Scream for me.
There’s a shed load of bile being spewed on ‘XO’. Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance) heads up Leathermouth, taking a break from slick and poppy to rail against the world and he manages it pretty well, screaming his heart out with lyrics that cover every imaginable angsty thought you might have had about the state of the world and your soul; having these screamed back at you full volume to a cacophony of heavy hardcore fuzz can be pretty powerful stuff. This is a million miles away from his ‘day job’.
It’s still a pretty tuneful album though despite the volume and aggression on display (sometimes the sheer violence of the delivery can leave you with goose-bumps and it’s hard to know whether to be disturbed or inspired) but tunes like ‘Murder Was The Case That They Gave Me’ and ‘Sunsets Are For Muggings’ have a southern groove to them at times that’s reminiscent of Every Time I Die and so very danceable and that rhythm is what saves the record from feeling a bit repetitive the further in you get. They do have some really good riffs too, hidden amongst the speed of the delivery and the manic vocals are some real gems; ‘My Lovenote Has Gone Flat’ has some brilliant hooky moments and ‘Bodysnatchers Are Forever (What’s A Pulse Got To Do With It?)’ has a darkly catchy undertone.
For sheer pace and intensity you can’t fault this record, at a little over 24 minutes it’s hard and heavy the whole way through and gone in a flash but does leave a lasting impression; not only because of the incredible amount of aggression from Iero but also because there are plenty of decent tunes and riffs to lighten the load.