Wheeler Walker Jr. - WW III

Wheeler Walker Jr.
WW III
2018
Spotify

We all have that friend who tells a joke for a little too long. They can't read the room and realize that the bit is no longer playing the way they think it might. That is where we land on this newest album from Wheeler Walker Jr. In case you are still wondering Wheeler Walker Jr. is a bit. The crude country singer is a character from comedian Ben Hoffman, who over the years has seemed to sink deeper and deeper into the bit. It all started innocently enough, make fun of silly country songs by making them dirty as hell and making fun of the tropes we see over and over in the genre. One album gets the point across, two is maybe ok as well, but a third go around with the exact same premise is frankly absurd. Each song has dirtier and dirtier content like "Even When" where Wheeler thanks his lover for each and every section of their sexual life. He even loves her when she's doing a number two in the bathroom. "You're not doing that weird thing you do with your fist" is one of the lines from the song and is only a small example of the multitude of cringe lines. "I Sucked Another Dick Last Night" awkwardly tries to take on homophobia in country music by saying "don't know if it's wrong or right". Wheeler thinks his takes are the best out there, but in reality He has become more of a part of the country machine than He wants to admit.

The sexual overtones are so explicit and on the nose that they lose any sense of cutting wit that Wheeler might ahve had earlier in his career. Imagine if Weird Al only had one topic He could get into with his parodies, then imagine if Weird Al started acting like He was making groundbreaking music that deserved much more attention; somehow that's what Wheeler Walker Jr. has become. He's forgotten that this all is a joke and somehow slipped more into the character than real life. The wink is almost completely gone on this album, and you have to wonder is this just what this fucking guy thinks about all the time? "All the Pussy You Will Slay" a song to Wheeler's future son lacks any kind of awareness and ends up being a misogynistic bore. This is seriously humor for 13 year old boys, nothing else. There is no deeper meaning, larger joke or behind the scenes laughs here you are simply supposed to laugh every time Wheeler sings a bad word like "butt hole". While Wheeler Walker Jr. thinks it's the PC culture that keeps this album out of the top 10 in reality it's just not very good and even less funny. At least the album's title WW III  is some kind of play on words, the rest is just a total mess.

1.0 out of 10