In case you’ve been living under a rock, let me fill you in, Letlive. are one of the hottest bands around right now. Their raucous brand of hardcore punk covers just about every subject matter you can think (no matter how controversial), and their live shows have to be seen to be believed. It will come as no surprise, then, that the hype around the release of The Blackest Beautiful was at fever pitch. With a media campaign that saw journalists and fellow musicians posting mysterious lyric photos on Instagram with the hashtag ‘#theblackestbeautiful’, and every magazine under the sun mentioning them at every opportunity, the excitement was hard to escape. The question is, however, has The Blackest Beautiful lived up to the hype it created?
Sadly (and, as a fan of their previous release Fake History, somewhat surprisingly), the answer to that question is ‘no’. Whilst it can’t be denied that letlive. are a very talented group of musicians who have put together an astounding album, I can’t help but feel that it lacks a certain ‘zing’ that was heard in Fake History.
The Blackest Beautiful opens with lead single ‘Banshee (Ghost Fame)’, and it’s everything you’d expect from letlive. Featuring vocalist Jason Butler screaming and shouting over what has to be the most energetic and rhythmic guitar riff heard this year, it’s full of promise and has every indicator that you’re about to listen to the album of the year. Unfortunately, what follows just doesn’t live up to that.
It must be said that, when listened to individually, each track is incredible: well crafted whilst still sounding like a cacophony of screams, guitars and drums, but when you put them together as an album it just doesn’t seem to work. Each track melds into the next, resulting in an album that sounds very similar throughout. Although it may perhaps be wrong to compare a current release to its predecessor, as a listener I can’t help but feel The Blackest Beautiful lacks the diversity of Fake History. It was the fact that each track on Fake History was so vastly different to the next that made the album, and by extension letlive., stand out, but the same cannot be said this time around.
Don’t get me wrong, this is not to say that the album is not good. As well as the aforementioned ‘Banshee (Ghost Fame)’, there are some stand out moments throughout The Blackest Beautiful in the form of ‘That Fear Fever’, ‘Virgin Dirt’ and ‘Pheromone Cvlt’. Whilst the latter two refer to Butler’s various liaisons with women over the years (which, judging by the lyrics, were not the most affable of relationships), ‘That Fear Fever’ pays homage to the experiences of the frontman’s childhood. Despite the lyrical content of these tracks making somewhat uncomfortable listening at times, the melodies of the instruments behind Butler work so well that the lyrics are barely noticeable. It is these tracks, the diamonds in the rough, that make the Blackest Beautiful worth listening to alone.
Whilst ‘The Blackest Beautiful’ is sure to please fans both new and old, and see many a pit break out, for me it just doesn’t so it. A well written album with some stand out tracks it may be, but The Blackest Beautiful just comes across, as a whole, as an angry album with very little diversity. Maybe it will grow into something beautiful, who knows.
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