ALBUM REVIEW: Perfect Saviors – The Armed
THE ARMED are an enigma, to say the least. Obfuscation, diversion, unhinged noise rock and hardcore; it’s all been part and parcel of the band since their inception as they examined pop culture and the free availability of information through some of the most mind-bending music in the hardcore sphere that, with 2021’s ULTRAPOP, practically jettisoned genre entirely as it married pop sensibilities with the chaos they’re known for. So naturally, Perfect Saviors is the antithesis of everything they’ve done until now. The band have unveiled a huge list of contributors, rather than staying in the shadows, and written an album that even by their standards, makes a mockery of expectations – and it’s fucking brilliant.
Sport Of Measure opens the album with a laconic vocal line backed by synth and saxophone – yes, really, and yes, this is still THE ARMED – until a swell of drum machines and more electronics push in. So far, there’s practically no sign that this is the same band that wrote the unhinged Untitled or even ULTRAPOP’s most melodic moments, other than the name of the band attached to them – and yet, this could be nobody else. It’s not just the way the band construct hooks with explosions of noise rock (Clone) or revisit older songs (Liar) to give them a new lease on life as sultry club bangers (Liars 2).
It’s arguably an identity that makes the most sense when you consider it in context of THE ARMED’s other work and wider examinations of pop culture and information; in that sense, the likes of Everything’s Glitter, whose indie rock meets noise pop swagger and groove, and Sport Of Form’s slinking guitar and throbbing bass are in fact, total natural steps from the likes of An Iteration or even Masunaga Vapors. That’s not to say you need to understand the practically impenetrable lore and mystique surrounding THE ARMED, or even care about it. Perfect Saviors takes the ceiling off their infamously dense hardcore and takes several evolutionary leaps forward.
Patient Mind switches between soft electronic drums and a skyscraper rock chorus, united by Tony Wolksi’s powerful range, almost making good on their promise of writing the biggest arena rock record on its own merits. Vatican Under Construction is another that plays with plenty of textures, from walls of noise pop topped by laconic vocals to punk-flecked verses. It’s with the closing duo of In Heaven and Public Grieving that they push the furthest, though, with the former’s restrained acoustic guitar and tender saxophone, while the latter opens with soft piano but unfurls into something approaching drum ‘n’ bass by THE ARMED with its rapid, shifting drumming, but is anything but in its other parts.
Frankly, Perfect Saviors is almost impossible to pigeonhole; despite its creators’ founding as a hardcore band, they’ve grown increasingly texturally and sonically dense, evading classification as their ambition grew along with their legendary stature. Perfect Saviors is everything THE ARMED have been working towards, a radical redefinition of what people can expect from them, an explosion of emotion, barbed, tongue-in-cheek lyrics; if THE STROKES dropped acid, you’d possibly get a short way to finding out just how far out THE ARMED have managed to not only go, but nail every step. If you thought you knew THE ARMED, think again.
Rating: 9/10
Perfect Saviors is set for release on August 25th via Sargent House.
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