For those unaware, as I was, Love and Death is fronted by Korn’s Brian “Head” Welch alongside Jasen Rauch of Breaking Benjamin (the latter produced the first album and now features on guitars and bass). The project has been on hiatus for eight years, but with touring being off the cards for the last year, the two have come together once more to create Perfectly Preserved.
And what a creation it is. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of either Korn or BB – I know and generally like the “big songs” and that’s about it – but this collection of songs brings together so many sounds in what seems like a perfect vanity project. While there’s a definite nu-metal overtone to the album as a whole, it’s not all fist-pumping, bass-led angst. There are trappings of emo, radio-friendly songs, a heady dose of industrial… The songwriting has obviously been a job undertaken with open minds, where Welch and Rauch have felt free and happy to pull from all their likes and influences.
The short opener, “Infamy”, for example is a haunting piano-led number and wholly dissimilar to anything else on the record. It’s the kind of song you’d normally expect either to front a concept piece, or hang off the end of any other album. Here it actually grabs the listener simply as it’s not what you’re expecting. It leads into “Tragedy” which is more what you may initially expect. A cracking rhythm that digs into your head and stays there, some melodic vocals, and heavy-as-all-heavy-things breakdowns.
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The surprises continue with “Let Me Love You” which adds Flyleaf’s Lacey Sturm to the vocal mix. It’s got a chuggy start but ends up being a very radio-friendly near-pop number. It turns out that it’s actually a cover of a pop song (originally by someone called DJ Snake and featuring Justin “honestly I like Black Sabbath” Bieber). Sturm isn’t the only guest on the album, either. Keith Wallen, also of Breaking Benjamin, lends guitar chops to “The Hunter”, most of which wouldn’t go amiss on a Linkin Park album. Righteous Vendetta frontman Ryan Hayes also pops up, singing on the closing track “White Flag”.
I’ve just picked out some highlights from the album, but it’s genuinely good from beginning to end. More easy-listening than Korn, heavier than Breaking Benjamin, and plenty of other bits thrown in. It isn’t, as the PR piece we received emphasises, a side project. It’s very much a separate entity from the “main” bands and all the better for it.
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While fans of the two main ’ bands will be drawn to Love And Death for the obvious connection, they may not be getting music they expect. And this is a good thing. There’s enough of it there to get fans listening, and more than enough offshoot material to open their ears and keep them engaged.
Perfectly Preserved is out on February 12th
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