After the stir previous release Fake History caused, letlive. had their own shadow to step out of.
The Blackest Beautiful liberated them from the status of ‘hype band’ that their last release created and takes them up to the status of innovators.
True to Letlive’s nature, on first listen the latest album is a lot to take in but on second and third run throughs, the true beauty of the organised chaos is understood.
The precision of drums highlighting specific sections of vocals as well as Jason Butler’s choice to use his impressive vocal range not in a melodic radio friendly way, but as a technique to stress his lyrical content. Content that is politically focused without any pretentious preaching, best shown in “White America’s Beautiful Black Market”.
It’s almost unnecessary to draw from specifics to discuss Butler’s vocals as he goes from scale to scale on almost every song; the heavier tones are used in bursts of emphasis like those in “The Dope Beat” and the softer sing-alongs are used as a break between the commotion shown in “That Fear Fever” and “Pheromon Cvlt”.
What is most impressive with The Blackest Beautiful is how the thought process behind the album is abundantly apparent but there is no feel of tedious formatting from the band.
This is down to the choice of synchronising different genres including funk, metal and rock, meaning letlive. are creating their own genre completely, one that is currently undefined but given a few years is likely to be discussed as originating with the Californian quartet.
