Bruised But Not Broken: Relevant Letters

Artist: Bruised But Not Broken
Title: Relevant Letters
Format Reviewed: MP3
Format Released: 30th October 2015
Reviewed By: Homer Kelly

So here's the weirdest album I've ever had to review. Don't misunderstand me this isn't a two-hour jazz odyssey or a prog rock epic exploration up the lead guitarist's arse; it just confuses me…deeply.

Here we have the second album from the North Carolina-born Bruised But Not Broken, an ambitious ten track concept album described in this way by the band themselves: "[Relevant Letters]...in it's entirety is a story: following a character through events of spiritual warfare, anxiety, trial, triumph and redemption. Each song represents its own piece of the story, the character, and each person listening. The single and title track of the album, Relevant Letters, sets the stage and demands the options for those walking through the story. "So will you fight, or will you flee?""The genre accompanying this breakdown of the human psyche? Screamo…. but screamo like I have never heard.

Now I know what you're thinking: "Dude, what are you on about, screamo is one of the easiest genres to understand. Emo+screamy metal…done!" And you'd be right! Like the classics, From First To Last, Escape The Fate, etc, they do just that. They take the melodies, chord sequences and lyrical style of emo and hella angsty pop-punk and then mash it with metal/post-hardcore riffage and screaming. Musically, these guys sit on the more metal end of the post-hardcore/screamo genre, also adding in some of the techno-production elements that have been coming up in metal in recent years. but when they bring in the pop elements…. that is when they break my brain.

The best example of this is track two and second single Self Evaluation. The song unapologetically gallops onto the scene with a raw screamed verse and relentless drums and a lyric that I'm thinking I'm hearing as "Make a rhyme from my internal fight! Let's hope a record deal hopes me sleep at night!" and "measure my success by the girls I haven't slept with", and it continues in this manner until the chorus, and the chorus…. is Cute Is What We Aim For. Seriously you guys, I know that sounds perfectly understandable, CIWWAF (ugh) were one of the more emo-pop-punk bands with songs about sex, shallowness and self obsession; sounds like a natural influence to this brand of screamo. But just god damn! That chorus is so poppy! That verse is so dirty and metal and screamy and then out of no where "They say you're a hypocrite! Well I'm sick of it! Well I'm sick of it!". I mean, really?

The rest of the album follows a similar vein, containing all the hallmarks of the genre, with some songs like the title track and first single Relevant Letters leaning more to the metal/post-hardcore side of things than Self Evaluation, which instead is going more for the slow, epic chorus and breakdowns than the pop-sensibilities. I can say with complete confidence though that I am not the man to tell you if it's good. I honestly have no idea. 

I urge you to go and listen to Self Evaluation just to understand my confusion here. If like me you aren't a screamo fan it will have you questioning human sanity. At the height of my 2005/6 emo phase I couldn't be dealing with this genre; however I can definitely say that I know there are people out there to whom this is ambrosia and for them, these guys could be new heroes.