Love Me Destroyer - The Things Around Us Burn Review
by Matthew Hastie
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Colorado's Love Me Destroyer is a good example of where music stands now-a-days; it's a little too familiar. Their latest disc "The Things Around Us Burn" features well written songs and good vocals, however it just feels more like a collection of b-sides from several post hardcore bands such as Thursday, Thrice, and Boysetsfire. That's not necessarily a bad thing because all of those bands have gone on to be creative in their own ways and write landmark albums for themselves. "The Things Around Us Burn" sounds very similar to "Identity Crisis" by Thrice and "Full Collapse" by Thursday, and I feel that there is better to come from Love Me Destroyer down the road, but they are making a step in the right direction by writing solid songs.
Album opener "Choked and Charmed" comes blasting in immediately and sets the pace for the rest of the disc; lots of good, driving music, but it's all very similar. The harmonizing guitars, frantic drum beats, and exasperated screams following the clean vocals are all right on, if albeit a little clichéd. And while on the topic of the vocals, I can't help but feel like I'm listening to Dexter Holland of Offspring fame at some points on this CD. "F.U.I.Q." begins with a very punk intro which I was actually very excited for until it faded away. I'm not sure how it happened, but "Not If You Were the Last Sinner on Earth" sounds way too much like "Choked and Charmed" to be the third track on the CD. If you are going to have a reminiscent melody, try and put it at the end of the album so there is a sense of coming full circle.
However I feel the best song on the CD is the only one that stands alone and is a complete sonic change, album closer "You'll Never Take Me Alive". While they still are channeling other artists they switch all of a sudden to hair metal (think Motley Crüe, Warrant, etc). The song which is very similar to the stereotypical ballad which features some good southern inspired rock and mixes it with Tommy Lee style heavy drumming and then is rounded out by the sad, yet brash vocals. While all in all, the album is pretty good, I feel that Love Me Destroyer are channeling other bands too much and unfortunately picking up the stereotypes from certain genres. It's still a very good listen though, give it a try and let's hope for a little more originality on the next record. I'm from Denver; I want to see some guys from my home succeed!
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Love Me Destroyer - The Things Around Us Burn
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