Love Me Destroyer would have done well to be just a little bit more punctual.

I'd wager that the four-piece would have had a much more rewarding and lucrative musical career had they released this around the time that Finch was riding the wave of What It Is to Burn. LMD aren't a carbon copy of the one time Drive-Thru darlings, but there are some stylistic similarities that can't be ignored.

Love Me Destroyer, unlike Finch during the height of their popularity, suffer from "wow, we really don't know how to write a good song, do we" disorder. There's bits and pieces of driving rhythms and coherent melody, but their sound is largely one of a band who simply cannot find their footing. The straining cries of "and it's sad cause that's just who you are" in "Choked and Charmed" are strangley ironic as vocalist Ryan Welter plods through the two-minute track changing inflections more times than I care to count. Be it because he can't carry a tune, or because they thought it'd be a good idea is irrelevant; it shows simply that the band is lacking direction.

It's apparent in plenty more places than just that, though.

"Kiss and Tell" begins with a promising rhythm, and then hits a brick wall as soon as the vocals enter the picture. The scruffy, off-key singing does not at all meld with the quick melodic rhythm, leaving the band stuck in a groove that they can't free themselves from. The combinations of vocals and rhythm are consistently battling with each other, and this is no situation for a band playing pop-rock music to be in. Rather than being catchy and infectious, this record is simply aggravating.

When people were eating up any band with catchy hooks and some instances of screaming a few years ago, Love Me Destroyer would have found a home. A home with all those that value style over substance, and even their ability to demonstrate some of the former is in serious question.

Straight bush league.