Love Me Destroyer - The Things Around Us Burn

Love Me Destroyer
The Things Around Us Burn
Suburban Home Records
Grade: A-

When the opening number “Choked and Charmed” smashes into your ears, you realize that Love Me Destroyer has something more to offer than the standard post-hardcore punk love fuck fest. When raspy, balls out vocals hit you on the following song “F.U.I.Q.” you know this is something good. This realization shouldn’t exactly be shocking as Love Me Destroyer formed several years back out of the dissolution of the terrific Pinhead Circus. On their second album, Love Me Destroyer mix their punk lineage with more mature song structures and compelling levels of post-hardcore. This combines to grab your throat and demand you to listen. Thankfully, the band doesn’t fall into the contemporary trap of doing some screaming as a faux manner of gaining intensity; though smidgens do creep in (e.g., “Sweet Lady Brick”). As you nod to the openers, tracks also to spend time with include “Not If You Were the Last Sinner on Earth,” “Kiss and Tell,” “Bleed It Now,” and “Color Of the Grove.”