Opener and title track ‘Warpaint’ is pure and simply vintage Buckcherry: its cool, sleazy, frayed around the edges and rides a thick groove and it also sees Josh Todd really screaming. It’s a track that would be perfect for ‘warming up for the night ahead’, and one which really underlines the fact that whilst the band may be down to one solitary founder member in Josh Todd they still sound like the band we all fell in love with twenty years ago.
‘Warpaint’ is also a song that also has a real ear-worm of a chorus that just becomes more and more inescapable as Todd wails: “I want to kiss the night away, sleep all through the day” it’s a great start to album number eight.
‘Right Now’ that follows is only a slight departure, lighter in the verses, groovier in the chorus with an almost rap like refrain to give it a bit of light and shade before a smooth slide to the solo. It’s a huge song and one that you can just hear the fans shouting back to the band as the ‘yeah, yeah’ backing vocals kick in as the song rides out.
‘Head Like a Hole’ is as cool a version of the song you’ll hear, and one of the few covers I think beat the original. It’s a track that really suits the sound Buckcherry are laying down here, you could argue that they really couldn’t go far wrong with a song like that, and you’d be probably right, but here they own it.
it’s an impressive start to an album that sees Buckcherry now reduced to one solitary founder member in Josh Todd after the 2017 departure of Keith Nelson (along with drummer Xavier Muriel) over ‘musical differences’. The surprising thing bearing that in mind is that ‘Warpaint’ sounds remarkably like its predecessor ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ even if its a little more direct- taking as its template the three minute radio friendly rocker, songs that don’t hang around, get right to the point and you end up with them looping in your head for days.
The huge potential though is with songs like the aptly named ‘Radio Song’ which seems designed to sing along and actually reminds me of the lighter moments on the band’s first album, people this one is going to be huge! Then there’s ‘The Vacuum’ that bursts out of the speakers with a big fat riff before laying on mellow verses and some real rock and roll in the surging chorus.
And the album keeps on giving: ‘Bent’ is a huge chunky rocker driven by a great riff and Todd’s insistent vocals; whilst ‘Back Down’ is cool, loose and groovy, not quite as funky as say ‘Tight Pants’ but certainly as cool; and after those glorious tones and backing vocals along with Todd’s mellower delivery it’s another winner. ‘The Alarm’ gets right back to that dirty hard rock ‘n’ roll with it’s almost shouted, chunky drive.
‘No Regrets’ is probably the punchiest and punkiest song here and just flows bursting with essential rock and roll; and like Rock ‘n’ Roll had its forays into lands not usually traveled by these Californians ‘The Hunger’ strikes you with its gentle contemplative balladry; before the hard rocking drive of ‘Closer’ puts more runs on the scoreboard. That leaves just ‘The Devils in the Details’ to lead us out riding a cool riff, it’s a fist-pumping anthemic riot to close what could well have been a difficult record to make but which has ended up being one of the best in a rather fine catalogue. If you already loved Buckcherry you’ll love them even more after this.
Buckcherry once again have produced a winner, and hats off to Stevie D and Josh and the rest of the guys for keeping true to the sound and vision of a band that was a breath of fresh air at the end of the nineties and has continued to deliver the goods ever since. 1999 saw that first release hit the stores and it’s been a wild ride ever since.
Check out our interview with Stevie D here.