Album Review: Burning Love - 'Rotten Thing To Say'

21 June 2012 | 11:24 am | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

Sludge, Blues, Punk and melted faces.

After the demise of the act that bought him infamy, Cursed, Chris Colohan decided to keep the train rolling and form a new band with members of Our Father, known as Burning Love. The new album is a combination of dirty southern rock n' roll with hardcore punk aggression which makes for one of the most exciting acts to come out of Canada in recent times.

Much like Cursed, the music will make you want to eat your own face, but this time there is more melody, catchy hooks and an element of blues rock. The band is by no means "new" and 'Rotten Thing To Say' is a follow up to a previous full-length plus a stack of EPs and split releases since their formation in 2008.

The main run of mayhem which is constantly present in the music was captured and bottled beautifully well by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou who recorded and produced the album with the group. The first track No Love explodes out of the gate, if their was a horse race from hell, in which big black zombie horses with flames coming out of their nostrils raced against one another with the winners eating the losers afterwards, this would be the soundtrack. The guitars are bricks of distortion which thud along, with some breaking off to solo uncontrollably while the rhythm section and gritty vocals lock in and provide a tight backing.

The craziness continues into the next track Karla, the guitars seem to be able to do whatever they like whilst still providing a wall of noise which makes the music incredibly heavy. Almost just as surprisingly, the constant punk rock pace still manages to nod its head to sludge and blues rock along the way, almost as if it isn't trying to but naturally expels that vibe. Ballou has done well to smash everything together but still give every instrument the space it needs to say what it has to.

12:31 kicks off with a dirty bass line and an evil riff provided by the entire band, slamming its way along with echoed screams and pure chaos followed by one of the fastest, most punk rock moments on the album, Hateful Comforts. The assault of the record is relentless with the one-two punch of the Pig City duo managing to encompass every element of the band in two powerful tracks.

'Rotten Thing To Say' is pure energy and aggression captured in musical form extremely well on record. You'll need a breather when it's done, but the trip is well worth a little sweat, Burning Love have the new music you've been needing lately.