Love Equals Death
“Nightamerica”
Fat Wreck Chords

Whether they know it or not, Love Equals Death are graduates of the AFI/Alkaline Trio school of punk rock, mixing punk and melodic hardcore to create a very accessible album for kids who find the aforementioned bands too hard or wussy—Love Equals Death is a perfect medium.

Songs on “Nightmerica” are organized like a crescendo, slowly building up to a massive attack of sound in the middle of the album before steadily dropping to an pseudo-acoustic track at the end. “Bombs Over Brooklyn” is reminiscent of Boy Sets Fire when they were good, followed by a singalong hardcore track with a helluva catchy chorus “When we fall we will pick up the pieces/ We know that we’ll never/ Be down for too long.” Singer Chon Travis conjures up Echo and the Bunnymen (never thought I’d say that on a punk rock review) on “Lottery” just before transitioning into act II, in this case the AFI-sounding portion of the record.

Seriously, there are worst bands to be compared to, but tracks 5 through 9 could easily have been outtakes from “Total Immortal”-era AFI. The singer screams in a throat-raking falsetto as the band pounds out catchy grooves, making for some really fun punk rock.

Here’s the confusing part. For some reason, everyone seems to be labeling this band a horror band. But besides the goth-sounding name and the zombie make-up in the inlay sheet, there is nothing that makes these guys remotely scary. They lyrics have nothing to do with the undead or even the surreal. Hell, the best song on the record is a slag on George W. Bush (then again, I think that’s a prerequisite to get on Fat Wreck Chords these days).

Produced by Bill Stevenson (but sounding nothing like ALL/Descendents) “Nightmerica” takes a few listens to absorb, but the end result is a record that rocks.

Doesn’t Rock l Kinda Rocks l Rocks l Really Rocks