To say letlive.’s ‘The Blackest Beautiful’ is one one of the most anticipated albums of the year would be a fairly large understatement. The band have been riding the steam of ‘Fake History’ for a pretty long time now, and they have everything to prove this time out.
The album starts strongly with ‘Banshee (Ghost Fame)’, and what is immediately noticeable here is the stronger front-of-stage approach the band have taken with Jason Butler’s vocals. The ab lib style vocals sway the track sharply between movements, and it all ends up leaving ‘Banshee…’ a bastard child of Rage Against The Machine, Michael Jackson and Refused for a solid four minutes. It’s going to be pretty clear here that the album isn’t for everyone, but existing fans should be magnetised in for what’s next.
‘Empty Elvis’ sees the band bounce between thrash and a chorus you wouldn’t be too surprised to hear from some of the more questionable “melodic hardcore” bands doing the rounds 2/3 years ago. It’s certainly at odds to the opener, and the juxtaposition of heavy to slightly baffling melodics bits only just about holds firm across the track.
Next, ‘White America’s Beautiful Black Market’ has the Jackson-esque vocal refrains back at the front, and it’s largely a half time ambler that crescendos now and again to fairly hefty beatdowns. What does start to grate a little bit here is the heavy treatment Butler’s sung vocals receive, not least because it gives off the impression that he needs the assistance (which isn’t true). There’s plenty of groove, no doubt, but it does distract from the crunch of the instrumental backing here in particular.
The verses of ‘Dreamer’s Disease’ feel almost La Dispute in their delivery (despite the much, much heavier quantity of timbres), and though the choruses have the return of the heavy vocal treatment they’re one of the best bits of the whole album. It’ll be interesting to see how the band deliver tracks like this live, as they do lean a little into the big layering – it’d be a shame to see the backing tracks pop out consider how much their live show relies on freneticisms, but letlive. can pull it off if anyone can. ‘Dreamer’s Disease’ is also about the point that the peppering of extra vocal ticks start becoming a little laboured.
‘That Fear Fever’ suffers from the same problems that the vocal treatment caused on previous tracks, but here it does start to make a little more sense. It’s fast, ballsy and catchy, and will be a great addition to the band’s live arsenal for the throw down bits. ‘Virgin Dirt’ is another ambler, and it’s hear that it becomes a little bit apparent that the band have been trying to do a lot with this record. It’s nothing if not ambitious, and Butler again channels his Jackson here over a stompy, melodic hardcore effort.
‘Younger’ slides from a slick verse to arguably the best chorus of the entire record, and it ends up being the highlight of the middle stages of the album – mostly because the band have delivered it pretty straight and not put too many bells or bows on the bare bones of the track. It revolves around a fairly basic repeating guitar riff, and this one is a solid gold pit generator.
Track eight arrives as ‘The Dope Beat’, a partial retread of some of the things the band have put down already on the record – it’s a pretty solid effort, but feels a little like it’s in there for the sake of it. ‘The Priest And Used Cars’ is the band again throwing a million things into the mix over what is essentially a solid rock track – the chorus makes it a bit of a banger though, and it’s the melody you’ll have stuck in your head after you’ve listened to the record.
‘Pheromone Cvlt’ shows another side of the band off, starting off with an acoustic driving verse that piles in a stack of groove under a leading vocal from Butler. It resolves to a Palumbo-esque half time vocal performance that’s honest, stripped back and interesting. These well delivered moments on the record  hit much harder because of their lack of dressing up, and it does make you wonder if the production has worked against the band a little on parts of the rest of the album.
Shutting things down is ’27 Club’, a pure pit inducer to close things down, and though its seven and a half minutes feels just that little bit too long, the comparatively stripped back approach makes it punch that little bit harder. The drop from the third minute spoken word fragment is terrifying, and arguably heavier and more impressive than anything in the 40 odd minutes that precedes it. The tail off at the end of the track is a bit of a watch checker, but there’s nothing wrong with a bit of artistic flair to close things down, especially if you’re getting into it.
Overall, letlive.’s ‘Blackest Beautiful’ sounds like an album created by a band determined to craft a genre classic. As a result, it sometimes feels like they’ve over-thought and overcompensated, and the production has created a bit of a Jason-from-letlive. caricature. Had the band gone for a stripped back approach and just delivered the songs loud and fucking hard, ‘The Blackest Beautiful’ might have been been the album it shows flashes of being, but there’s not much room for some of the tracks to breathe under the production in places, and as a result it ends up being a bit of a grower because of it.
Once you have got your ears wrapped around how the band have delivered the record – vocal ticks and tweaks most definitely included – the great ideas do speak for themselves. letlive. are a band that stand alone in style and delivery, and ‘The Blackest Beautiful’ is nothing if not ballsy and amitious. Whether it stands the test of time remains to be seen, but it’s certain got the potential to do so, despite a few faults.
TOM AYLOTT