Sex Prisoner – Cautionary Tale

To Live A Lie

It was an exciting weekend for powerviolence fans across the crusty pockets of the globe, as last Friday saw the surprise return of one of the genre’s most heralded bands of the last quarter-century, Sex Prisoner from Tucson, Arizona. After releasing a handful of EPs starting in 2009, they released their first proper album, Tannhäuser Gate, in 2016 on the legendary hardcore/metal/grind label Deep Six Records. On the heels of last year’s much-needed vinyl reissue from A389, the band is celebrating ten years of that album with their long-awaited follow-up, Cautionary Tale via To Live A Lie.

This is crucial music, this is fast music, and, most importantly, this is crucial fast music. My goal is that it will not take you longer to read this than it will to listen to the album, which shows the band not missing a blast beat from their previous album, right from the opener, “Judgement.” Cautionary Tale is the exact powerviolence album you want, with straightforward punk pummelers like the title track and “Glass Worms,” interspersed with more tongue-in-cheek moments like “52 Card Pickup” and the closer “Feelin’ Low Down.” The record occupies many important placements, not just a worthy addition to Sex Prisoner’s compact discography, but what will likely end up being one of 2026’s best hardcore etcetera albums and a historic victory lap for To Live A Lie Records, the long-standing Raleigh label that has contributed so many important releases to this genre.