A mysterious Detroit collective with a perpetually rotating lineup, the Armed are purportedly revealing their true selves on their fifth studio album, Perfect Saviors. And yet, one is left without a firm grasp of who they are. The band specializes in the art of controlled chaos, rooted in hardcore but not confined to it, and armed with a prankish, theatrical sense of humor. The 12 tracks here—which veer from pretty hooks and acoustic guitar to blast beats—linger in an in-between space that doesn’t fully embrace either noise or pop.
Throughout the album, the Armed’s music remains scuzzy, offering a rare combination of murk and bombast. “FKA World,” for one, sounds like its coated in a layer of dust, and singer Tony Wolski’s voice is de-emphasized rather than being pushed to the front of the mix. The production, courtesy of Alan Moulder, piles on the compression, which enhances the abrasiveness to the point of listener fatigue. The hooks are buried beneath swirling guitars, forced to fight against bombastic changes in tempo and tone.
The Armed haven’t gone as far as fellow hardcore band Turnstile toward a more mainstream alt-rock sound, but it isn’t hard to imagine a few tracks on Perfect Saviors, like “Patient Mind” and “Liar 2,” being played on rock radio. The rest of the time, the album avoids obvious hooks, and when the music is memorable, it’s because it’s functioning as a whole, with traditional elements like guitar solos and vocals being only one part of a song rather than the focus.
The nü metal and industrial touches on “Sport of Form” are a predictable move, reminiscent of groups like Code Orange and vein.fm. But the song’s near-acapella passages, where Wolski and guest Julien Baker harmonize “Does anyone even know you?/Does anyone even care?,” are genuinely moving. In moments like these, the creative minds behind Armed finally break through the group’s art-project trappings and offer a glimpse of who they really are.
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