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Gold Member
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Canadian hard rock trio BRKN LOVE burst onto the scene in 2020 with a debut album that netted them viral success through TikTok. Now they’re back with their third effort, ‘The Program’, filled with heavy riffs and fuzzy bass, and oozing grooves from every pore.
Opening track and the first single, ’20/20 Vision’, starts us off strong with a snaking guitar riffed punctuated by a syncopated pulsing bass, leading towards a frantic chorus that could be one of the album’s strongest. It’s high-energy, it’s got a guitar solo that’s mostly noise, and it threads what could be three dissonant rhythms together with impressive polish.
‘Pulling Leeches’, the second single released, feels more anthemic in its scope, wearing the influence of Royal Blood on its sleeve. It’s heavy and bouncing at the same, its opening riff led by the bass, full of fuzz and played so high that when we drop a couple of octaves it hits that much harder. That scuzzy bass really pulls its weight in the album’s final single ‘Diamonds’, coating the chorus in a lovely texture that comes together beautifully with some well-placed slides, before leading us to a slowed-down breakdown to close the song.
BRKN LOVE showcase their groovier side throughout the album’s middle section, with ‘Callous’, ‘Unholy’, and ’12 Wings’, where meandering riffs interplay with the vocals. ‘Callous’ hits the poppier side of these three, with soft harmonies and “oohs” floating under the chorus and verses. The riff and vocals fully come together in ’12 Wings’ while ‘Unholy’ takes a straight rhythmic vocal hook and lets the more complex rhythms of the instruments roll underneath. We don’t see the same level of groove until ‘Break The Same’ brings a real funk rhythm near the album’s end, with a chorus that dances along with us.
‘Rear View Mirror’ and ‘Cruel’ are slower tunes, saving their heaviness for the choruses and keeping their verses softer. The energy in ‘Rear View Mirror’ is in broken instrumentals cutting through an otherwise calm verse, building towards another anthemic chorus in the same vein as ‘Pulling Leeches’. In ‘Cruel’, vocalist and guitarist Justin Benlolo leans harder into his poppier, undeniably melancholic sensibilities in his vocals as the bass drives the verses along.
As we get into the back third of ‘The Program’, BRKN LOVE have a couple of heavy treats for us with ‘Wisdom Teeth’ and ‘Shades Of You’. ‘Wisdom Teeth’ takes a classic blues rock template and accelerates it, ramping up the energy as the song crashes along. ‘Shades Of You’ grinds through, displaced hi-hats sounding out a dark disco note outside of deep, heavy guitars.
‘Shiver’ takes us out on a melancholic note. Even lyrically – “Soundscape of violins”, “My heart’s an open wound” – it rings a darker note. Apt, then, that the chorus is one of the least poppy on the album, trading any kind of anthemic notes for punchy, staccato guitars and minor-key vocals. It’s a strong closer, doing what a closing song is meant to – a departure from the rest of the album, before we depart the album itself.
‘The Program’ brings together Royal Blood-esque hard rock with elements of blues, country-western and pop-rock. It’s driven by riffs and syncopated rhythms, often hitting you with subtle complexities beneath poppier vocals that soften the discordance. It feels heavier than the band’s previous two offerings – not intensely, but enough to signify an evolution in their sound towards something a little sleeker, more practiced, without losing the groove that’s defined BRKN LOVE since they started.
WILL BRIGHT
Opening track and the first single, ’20/20 Vision’, starts us off strong with a snaking guitar riffed punctuated by a syncopated pulsing bass, leading towards a frantic chorus that could be one of the album’s strongest. It’s high-energy, it’s got a guitar solo that’s mostly noise, and it threads what could be three dissonant rhythms together with impressive polish.
‘Pulling Leeches’, the second single released, feels more anthemic in its scope, wearing the influence of Royal Blood on its sleeve. It’s heavy and bouncing at the same, its opening riff led by the bass, full of fuzz and played so high that when we drop a couple of octaves it hits that much harder. That scuzzy bass really pulls its weight in the album’s final single ‘Diamonds’, coating the chorus in a lovely texture that comes together beautifully with some well-placed slides, before leading us to a slowed-down breakdown to close the song.
BRKN LOVE showcase their groovier side throughout the album’s middle section, with ‘Callous’, ‘Unholy’, and ’12 Wings’, where meandering riffs interplay with the vocals. ‘Callous’ hits the poppier side of these three, with soft harmonies and “oohs” floating under the chorus and verses. The riff and vocals fully come together in ’12 Wings’ while ‘Unholy’ takes a straight rhythmic vocal hook and lets the more complex rhythms of the instruments roll underneath. We don’t see the same level of groove until ‘Break The Same’ brings a real funk rhythm near the album’s end, with a chorus that dances along with us.
‘Rear View Mirror’ and ‘Cruel’ are slower tunes, saving their heaviness for the choruses and keeping their verses softer. The energy in ‘Rear View Mirror’ is in broken instrumentals cutting through an otherwise calm verse, building towards another anthemic chorus in the same vein as ‘Pulling Leeches’. In ‘Cruel’, vocalist and guitarist Justin Benlolo leans harder into his poppier, undeniably melancholic sensibilities in his vocals as the bass drives the verses along.
As we get into the back third of ‘The Program’, BRKN LOVE have a couple of heavy treats for us with ‘Wisdom Teeth’ and ‘Shades Of You’. ‘Wisdom Teeth’ takes a classic blues rock template and accelerates it, ramping up the energy as the song crashes along. ‘Shades Of You’ grinds through, displaced hi-hats sounding out a dark disco note outside of deep, heavy guitars.
‘Shiver’ takes us out on a melancholic note. Even lyrically – “Soundscape of violins”, “My heart’s an open wound” – it rings a darker note. Apt, then, that the chorus is one of the least poppy on the album, trading any kind of anthemic notes for punchy, staccato guitars and minor-key vocals. It’s a strong closer, doing what a closing song is meant to – a departure from the rest of the album, before we depart the album itself.
‘The Program’ brings together Royal Blood-esque hard rock with elements of blues, country-western and pop-rock. It’s driven by riffs and syncopated rhythms, often hitting you with subtle complexities beneath poppier vocals that soften the discordance. It feels heavier than the band’s previous two offerings – not intensely, but enough to signify an evolution in their sound towards something a little sleeker, more practiced, without losing the groove that’s defined BRKN LOVE since they started.
WILL BRIGHT