ALBUM REVIEW: Perfectly Preserved – Love And Death

When you’re best known as being one of the key members of a band who helped define an entire sub-genre of music, it can sometimes feel liberating to be able to break away and forge an identity separate from that. Upon initially leaving KORN back in 2005, guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch would embark on a fairly well-received solo career as a frontman under his own name, before switching to the band name LOVE AND DEATH by 2012. It’s been some eight years now since we’ve heard anything from the project, with the band’s 2013 debut full-length Between Here & Lost coming mere months before Head would go on to re-join KORN for the acclaimed The Paradigm Shift, and only the 2016 single Lo Lamento in terms of actual musical output, however after reconvening with a new lineup the time has finally come for a follow-up album, Perfectly Preserved.

Going into the record it’s that lineup change that’s maybe the biggest story, with the core of frontman/guitarist Head and long time guitarist and now co-vocalist JR Bareis joined by new drummer Isaiah Perez of metalcore outfit PHINEHAS, while bass duties are now handled by former RED and current BREAKING BENJAMIN guitarist Jasen Rauch – previously the producer on LOVE AND DEATH’s debut.

Intro track Infamy sets things going, the sub-two-minute lead in awash with moody piano and breathy melodic vocals, before opener proper Tragedy comes crashing in with a barrage of the trademark downtuned riffing we’ve come to expect from anything associated with Head over the last two and a half decades or so. Immediately apparent more than anything though is how improved Welch seems to have become as a vocalist in the near-decade since that first LOVE AND DEATH album too – his frayed screams and own surprisingly melodic vocals contrasting well against the clean singing of Bareis in an approach that forms much of the template for Perfectly Preserved.

It’s a template that works well across the album, but likely repeats almost to the fault of over-repetition for some. Songs like Death of Us and Slow Fire could almost be mistaken for KORN offcuts, with the former’s raspy breakdown in particular coming within touching distance of Jonathan Davis’ scat-sung outbursts. Lead single Down, meanwhile, showcases perhaps the strongest example of LOVE AND DEATH’s updated sound across the entire record, with a memorable chorus seemingly tailor-made for rock radio very much in the vein of BREAKING BENJAMIN. Exemplifying the contrasting vocal styles of Head and guitarist JR Bareis near-perfectly, this is arguably one of the best pure singles that the band have put their name on to-date, managing to be both heavy and melodic in impressive fashion.

Somewhat less successful however, is the band’s baffling choice of a cover song this time around. Where Between Here & Lost saw Head and co. tackling new-wave weirdos DEVO’s classic Whip It, here the choice was made to enlist former FLYLEAF lead singer Lacey Sturm and take a crack at EDM producer DJ SNAKE’s 2016 chart-botherer Let Me Love You – yes, the one with Justin Bieber on vocal duty. Whilst you can certainly get what the band were trying to do here, the finished result sounds like a cut-off from one of the litany of Punk Goes Pop-type covers albums and isn’t really worth revisiting.

Elsewhere on the cameos front we find a pairing of some of Perfectly Preserved’s heaviest moments. The Hunter sees Rauch reunited with BREAKING BENJAMIN bandmate Keith Wallen on what starts off as yet another melodic anthem before crescendoing into a pummelling breakdown, while closing number White Flag sees RIGHTEOUS VENDETTA frontman (and former bandmate of Perez) Ryan Hayes guesting on a song containing what might be the standout heavy moment of the record, as an abrupt “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” shout at the tail end of the fairly mid-tempo song suddenly launches it into a ferocious riff-storm of distortion and almost SLIPKNOT-esque rapped vocals that’s sure to delight longstanding fans of Head’s work.

Whilst hardly a game-changer for the space it fits into, Perfectly Preserved nonetheless remains a largely enjoyable listen by LOVE AND DEATH, with perhaps only one real misstep hampering things. Bringing Rauch onboard properly seems to have given the band renewed focus from a musical standpoint, and there are several moments across the album that serve as some of the most memorable radio-metal you’re likely to hear for some time.

Rating: 7/10

Perfectly Preserved is set for release on February 12th via Earache Records. 

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