in full regalia how INFECTIOUS GROOVES was worshipping the altar of classic Parliament and Funkadelic.

An OK release if you really dig this band as i do but the least interesting of the 90s releases fo sho. Add to that the mediocrity of the live performances, the stupid spoken word skits and the substandard originals and this one just isn’t as funkiliscous as the predecessor. Still though it’s a fun enough album if you suppress your inner critique and just let your booty shake as intended. The remix of the track “Infectious Grooves” which is sort of a combo of the original with the David Bowie song “Fame” is actually pretty rad. All in all this isn’t my favorite INFECTIOUS GROOVES release but still a decent “extras” compilation if you should consider it as such.