The Pitch: Detroit hardcore band The Armed team up with producer Kurt Ballou and drummer Ben Koller (Converge, Mutoid Man, etc.) their experimental new album, Only Love. "By imagining they had never heard punk, metal or hardcore and limiting references to pop and the music of their youth, The Armed were able to arrive at an incredibly intense, but wildly unique reinterpretation of aggressive music." FFO: Expander, Genghis Tron, Horse The Band
What I Like: This band blew me the f#%k away with their ferocious debut LP, Untitled: an album that quickly became one of my favorite hardcore records ever. I must say that I was surprised at the increasingly electronic direction I was hearing on the Tommy Wiseau-promoted track "Role Models," but as with Genghis Tron's digitized swansong Board Up The House, The Armed manage to deliver a fresh take on their sound without losing any venom in the process.
The resulting 40 or so minutes sounds like Converge and later-era NIN collided with MGMT. Whereas Untitled had the band utilizing electronics as just another tool, Only Love saturates them into every aspect of the music. Even the vocals and overall production are awash in this odd, psychodelic haze. And that doesn't even begin to describe the experimentation of this record. It's a veritable sandbox of testing new directions.
Tracks like "Parody Warning" show an increased mathcore influence this time around with some seriously technical drumming and chaotic guitarwork. Then there's the frenetic "Cherry Bomb"-esque vocals that turn up on the schizoid "Fortune Daughter;" a song that can't seem to decide if it's punk or shoegaze. But perhaps more than anywhere else, The Armed really stretch their wings with the largely melodic, indie-sounding stretch from "Luxory Themes" to "Middle Homes." You'll hear allusions to everything from The White Stripes to The Animal Collective.
Critiques: I was beginning to think that the day would never come where I would complain about Kurt Ballou's production, but this record does have some issues. Namely, on tracks like "Witness," so densely packed with fast instrumentation and electronic elements, the mix sounds seriously muddled. I have to strain my ears to make out what's going on, and even then I often feel lost. As for the music itself, it often does feel more like an experiment than a fully realized concept. I highly respect the creativity, bravery, and overall sense of adventure that vomits forth from each of these songs, but as an album it's a little all over the place.
The Verdict: Ultimately, Only Love is a mixed bag. On the one hand I am glad to see a band courageous enough to try (and often succeed at) new things instead of making the same record over and over again. On the other, I do find myself missing some of the unbridled fury of Untitled. In any case, with a debut that set the bar so high, I think that The Armed made the right choice here in throwing out the rule book. More than anything I am just excited to see where they go from here.
Flight's Fav's: Witness, Role Models, Parody Warning
- Review by FlightOfIcarus
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