LOVE AND DEATH | Perfectly Preserved | Album Review

 Korn guitarist Brian Head Welch has resurrected his Love And Death solo project for another album. After the debut project "Between Here And Lost" was released in early 2013, and after Brian rejoined Korn shortly after its release, anyone following the Love And Death project wondered what the future held in store for the alt-metal band. Little did they know that they had to wait a full eight years before getting the next chapter in the band's discography, "Perfectly Preserved". One of the more important aspects of this album is that this is the first in the band's history to include Jasen Rauch of Breaking Benjamin/Red fame as an official member. He produced the band's debut album before this, and him and previous Red member Joe Rickard were involved in this album's production. The completed "Perfectly Preserved" came as result of many of the band members' other projects had to stop touring for obvious reasons in 2020. Fittingly, the album's themes range from mental health, loneliness, and trauma, all of which was felt at one point or another by every person living in the past year, so Love And Death are definitely able to connect to anyone who listens on that level. Interestingly, this album was nearly five years in the making as one of the tracks on this album was released back in 2016. After all of that time, fans can no longer wait for a new Love And Death record as it has finally been released. But, does it live up to its lofty expectations after such a long wait? Is Brian Head Welch still passionate about this project, and does this compare to the band's debut project? Let's take a look at the ten-track sophomore release from Love And Death and examine each track to see if this is any good or not. 

"Down" was the leadoff single from the album, released back in November 2020, and this is a fairly good representation of the album as a whole. It's alternative metal comparable to that of bands such as Breaking Benjamin and Red. Out of the singles and especially "Perfectly Preserved" as a whole, "Down" is one of the more enjoyable cuts on the tracklist. The structure and the lyrical content of the song are typical of what you'd expect from alt-metal of this variety, with a strong focus on vocal hooks and aggressive downtuned riffs. Rhythmically speaking, there is a lot to get behind and guitarist JR Bareis helps Brian Welch on vocals on this song and many others across the album. Although Brian sings a good majority of the song, the dynamics between him and JR are solid and I feel it's an interesting step. Second single "White Flag" closes the album, but to be honest, this is an underwhelming way to end an album. It takes a while to actually get going, but once you do get to the more hard-hitting part, you're given an out of place trap beat and pitchshifted vocals that don't mesh well with this band's sound as well as a rapped bridge from Ryan Hayes that seems extremely cheesy. It's kind of a cornucopia of different things thrown at a dartboard and they decided to include them all. They could have done a bit better as far as closing out the album. Opening up the album, however, is the two track punch that comes in the form of the short and melodic "Infamy" and the pummeling "Tragedy", the latter of which shares characteristics of "Down" as a solid, if generic, alternative metal jam. It's nothing great, but definitely not on the bad side either. 

What is bad, however, is the cover of DJ Snake's song "Let Me Love You". Why is this a thing? I would understand if this was a more light-hearted cover, but this song is completely incongruent interpreted in Love And Death's style. They try ot make it this melodramatic, aggressive, edgy hard rock song and it really does not work. It also doesn't help that they have Lacey Sturm as a guest vocalist, which is fine, but Lacey's vocal ability has deteriorated ever since she left Flyleaf, and a lot of what she has been apart of since them has been underwhelming and harsh, this being one of those. Her screaming vocals are not that good, and to be honest I don't understand how they would turn a song about wooing a love interest into this edgy Breaking Benjamin styled track. It's off putting and really should not have happened. As you go on with the album, nothing ever reaches THAT level of bad, but you do get a lot of filler tracks that don't quite resonate on a full level. The track "Death Of Us" is the perfect definition of that. It's a song that, structurally, is similar to what we've already heard on the album and even in this genre as a whole, and it just feels like they're going through the motions in the studio. "Slow Fire" has that same characteristic, but at least they do throw in a good rhythm and both vocalists do a good job with their deliveries. "The Hunter" does elevate things significantly as it's one of a few red herrings on this album. Keith Wallen, who recently dropped a solo track entitled "Dream Away", contributes to most of the vocal sections on this song. I don't usually like it when a guest vocalist gets too overutilized in a song, but on this track I feel it works splendidly. Brian Welch pops in every now and then, but it's mostly Keith delivering some stellar melodies, especially in the chorus. It's a resounding moment for this album for sure and one I feel should get some attention. 

"Lo Lamento" was the track released back in late 2016, and this is basic by-the-numbers alternative metal as it gets. It's another formulaic track with a chugga chug riff and generic copy and paste structure that has been executed by other bands before. There's not much appeal to this one. And finally, we have "Affliction", which is probably the best song on the album. This track actually feels like Brian Welch and company are doing something that's actually different with the structure. You really hear the intensity in Welch's vocal delivery on this track and the riffs and drumwork are stellar. Definitely give this one a listen. As for the album as a whole, there really isn't much on "Perfectly Preserved" that is new or fresh or innovative. It's got a couple of interesting moments that will surely demand attention, but this 10-track affair is somewhat of a disappointment. I was expecting to like this album more than I ended up liking it, and considering the talent that's involved, there should have been a lot more appeal. Brian Welch and Jasen Rauch have talent. They've shown that before with their main projects and even with this project itself. Yes, you hear that talent come through every now and then but the rest of it plays it way too safe and also feels incomplete since the introductory song is only two minutes long, there's an awful cover song on here, and there's a song that was released years ago included on this album. It's not the band at their best. Overall, "Perfectly Preserved" will definitely satisfy longtime fans of this genre and has a few standout tracks that place it slightly above average, but as a complete album experience this is nothing special. There is way better music out there, even of this style, and if you're expecting anything clever, fresh, or original with this album, you won't get much of that here other than with the few highlight tracks this album contains. 

RATING: 6/10