letlive.
If I'm The Devil....
Release Date: June 10, 2016
Producer: Justyn Pilbrow & letlive. (additional prod. on track 11 by Steve Rusch)
Label: Epitaph Records
letlive. is a band that EASILY released one of the best albums of the punk scene within the past ten years (The Blackest Beautiful). The recording quality of that album wasn't the greatest, but every single track penetrated through your being upon pressing play and swept your mind, body, and soul into a ridiculous frenzy and passion. The songs were still perfect, and fostered just the right amount of soul and aggression into every track.
If I'm The Devil.... is the band's follow up to Blackest. While the heaviness from the former is not quite as abundant (except for the shredder that is "Another Offensive Song"), letlive. are able to perfectly define what soul punk is really all about in these eleven tracks. The Blackest Beautiful was aggressive and pissed off; If I'm The Devil.... feels more like clarity for the band, particularly in vocalist Jason Butler's lyrics on tracks like "Good Mourning America". Tribal and ritualistic drumbeats weave their way in and out of the record, an element that brings the album to a rather perfect closing with the refined calmness, yet clarity, of "Copper Colored Quiet".
Whether they make abrasively chaotic records like The Blackest Beautiful, or something more clarified like If I'm The Devil...., I just hope that letlive. continues to make records for a long, long time.
This has been another Shameless Promotion.