Customer Reviews

America Underwater

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I heard Lovehatehero's new album would come out this year, I was psyched. Their last album, White Lies, was amazing. This metal-edged punk-screamo outfit managed to tap into raw anger, sorrow, happiness, and love with well-written, dynamic, catchy melodies. I was hoping that their new album would have that same range of emotional expression and musical diversity.

My hopes were crushed. Utterly. The edgy, angry punk/metal-esque elements have been removed altogether and what remains is whiny, emo, pop-rock. It's as if the band was kidnapped and replaced by clones who can only write empty flat songs that are pale imitations of the genuine article. The only track that hints at the genius of their last album is Echoes, and even that is stretch. The production values have suffered as well. The guitars sound thin, emasculated along with the rest of the music I suppose. And the lyrics border on being infantile - "It's as easy as 1, 2, 3, L-O-V-E" is a quote from Think Twice (Running With Scissors Pt. II), which is an unworthy sequel to a powerful, moving song from their previous album.

I'm not someone who likes a band to release the same album over and over again for their entire career, which is the story of all too many metal and punk bands (and rappers, for that matter). I'm all for experimenting and growing musically.

However, "American Underwater" is not a bold experiment gone wrong. The album is "playing it safe" via a piss-poor attempt to blend into the mainstream by ditching the rough lyrical and musical edges that made the band original and interesting in the first place. Whether or not this was done to increase record sales is not something I care to speculate on - calling a band a sellout is a serious charge - but this review is about results, not motivations.

Lovehatehero's label, Ferret Music, stated in their press release for this album: "the band retooled their sound. The result was a record that focuses more on their well-developed vocal melodies and cleanly polished hooks. Nearly reinventing themselves as a whole, the group dropped a lot of the edginess from their songs, using it sparingly instead of as a crutch to rest on. For this release, 'maturing as songwriters' wasn't just a cliché." They went on to claim that the album was filled with "anthemic, pop-laced rock songs."

Any time you see a label jumping with joy about a band's reinvention, dropped edginess, new-found "maturity," and "anthemic, pop-laced" songs, brace yourself. You are about to be bored to death by focus group-approved easy listening. I can only hope that they return to their "immature" roots with their next release. In the meantime, I'll be listening to White Lies, hoping.

When I heard Lovehatehero was working on a new record, I couldn't have been more excited. After buying their 2005 debut "Just Breathe," I fell in love with the band. Their 2007 follow-up only tripled my admiration for the group. Songs like "Of Sound & Fury", "Amity," and "I'll Make It To The Brigades" proved that with age and experience comes better musicianship and songwriting.

Enter 2009's "America Underwater," one of the most disappointing releases of the year. Forget that they changed their sound, dropping the perfect blend of melody and aggression that made the group so special and instead taking up a trendy rock/pop sound sure to please only 17 year old girls in leggings. What we have here is a collection of poorly written songs.

Let's look at them one by one, starting with the good songs:

"You'll Never Know" - strong chorus, great lyrics, wonderful melodies.

"Echoes" - amazing hook, great lyrics, aggressive but catchy.

Now let's look at the poor songs, starting with the lead single:

"America Underwater" - ultra-trendy, cheesy attempt to sell records, way too much auto-tune, lyrics lacking integrity.

"Saints & Sinners" - bland.

"Think Twice" - ditto.

"Pants Off Dance Off" - tired dance beat that doesn't work, just comes off as another trendy attempt (especially the lyrics).

"Wait To See You" - so so.

"Come And Get It" - good chorus, crappy attempt at a metal riff, weak vocals that sound as if Pierrick's recovering from a sore throat.

"Procession Of Regression" -so so.

"Too Little, Too Late" - stupid vocal build-up to the breakdown, so so chorus.

With two strong points, and eight weak points, the verdict is in on this album: it sucks, plain and simple. These guys either lost their creative spark, tried something different and were too jaded to see that it didn't work, or are truly insane and don't realize how horrible these songs are. Sure, the two good songs on the album don't make it all a waste, but if the last track is any ironic indication, it's "too little, too late" for Lovehatehero.

I'm plain disgusted at the other reviews for this album. It's perfectly fine! It's definitely not as hard or edgy as Just Breathe and they have moved towards a more pop oriented sound, but that's pretty much what all bands are doing. You can hate that if you want and wait for the next new band with an edgy sound to come out, but they'll do the same thing too. In the meantime, I'll be listening to both versions of their sound and be enjoying it thoroughly.

On to the album itself: Expecting that Lovehatehero had become more pop-focused, I was surprised there was still some screamo elements in the album. Just a dash of hardcore makes you look forward to it when listening. Pierrick has a unique touch to his voice, and it sounds great on a polished album.

Strong songs include:

Saints and Sinners

Amercia Underwater

Echoes

Come and Get It

The only songs I felt were really weak were Pants Off Dance Off and Progression of Regression.

All in all it's a great album, and the kind of thing you listen to in any mood and before you know it, it's one of the top played albums on your mp3 player.