The Loved Ones "Keep Your Heart" (Fat Wreck Chords)
By Pete Mittler
Wednesday. Feb 08, 1:17 AM
Will appeal to the entire spectrum of punk / hardcore fans.

Wow, what a great album to start out the new year! I liked Keep Your Heart within the first 10 seconds of hearing it. Very energetic, catchy, and basic punk rock. I think there's a little something for everyone here. Some fast songs, some slow ones, and a lot of mid tempos. The band definitely has an East Coast feel to them: I immediately felt a Lifetime / Kid Dynamite influence. At times they reminded me of the more melodic Smoke Or Fire moments, too: The Loved Ones have a similiar desperation in their music. Kinda raunchy sounding but very memorable and with an easy-to-sing-along-to catchiness, I can easily see this band blowing up quickly but not in the Fall Out Boy / ultra slick and commercial way. Guitarist/vocalist Dave Hause has a great throaty voice that really delivers the sort of self pitying lyrics with effectiveness and punch. The bass stands out quite a bit to me for some reason as well. I'm not sure if it's the top notch playing of Michael Cotterman or the midrange-y-ness of it that keeps it in your face, but whatever it is, I like it. The drumming is excellent also. I'm not that into the actual SOUND of the drums on here, however, as I think they sound a little like cardboard boxes and are a hair louder than I think they should be, but Mike Sneeringer does a hell of a job PLAYING them. I'm actually a little surprised that I don't like the drum sound, because this album was recorded with Brian McTernan who is one of my favorite producers. Everything else sounds great, though, and I'm happy to know that Fat Wreck Chords is putting out some different sounding artists these days. They seem to be branching out a tiny bit. I say good for them. I would highly recommend picking up Keep Your Heart to fans of all genres of punk rock OR going to see them live, as they're opening for NOFX right about now.
www.thelovedonesband.com
www.fatwreck.com

Listen to a song from this album in our Radio section!

Pete Mittler

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