Better Lovers – Highly Irresponsible
Jordan Buckley is verified Buffalo royalty… And Steve Micciche… AND Goose (aka Clayton Holyoak). Together, with vocalist Greg Puciato and guitarist Will Putney, they’re Better Lovers – a certified supergroup, most notably (for us Buffalonians), one that rose from the ashes of legendary hardcore act Every Time I Die, who ruled Buffalo hardcore with an iron fist for 20+ years. With Puciato hailing from Dillinger Escape Plan and Putney coming from Fit for an Autopsy, the band’s experience and pedigree speak for themselves. After rave reviews for debut single “30 under 13” and follow-up EP, God Made Me An Animal, as well as a bevy of sold out tour dates, they’ve finally buckled (semi-pun intended) down to write and release their debut full length. They’ve titled it Highly Irresponsible, and it’s full of brutal hardcore, a strong sense of melody, and that “still partying at 4am” energy that we’ve come to expect from these mostly-Buffalo-based legends… Here’s a perfect quote from Buckley himself explaining the album title’s origins:
“Humans and animals alike are programmed to do wild things for what they love. Highly irresponsible things… We love what we’ve created. We know you will too.”
Opening track “Lie Between The Lines” is a perfect introduction – an eerie, clean intro laced with slide guitar explodes into downtuned rhythmic chugging, punctuated with ear-shredding guitar cacophony. Scratchy guitar harmonics hit your eardrums at blistering speeds between being pummeled by the band slamming chord hits in unison. Puciato’s vocal range is in full force here – ranging from a growly “clean” tone; to a more typical hardcore scream; to some brand of inhuman shrieking. I don’t mosh anymore (ironically, my neck is bad from excessive headbanging), but “Lie” was tailor-made for pulling folks like me out of retirement.
Without any sort of warning, they launch into the fleeting “Your Misplaced Self,” that has so many crushing riffs I don’t even know where to start. This is one of the best parts of Highly Irresponsible, at least for me – the “return” (for lack of a better word) of those one-of-a-kind Buckley-esque riffs. You’ll here it at :57 in “Self,” but these Buckleyisms are all over Highly Irresponsible. Take the quick fret work on “Drowning in a Burning World;” the impossibly quick chord changes on “Superman Died Paralyzed,” or the face-melting “Everything Was Put Here for Me.” That’s not to say the other members of BL aren’t vital contributors – Micciche’s sludgy bass work propels songs like “Future Myopia” and “At All Times” forth with dirty, filthy tones, and Goose’s impeccably nimble drumming literally never relents. Lastly, Putney’s role as guitarist/producer seems to have paid off. Pulling double duty in a band you’re emotionally invested in is a thankless job, but the production and songwriting on Highly Irresponsible is not-so-secretly a secret weapon.
Obvious single “A White Horse Covered In Blood” is a clear album standout, and while it isn’t as archetypically “brutal” as its predecessors, it still hits like a hammer. The band lets up on the distortion here just enough to feel different and gives Puciato’s sneering delivery a chance to shine through. His lyrics feel purposely tongue in cheek, challenging some unnamed POS and his misguided world view with lines like:
Can you believe you saw yourself as a standup guy?
But truth is never complicated
Take a second to come to, buddy
You taught yourself a lie that you repeated
Surely the guy deserves the verbal lacerating, but Puciato further elaborates (with a wry smile, undoubtedly):
“I’m honestly just over here happy that I fit the word ‘buddy’ into a song.”
I’ve talked enough about the savagery found on Highly Irresponsible, but the group have done a great job at keeping melody at the forefront. Aside from the aforementioned “White Horse,” a few of these songs seem like they could function as modern radio hits. “At All Times” is all melody, with Puciato giving the Corey Taylors of the world a run for their money as kings of modern hard rock. That same energy can be found on “Deliver Us From Life,” with it’s chunky power chord-powered chorus and monster vocal hooks. By the time you make it to album closer “Love As An Act of Rebellion,” and they hit you with the hardcore version of a clock ticking (seriously, :52, it’s wild), into a swarm-of-bees solo guitar, it’s clear that the members of this band still have a true passion for creating music that pushes boundaries and smashes heads. Better Lovers, with Highly Irresponsible as their thesis, feels like a truly natural extension of their careers – hopefully you’re fine with the fact that they’re going to do whatever they want, regardless of what anyone else thinks.
Highly Irresponsible is out now (October 25th, 2024) via Sharptone Records. You can find the album on your favorite streaming service (like Spotify or Apple Music) – if you like it, be sure to pick up a vinyl or some other merch here.
Categorised in: Album of the Week
This post was written by Nick Sessanna