Love Me Destroyer

Geez, aren't you supposed to lighten up as you get older? Love Me Destroyer is the new incarnation of Pinhead Circus, the much- loved outfit that spent ten years belting out its brand of catchy, heartfelt punk rock. But where Pinhead Circus once cast a youthful, almost happy-go-lucky glow on its anguish and anger, Love Me Destroyer has completely given in to the Dark Side.

Or so the band would have you believe. Granted, the final Pinhead Circus studio album was called Black Power of Romance, and Black Heart Affair is an even deeper leap into the void of empty love and vacant lives. On the song "Crusher," throats like open graves chant the lines "Today is dead/Tomorrow's next/Will the sun ever stop coming up?" The end of "My Virus" isn't much cheerier: "No heart/No heart/To feel the pain I cause." The rest of the tracks are infested with images of brawls, knives, scars and nooses. But even wading hip-deep through miasmas of turmoil and misery, Love Me Destroyer just can't break free of the tried-and-true pop formula. Every scream is land-mined with melody; every riff spits hooks like shrapnel. Which is a good thing -- honestly, too much of a deviance from the old Pinhead Circus sound would have seemed a bit contrived. Instead, the boys decided to bash pop punk over the head with a blunt instrument and let its gray stuff leak all over the floor -- though not before cannibalizing the corpse a little bit.

As they slip into their thirties, it'll be interesting to see how much further these guys venture into the darker corners of their souls, kicking over rocks and watching all the worms and insects and demons wriggle around in the soil. It'll also be interesting to see how much of their tuneful, sinewy songwriting physique they'll manage to keep intact. This is, after all, only the first Love Me Destroyer release, and we all know that the truly great bands have a tendency to get better -- not to mention bitter -- with age. - Westword

Maybe now all those Pinhead Circus fans will stop whining about the breakup: As Black Heart Affair proves, the boys knew exactly what they were doing when they threw in the towel.

While the band which features three members of the former Pinhead Circus with guitarist Chip from Jedi Five doesn't fall very far from the Pinhead Circus tree, Black Heart Affair lets the act shed the baggage of the party band, the sloppy punk rock act and the boozed-up rockers: Along with a new name comes a focused and furious take on the music that doesn't let its excessive volumes stand in its way.

Where Pinhead Circus pummeled its way through heavy-handed punk that relied upon its ability to use its six-strings to beat the hell out of a pop-punk melody sometimes at the expense of the more subtle points of punk songwriting Love Me Destroyer doesn't need the assault-and-battery dynamics to rock your world. It has them, for sure (Black Heart Affair mixes the snarling overtones of the boozed-up Pinheads with a confidence and maturity of seasoned veterans), but that's not all it has: Singer/guitarist Scooter flaunts newfound soul on this time out.

You're not going to find Barry Gordy knocking on Scooter's door, but it's clear he's paid his dues. Sometimes it's obvious, as with Whiskey, Wine and Song, which takes greasy So-Cal guitar figures and unleashes a tale of losing oneself in rock'n'roll temptations. Other times, listeners have to read between the lines: Suffocation bridges the gap between hardcore and punk with screamed backing vocals and guitar melodies that bleed all over like a slit wrist. Scars Make Good Stories lean toward rough-around the edges punk, while the hit-and-run tempo of Beautiful Switchblade Knives show that Love Me Destroyer can hang with the toughest of punk acts.

Black Heart Affair writhes around in pure punk: While the melodies are there, Love Me Destroyer's down'n'out bleeds with the best of them. It's the sort of thing that can unite pop punk fans with the harder-hitting underground.
- Matt Schild
- Aversion.com