BETTER LOVERS

For metal fans of a certain disposition, BETTER LOVERS could hardly be more perfect, at least as an idea. A relatively low-key supergroup featuring vocalist Greg Puciato (ex-DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN),  guitarists Jordan Buckley (ex-EVERY TIME I DIE) and Will Putney (FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY),  drummer Clayton "Goose" Holyoak and bassist Stephen Micciche (both also ex-EVERY TIME I DIE),  they have such a strong and distinctive shared pedigree that it would be genuinely bizarre if "Highly Irresponsible" was anything other than an explosive, off-kilter treat. Veterans of a metalcore scene that never truly got to grips with originality, everyone involved has already proved their worth and earned the right to have another go. And while their debut album is no lazy throwback, it is strongly redolent of the days when records like "Gutter Phenomenon" and "Miss Machine" jammed sticks into the spokes of modern, mainstream metal's slowly turning wheel.

To a great extent, BETTER LOVERS sound exactly as students of heavy music might expect. But that takes nothing away from the sheer, deranged joy of the whole thing. In fact, it is refreshing to hear a band taking risks and letting their imaginations run riot, just as the aforementioned bands used to do as a matter of course. Punishingly heavy at times, but smart and subtle too, "Highly Irresponsible" is a sophisticated and schizophrenic metal record: perfect for these confused and bewildering times. Hearing Puciato letting rip again, after his excellent but eclectic solo efforts to date, is particularly thrilling. Opener "Lie Between The Lines" serves as a form of manifesto, with giant riffs, a tense, stuttering groove and the ex-Dillinger man going righteously berserk, his ever-acerbic lyrics dripping with amused contempt. "I can't believe I'm just like you!" he barks, audibly discombobulated. The sub-two-minute fistfight of "Your Misplaced Self" is even more exciting and sounds like somebody plugged THE JESUS LIZARD into the power grid and fed them magic mushrooms.

The most obviously definitive moment arrives with "A White Horse Covered In Blood": a jittery, riff-driven assault and the most DILLINGER / EVERY TIME I DIE-esque song here. With angular, grimy riffs, mischievous dissonance and another vein-popping performance from Puciato, it amounts to a cutting-edge upgrade for the metalcore/mathcore axis, and a jarring reminder that sticking to some generic formula is a choice. "Future Myopia" repeats the trick, with slightly more vitriol in its veins, and "Deliver Us From Life" projects to the back row via retooled grunge tropes and wonky SABBATH-isms, but still comes out sounding weirder than the average metal(core) band.

The second half of "Highly Irresponsible" is more vicious than the first. "Drowning In A Burning World" is a runaway hardcore blower with Puciato dangerously incensed ("Open me up! Hope is what you won't find!" he screams, eyes presumably bulging) and his colleagues in outright punk rock mode; "Everything Was Put Here For Me" dismantles humanity's unreasonably high opinion of itself ("We're dying… nobody cares!") over a torrent of pummeling and malicious noise rock; "Superman Died Paralyzed" is a brutish, warped thrash tirade with a nihilistic streak a mile wide; and the closing "Love As An Act Of Rebellion" brings the show to a close with a blizzard of ideas, more blistering hardcore, and a strong aura of calculated perversion, as riffs protrude like bones through skin and Puciato sounds like a demented preacher on the verge of complete mental breakdown.

The only real curveball here is "At All Times", the most overtly accessible song BETTER LOVERS have conjured to date. Not so much a sop for the alt-rock contingent, but a demonstration of songwriting prowess in the face of their own unhinged tendencies, it adds a touch of beauty and lightness to an album that is otherwise almost entirely concerned with making a big, ugly racket. Which, let's face it, is exactly what we want from these people.