This could be a pretty good year!
The Loved Ones here have produced a fantastic full-throttle rock album with a heavy punk edge that is a refreshing musical gem. It could well be that because I am a big Alkaline Trio fan, and of late have started to listen to Hot Water Music, the similarities of these styles are here for all to see, and so appeal to me all the more. Or it could be that this is a great album that I have heard nothing of the like previously.
Right from the off with first song, ‘Pretty Good Year’ you have Dave Hause’s strained and gravely vocals that are a cross between Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen and Chuck Ragan, over quick melodic guitar licks building into a catchy tune. This carries on with, ‘The Inquirer’ which has a faster beat and chugging guitars, but never letting up the catchy and aggressive rock. This sets us up nicely for the best song on the album, ‘The Bridge’ that is instantly memorable with the anthem feeling of big guitar riffs, and with guitarist Dave Walsh harmonising perfectly vocally by lacing the razorblade rawness of the other Dave’s vocals with a sugar-sweet coating. Excellent.
Of course I remember reviewing a great single by the punk band The Explosion a couple of years back, and I learn here that Dave Walsh and Chris Gonzalez of The Loved Ones, were members of that band. ‘Sarah’s Game’ jumps out with the punchy rock of ‘Pretty Good Year’, before things slow down and get a little more thoughtful in the folky/rock of ‘Brittle Heart’ which could have been a Soul Asylum song. “Oh, you built me up inside your brittle heart // and I just burned down everything…” sings Dave in the chorus, showing us that The Loved Ones are just as happy playing folk/rock as they are with punk rock. This is also evident in next song, ‘Selfish Masquerade’ which is a little more Chuck Ragan. It’s deep and well constructed.
This album, ‘Build & Burn’- which is the second album by the band - flows very well and so the slightly more country rock feel carries smoothly on with the fast paced, ‘3rd Shift’, before, ‘Louisiana’ which sounds as though it should be a traditional song mixed with some Johnny Cash, in the simple and catchy lyrics which for the most part are, “They’re pounding nails in Louisiana // they’re pounding nails…”
Things then go more punk rock with some nice pounding drums from Michael Sneeringer, in ‘Dear Laura’ before the last song, ‘I Swear’ which sounds a little more like Alkaline Trio and is a good example that no matter how catchy the songs are, there are no throwaway lyrics here, as each of the songs are intricate and well thought out slices of poetry laid down with some well-gelled musical accompaniment in the background.
Produced by the band’s friends Pete Steinkopf and Bryan Kienien who are members of the band Bouncing Souls, ‘Build & Burn’ is already an early tip for album of the year. It’s not often that an album can boast ten songs that truly do stand on their own, nor also have the ability to be put together smoothly without each song sounding like the one before it. So basically, go out and buy this record now…
The Loved Ones websites:
www. thelovedonesband.com
www.myspace.com/thelovedones