Warpaint

Warpaint is a work on which BUCKCHERRY foregrounded the weight of blues-inflected hard rock and Josh Todd’s bare vocals. The songs are compact, with the guitar riff and beat reaching the body first, and a rough yet memorable melody riding on top. It is a record made under a new lineup after guitarist Keith Nelson left. On “Warpaint,” “Right Now,” “Bent” and “No Regrets,” a stance of choosing live feel over refinement and impulse over complexity conveys the band’s appeal plainly. Even including a bold cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Head Like a Hole,” the core of the whole album is consistent. Songs like “Radio Song” and “Closer” breathe the band’s full playing too. It is modern American hard rock that smells of sweat and dust.