Review
Burning Love
Rotten Thing To Say

Leave it to Burning Love to provide an infectiously raucous soundtrack to 2012 (unlike so many of their peers and compatriots) full of the kind of riffs that in a perfect world would incite both vigorous head banging and the kind of massive circle pits that make people gape in awe at the sheer size of said circle pitting, and without, Rotten Thing To Say has to be in the running for one of the better records this year.

Rotten Thing To Say just sounds awesome as the guitars, drums, and vocals all fit together just about perfectly with the guitars in particular sounding bright and dirty allowing them to sound great while playing rhythm parts or leads; and Burning Love moves sinuously from hyper kinetic fast tempos to slow crushing dirges without missing a beat. Listen to “Karla” and its powerful and pounding rhythm while the guitars just go off while Colohan screams his head off about a female murderer, or check out the blistering twin lead guitars in “Superstitious Friend” and tell me that is not impressive; both “Pig City I” (with its blistering tempo and sheer viciousness) and “Pig City II” (more of a heavy and slow burn that seems more intent on pummeling ear drums than tearing faces off of listeners) are also excellent examples of Burning Love possibly being at the top of their game on this their second album. No doubt, my biggest complaint about the album is the inclusion of what is basically three instrumental tracks (at the beginning, roughly the middle, and again at the end); and really this is just because Burning Love never really strike me as an “instrumental” type band, and I definitely prefer them blasting out for thirty minutes straight with Colohan screaming his head off the whole time (and yes, I know this is just being picky).

Burning Love pumps out sheer manic energy here on their second full length (Rotten Thing To Say) further incorporating massive amounts of rock ‘n’ roll into their fast, thrashing hardcore punk attack making them easily the most accomplished band to attempt this in quite some time; but forget that kind of hyperbole because the five guys that make up Burning Love turn up their amps to 11 and just bring the house down with Rotten Thing To Say.