The Armed : "Perfect Saviors"

The fifth album from this collective finds things moving in a more indie rock and less confrontational direction. I know this album has a ton of various people that guest on each track, but we are just going to focus on the songs and how good they are.  "FKA World" finds more punkish drive propelling the song beyond the typical slacker jangle that would otherwise be accompanying the lazy croon of the vocals. "Clone" finds the jangle of guitar accelerating in intensity as screamed vocals create a swathe of white noise underneath the chorus. "Modern Vanity" has more of a St. Vincent feel before screamed vocals come in over the groove. While there are some cool guitar sounds here, it does not feel the entirety of the song flows as well as the previous song. 

The vocal hook to "Everything's Glitter" is effective and captures the feeling conjured by the lyrics well. The guitars are not as spastic in their tense racing around the vocals, but work well. "Burned Mind" has  an 9-s electronic underpinning to it. The vocals contribute less, with lyrics that get buried when things build into what amounts to the chorus. Musically it sounds like an unreleased Garbage b-side. This album is really well produced , as the use of effects on the vocals to "Sport of Form" work well. The noise applied to the dynamics is refined. They sound like a punk band covering Depeche Mode on "Patient Mind". Another song that benefits from more attention to detail in post-production.  

"Vatican Under Construction" is a little more plodding and less compelling in terms of groove and melody than the previous songs. The drums and bass are punchier underneath everything, but the undercurrent is one of the few moments that the normally keen mix misses. "Liar 2" makes up for this with a very sleek futuristic feel, to the pop tinged alt rock that dances out. It might be one of the album's strongest songs in terms of hooks. "In Heaven" is a ballad that this album doesn't really need. The album closes with the more atmosphere jazz meanders of "Public Grieving" which sounds cool but just kind of floats off. I will give this album an 8.5, which puts it behind "Unpop" that got ranked a 9. The reason for this being the aggression underlying "Unpop" made it more focused, than where this album wanders to. With that said this album is better in terms of production and the melodic nature of the vocals , so in some ways it depends on what you want from these guys.

10.9