Fake Blood starts off simple enough, with a fairly formulaic power-pop blend of simplistic heavy guitars underlying vocals that sound like The Hotelier started out as a push-mosh band in 2006. But once you get to the album's zenith, the back to back bangers "Out for Blood" and "Rats in a Bucket", an infectiously cynical attitude pulls you in past the familiar recipe and ingrains a personality that you begin to hear in every song. That cut throat sarcasm finally peaks on "Cut My Losses" which has already received some minor blow-back due to the lyrical content about dismissing a manipulative person's suicidal threats but for me - it's just a song. And a welcomed "fuck you" to the overly politically correct, cancel culture we live in. If even a punk band has to walk on eggshells to appease the masses, who are we going to let speak freely? While some may consider the song the wart that diminishes the album's contagious replay value, I think it may be what stands out the most to me. Along with the subtle hardcore nods, the razor sharp lyrics make this a callback to punk rock feeling a little more dangerous again.
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