New York band Better Lovers (made up of Greg Puciato, Will Putney, Jordan Buckley, Clayton Holyoak and Steve Micciche) are back with ‘Highly Irresponsible’, which is their debut album. If you like pure chaotic hardcore and metalcore this album delivers in buckets!
Reminiscent of full-throated Black Flag and SlipKnot, the pace is unrelenting, but there’s also a more melodic edge like the bands that were making names for themselves around the Millennium.
Their first track ‘Lie Between the Lines’ opens the album perfectly with the soft opening, which then immediately goes to that fuzzy sound that they are known for. The vocals remind me a lot like Bruce Dickinson – if he was in a hardcore punk metal band – but that’s probably just me. ‘Your Misplaced Self’ and ‘White Horse Covered in Blood’ stays with the hardcore which is like the lettering in rock candy, running through this album.
Their fourth track ‘Future Myopia’ is one my favourite tracks off the album as I think there’s a more diverse sound. The pace reminds me of SlipKnot and the vocal performance has more than a hint of Rob Zombie there.
‘Deliver Us From Life’ is the next track and delivers a more mainstream friendly vibe, and perhaps a potentially good single release. I’d say this is definitely another one of my favourites from the album and I can hear a Metallica influence there. With the next three tracks ‘Drowning In A Burning World’, ‘Everything Was Put Here For Me’ and the provocatively titled ‘Superman Died Paralyzed’ returns to their aggressive full-on sound from earlier.
‘At All Times’ is far less intense, and given the nature of the album, the melody is a surprisingly appealing earworm. Their tenth and final track ‘Love As An Act Of Rebellion’ returns to the hardcore nature which provides the spine of the entire album.
Despite the comparisons that I’ve drawn to other artists, Better Lovers have carved their own very distinct identity musically. The raw intensity that you hear in these tracks must be amplified in a live setting that would leave you reeling out the door at the end of the show, riding on their palpable energy. It’s a thrilling yet unpredictable debut album – a mixture of uncompromising intensity with well-crafted melodic interludes.
8/10
Words: Jack Wilkie
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