Love Is Dead
by CHVRCHES

Album Rating: 69.75
(837/12)

1.Graffiti 68
2.Get Out 67
3.Deliverance 63
4.My Enemy (Feat. Matt Berninger) 83
5.Forever 70
6.Never Say Die 69
7.Miracle 80
8.Graves 59
9.Heaven/Hell 69
10.God's Plan 70
11.Really Gone 70
12.ii n/a
13.Wonderland 69

With their first 2 records, CHVRCHES proved to me that they were a relatively fresh take on 80s synthpop aesthetic. Songs like 'Gun', 'We Sink', and 'Never Ending Circles' are witty, intricate, and pretty, mostly due to the band's clever production techniques and Lauren's poignant vocals.

Very little of what I have described is on this album whatsoever. The production is pretty--easy on the ears--but for every step they took toward accessibility, they took 2 or 3 steps backward in terms of the quality of songwriting and memorability of this record.

There are a few strides here -- Lauren has really honed in her voice and *sounds* the best she ever has, but unfortunately it came hand-in-hand with some really terrible lyrical choices. There were so many songs on this thing like 'Never Say Die', 'Get Out', and 'Forever' that had a lot of potential in the verses, only to squander them with totally redundant hooks...."Never-ever-ever-ever-ever say die." "Get-get-get-out, get-get-get-out..." "Forever-ever-ever-ever-ever-ever"... In addition, Miracle is the weakest song they've penned to date, built around an Imagine Dragons-sounding roaring chorus that simply has no place being in a CHVRCHES track.

It puzzles me that the band created this sort of record, seeing as Lauren has proven to be a solid lyricist in the past and the band has always been fairly protective of its artistic flexibility with production. But here, all the edges are smoothed out and the result is a really forgettable but somewhat enjoyable synthpop record. There are a few solid tracks where their talent still shines through (Graffiti and Graves, mainly) but most of these tracks are just incredibly stale and rely more on the booming bass in the production than actual songwriting.

5/10.

Favorite Tracks: Graffiti, Graves

Cracking poppy pop. They keep doing what they do best and it's great.

I love this band... but they are definitely trending downwards since the first full length. My bias keeps me from hating this album, but it is far from Their best.

Occasionally filled pop tropes, Love is dead is not as strong as its predecessors.