Greenville Scene

By: Keith Groover

The Bitterman
Songs of Love, Anguish, and Sweet, Sweet Booze
Rating: 3.5/5

On their new record, Greenville’s favorite punk-country-rockabilly quartet stacks up a pile of bad relationships and broken hearts, douses it with liquor and lights it on fire, resulting in 24 minutes of obscenity-laced rock that would make the most masculine of alt-country bands blush. Well, maybe not blush, but they’d look over at their fellow bandmates and mutter “we won’t get played as bumper music on NPR if we say that, right?”

Fortunately, The Bitterman doesn’t get bogged down with these career quandaries, but instead brings us eight songs covering topics such as listening to a drunk girlfriend on the phone (ReGretta), the awesome-ness of exploiting Jesus (the aptly titled Exploiting Jesus is Awesome), wanting to beat up a hobo (Killing Ain’t Wrong), hating an ex (Coke Machine) and drinking (examples: the other four). These topics are covered with wit and force in equal measure, never missing an opportunity for a clever putdown (”you were prettier when my head was spinnin’/there were two of you and it seemed like more fun”, “you look d*** fine on paper/but we like three-dimensional ladies”) or a potent turn of phrase (I’m rotten and I’m tired and you know that I’m gonna lose/and if you wanna help me, pass me that bottle o’ booze, “there’s a reason the claw’s in the back of the hammer/to get the nails out of your wrists”.)

Despite the somewhat melancholic topic matter, the album doesn’t get bogged down in despair, mostly because humor is never far from the surface and the music is largely upbeat. In fact, there is only one slow song on the record, the next-to-last track ReGretta. The rest alternate between up-tempo barn burners, medium tempo rockers, and the occasional demented polka (Burn Baby Burn) or bar-friendly sing-along anthem (Exploiting J.I.A.)

The musicianship is high throughout, with a tight but creative rhythm section and excellent lead guitar work. The arrangements are well thought out and interesting, possibly leaning a little farther out into left field than the genre and subject matter normally call for, but it’s an evolutionary change that will be welcomed by most. The vocal style makes sense, but is possibly an acquired taste for some, as Zach Guttery’s deeply affected singing can occasionally (but not often) be at odds with the general feel. The background vocals, likewise, can come on a little strong and don’t necessarily blend with the other vocals, but this is probably a good thing, since Def Leppard-esque perfect rock choir harmonies would sound completely out of place here.

If only it were a little longer, since it sits in that odd space between EP and full-length size. The pacing and song order is excellent, but two or three more songs might have helped fill it out a touch and bumped it from the status of “some good songs” to “a really good album”. This is a small complaint, though. Overall, the record is well done, filled with wit, energy, and creativity, and definitely deserves a listen. So check it out, because otherwise you might drive these guys to drin . . . oh wait.