Love And Death: Painting With New Colours

It is a rare and exciting occasion when you get to witness the collaboration between musicians which inspired an entire genre and when Brian ‘Head’ Welch from KORN joined forces with Jasen Rauch from BREAKING BENJAMIN to work together on the project known as LOVE AND DEATH, you just knew you were about to witness something special. The collective burst onto the scene in 2013 with their debut full length Between Here & Lost where at this stage Jasen was just working alongside as Brian on the production.

This time round Jasen is a fully fledged member of the band as has made considerable contributions to the song writing process. Due to their hectic schedules they were struggling to find time to fully commit to making a follow up release their main priority and focus but due to the pandemic it allowed for the opportunity to make this happen. “When making an album it is very rare to have the opportunity to sit with it, let it marinate and absorb it and to be able to walk away from things, come back and re-evaluate due to scheduling and other touring commitments,” explains Jasen.

“This time we did and it’s something we’re really proud of, being able to put the effort in that we felt a new album deserved and not cutting any corners or worrying about time constraints. The pandemic gave us the chance to see things in a better light and refine the songs, see what fits and what doesn’t fit. We think Perfectly Preserved is a good representation of the LOVE AND DEATH sound. There are singable moments, angry moments, groovy moments. It’s just a really cool thing and I think fans of that album will really enjoy this one. There isn’t a lot in terms of deviation but it’s more about growth and expanding our sound and being able to do something which I wouldn’t be able to do with BREAKING BENJAMIN and what Brian wouldn’t be able to do with KORN and that’s really rewarding.”

As with most cases over the last 12 months the majority of this album was pieced together remotely, taking advantage of the abundance of technology available to musicians. “Brian and myself both live in Nashville so we’re both in the same city so it’s been much easier for us to connect but even though that is the case, we didn’t spend a lot of time together because we were trying to be extra cautious as we both have families and kids so we wanted to make sure they were safe and protected,” discusses Jasen.

“We had a lot of chats over Zoom and Skype and sharing files between each other despite living only like 10 miles from each other. Both of us really enjoy working and collaborating with other people and just being inspired by creating a riff or a verse and a chorus idea and being able to pass it back and forth. Me and Brian have a lot of experience between us of being songwriters but having the chance to hand ideas off to JR or bring somebody in and let them take it in a different direction which we may not have thought of is really inspiring. This makes sure everything is fresh and exciting and we’re not becoming too predictable. We were all painting a picture but we all paint with different brushes and to have people like Lacey from FLYLEAF come in and paint with their own colours and put their own twist on things was so much fun.”

Fans of the debut release will recall that LOVE AND DEATH put their own spin on the 80’s classic Whip It by DEVO. This time round they opted for a cover of a more current iconic pop track in which they recruited the services of another renowned nu metal musician in Lacey Sturm from FLYLEAD. “That was JR‘s idea, he is a big fan of pop music and he heard Let Me Love You on the radio and thought ‘I can do something with this’ and the guy has perfect pitch,” admits Jasen. “He pieced together a quick little demo and that’s where it all started initially. We kept building and building on it and I had worked with Lacey a few years back on a BREAKING BENJAMIN project and we stayed in touch. She was 100% down and she killed it. She brings something amazing to the table and there is nobody that sounds like her. She is a true artist and she knows her voice and has her instrument dialled in to what she does and she brought exactly what we anticipated. What made it so great is that we managed to slot it into a genre suited for people who would not necessarily listen to a JUSTIN BIEBER album and be able to experience the song in our language and re-envision it a little bit and we are really proud of what we accomplished.”

The track Lo Lamento was initially released in 2016 as a track which remained from the writing sessions for their debut. The band thought this was an appropriate bridge between the previous material and the new so this was refined, reworked and added to Perfectly Preserved. Down and White Flag have also followed suited as single releases which have certainly assisted in raising the anticipation for this release. “We’re really humbled by how well the new material has been received to be honest,” states Jasen. “We really rely on touring and getting in front of people to get our name out there and connect with people on a live front and that’s been completely eliminated. However, the pandemic has kind of levelled the playing field in some respects as everyone is at home listening to music and it’s allowed bands the opportunity to be discovered through the likes of streaming. It’s totally changed the dynamic of being in a band. People are now consuming more music than ever it’s rewarding to see that people believe in this project and are excited about it.”

Perfectly Preserved is out now via Earache Records. 

Like LOVE AND DEATH on Facebook.