Rocker (feedbot)
Gold Member
The opening gambit on ‘Highly Irresponsible’ feels like a sledgehammer blow to the eardrums. After a brief, understated instrumental piece, a maelstrom of low end chugging guitars, vocal yelps, and drums being viciously smashed comes together to create a wall of noise. It’s a real statement of intent that’s delivered on throughout the record’s 35-minute runtime.
For those of you who’ve spent months eagerly awaiting the debut full length from a band that’s just over a year into its existence, that’ll be music to your ears. The hype surrounding this album has certainly been palpable, in no small part due to the glittering careers enjoyed by the band members prior to making music under the Better Lovers name. This band contains members that have some of the 2010s’ finest heavy records on their CV, including ‘Option Paralysis’ and ‘Dissociation’ by The Dillinger Escape Plan, ‘Low Teens’ by Every Time I Die, and ‘A Different Shade of Blue’ by Knocked Loose, which was mixed by the band’s guitarist and producer, Will Putney.
If you like any of the albums named above, you’re in for a treat with ‘Highly Irresponsible’. This record hits enough familiar notes for fans of those records to be instantly on board, while having enough of its own flavour and being of a high enough quality to stand on its own two feet without relying on the past glories of its members.
So how did this roster of hardcore royalty come to be? It wouldn’t have been on the cards without the breakup of one chaotic hardcore’s most beloved institutions; Every Time I Die in 2022.
Following the dissolution of Every Time I Die, three of the band’s former members (Jordan Buckley, Stephen Micchiche, and Clayton Hoyloak), and their producer (Putney), went into the studio to start working on material for a new project. The project was eventually christened Better Lovers, with Putney joining the three Every Time I Die alums on guitar, and former Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato rounding out the lineup.
With the instrumental powerhouses behind Every Time I Die’s signature sound being key players on this record, it’s tempting to wonder if they sound like that band but with a new singer. And sometimes, yeah, they kind of do. ‘Your Misplaced Self’ and ‘Drowning in a Burning World’ are pure high-speed chaos, with Buckley’s trademark guitar style stamped all over them. But to say that’s all this band is would be to do a massive disservice both to the musicians involved, and to the colossal impact Puciato has on the album’s sound.
It’s uncontroversial to say that Puciato is one of the greatest heavy vocalists alive – a singer with an insane vocal range, from guttural growls to soaring cleans and everything in between. A whole generation of budding hardcore singers has grown up wanting to emulate the man from Maryland, and usually falling way short.
Additionally, there is evidence of Puciato’s influence on the record’s quieter moments, which feel reminiscent of some of the Dillinger Escape Plan’s more reflective pieces (‘Symptom of Terminal Illness’, for example) or his work with his post-Dillinger project, The Black Queen. ‘Deliver Us From Life’ and ‘At All Times’ are each a perfect case in point, more laid back tracks that act as vehicles for Puciato to demonstrate soaring examples of world-class clean vocal delivery.
Ultimately, though, this record is just a hell of a lot of fun. If chunky riffs and yelped vocals are your thing, just try and listen to tracks like ‘A White Horse Covered in Blood’ or ‘Lie Between the Lines’ without having a grin plastered across your face.
Hype can be a curse for some new bands, but not for Better Lovers. ‘Highly Irresponsible’ is a record that delivers in spades, and is sure to delight fans of the members’ previous projects and win over some new ones as well. This is comfortably one of the best heavy records of 2024, and one of the most exciting new bands of the decade thus far.
ASH BEBBINGTON
For those of you who’ve spent months eagerly awaiting the debut full length from a band that’s just over a year into its existence, that’ll be music to your ears. The hype surrounding this album has certainly been palpable, in no small part due to the glittering careers enjoyed by the band members prior to making music under the Better Lovers name. This band contains members that have some of the 2010s’ finest heavy records on their CV, including ‘Option Paralysis’ and ‘Dissociation’ by The Dillinger Escape Plan, ‘Low Teens’ by Every Time I Die, and ‘A Different Shade of Blue’ by Knocked Loose, which was mixed by the band’s guitarist and producer, Will Putney.
If you like any of the albums named above, you’re in for a treat with ‘Highly Irresponsible’. This record hits enough familiar notes for fans of those records to be instantly on board, while having enough of its own flavour and being of a high enough quality to stand on its own two feet without relying on the past glories of its members.
So how did this roster of hardcore royalty come to be? It wouldn’t have been on the cards without the breakup of one chaotic hardcore’s most beloved institutions; Every Time I Die in 2022.
Following the dissolution of Every Time I Die, three of the band’s former members (Jordan Buckley, Stephen Micchiche, and Clayton Hoyloak), and their producer (Putney), went into the studio to start working on material for a new project. The project was eventually christened Better Lovers, with Putney joining the three Every Time I Die alums on guitar, and former Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato rounding out the lineup.
With the instrumental powerhouses behind Every Time I Die’s signature sound being key players on this record, it’s tempting to wonder if they sound like that band but with a new singer. And sometimes, yeah, they kind of do. ‘Your Misplaced Self’ and ‘Drowning in a Burning World’ are pure high-speed chaos, with Buckley’s trademark guitar style stamped all over them. But to say that’s all this band is would be to do a massive disservice both to the musicians involved, and to the colossal impact Puciato has on the album’s sound.
It’s uncontroversial to say that Puciato is one of the greatest heavy vocalists alive – a singer with an insane vocal range, from guttural growls to soaring cleans and everything in between. A whole generation of budding hardcore singers has grown up wanting to emulate the man from Maryland, and usually falling way short.
Additionally, there is evidence of Puciato’s influence on the record’s quieter moments, which feel reminiscent of some of the Dillinger Escape Plan’s more reflective pieces (‘Symptom of Terminal Illness’, for example) or his work with his post-Dillinger project, The Black Queen. ‘Deliver Us From Life’ and ‘At All Times’ are each a perfect case in point, more laid back tracks that act as vehicles for Puciato to demonstrate soaring examples of world-class clean vocal delivery.
Ultimately, though, this record is just a hell of a lot of fun. If chunky riffs and yelped vocals are your thing, just try and listen to tracks like ‘A White Horse Covered in Blood’ or ‘Lie Between the Lines’ without having a grin plastered across your face.
Hype can be a curse for some new bands, but not for Better Lovers. ‘Highly Irresponsible’ is a record that delivers in spades, and is sure to delight fans of the members’ previous projects and win over some new ones as well. This is comfortably one of the best heavy records of 2024, and one of the most exciting new bands of the decade thus far.
ASH BEBBINGTON