Hey there, my name is Chase. I tend to be a bit of a pessimist and these days who can blame me? There’s not a whole lot to be overly enthusiastic about when it comes to the overall world. But that’s enough about my mental disorders. The reason I’m telling you all of this is that more than ever I rely on my hobbies to help get me through. My great love, as you may discover over time with the number of articles I intend to publish, movies are my passion. To watch them, to follow their production from conception to official release and to hopefully one day add them to my physical media collection is all a kind of catharsis that sustains me and what little sanity I have left. Despite my love of movies I can’t solely live within the confines of a cinematic sanctuary. This is where my second favorite hobby comes into play.
I love music. What a declaration huh? Next I might tell you that I love eating pizza and that ice cream tastes really good. I have a point I swear. With this platform I’ve been so graciously given access to I want to talk about my second love which is most music from the golden oldies like Sam Cooke and Dexys Midnight Runners to the peak glory days of metal like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. I love rap music such as Eminem, Tupac and Biggie. If I’m feeling what I’ll call a little sensitive I might listen to something more delicate like Passenger or Ray LaMontagne to soothe my soul. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a favorite genre of music. When I mainline music my first choice will always be metal. I am a metalhead through and through. (Before this continues I want to address the metal elitists who try to dictate what exactly constitutes metal as well as try to say who is and isn’t a genuine metalhead. Most importantly and I can’t stress this enough, fuck you and shut up. No one asked for your opinion. Metal is extreme music. Metal is aggression. If a band fits this they are metal.)
Eminem, END, Led Zeppelin, Ray LaMontagne
Particularly I enjoy the more extreme end of metal, subgenres like deathcore, hardcore, post-hardcore, mathcore and however many others there are. There seems to be ten new subgenres created everyday. The most constant similarities between them usually consist of screaming, an aggressive progression of musical notes like death metal guitar riffs, blast beats and metalcore breakdowns. It’s the kind of music that elicits a strong desire to mosh and jump around screaming at the top of your lungs all the while headbanging and basically as a general rule just losing your everloving mind. Of course that’s more of the live experience which is a whole other beast.
I promise if I continue this series I won’t be so long winded but this being the first of hopefully many, I feel the need to introduce myself in a way. So, onto the point of this… whatever this is.
The inspiration behind all this came to me yesterday when a band I loved, who broke up about a year ago, reformed with a new lead singer to create a whole new but familiar act. Just premiering their first ever single I thought about how I just wanted to share this fantastic news with anyone willing to listen.
In each addition of this series I want to highlight a new song, a new album or just bring attention to a band or musical act I love and think deserves more listening ears. That’s it really. Just think of it as a little celebration of music. Anyway… onto the first band of the series I’m calling My Metal Music Musings. To clarify I just like the name, it may not always be metal music.
Band:
Better Lovers (SharpTone Records)
Members:
Jordan Buckley
Will Putney
Steve Micciche
Clayton Holyoak
Better Lovers
(SharpTone Records)
A little backstory…
For anyone familiar with the genre, these names might sound familiar. Greg Puciato is best known for vocal work with the band The Dillinger Escape Plan. Jordan Buckley is the madman behind the insane guitar work of Every Time I Die. Will Putney is a world renowned music producer that is behind some of the best bands of the genre. He also plays with END and Fit For An Autopsy. Steve Micciche is also of ETID fame. Clayton Holyoak has played drums for bands such as ETID and Norma Jean. You might call this new musical endeavor a supergroup of the genre.
As of right now they’ve only recently announced their existence as the band Better Lovers premiering their new single ‘30 Under 13.’ It is what we were all hoping for from the now defunct band known as Every Time I Die. Their loss in the industry was a severely difficult pill to swallow so this is amazing news. It features aggressive, fast guitar work with the coveted panic note littered throughout the runtime. It’s pretty glorious. I think I should shut up now and let you listen. If you like it, cool. If not, that’s cool too. I am keenly aware that this kind of music is definitely not for everyone.
So without further ado…
BETTER LOVERS - ‘30 Under 13’
The song is available on all music streaming services.
Comments