Metalcore supergroup Better Lovers have surprise dropped their debut EP God Made Me An Animal.
Featuring Greg Puciato (ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan), Jordan Buckley, Clayton 'Goose' Holyoak, Stephen Micciche (all ex-Every Time I Die and Will Putney (Fit For An Autopsy), Better Lovers exploded onto the scene with the single 30 Under 13 in April. That tracks blend of souped-up early '00s metalcore is pushed to the limit throughout the 15-minute, 4-track God Made Me An Animal.
Commenting on the release, the band shared “Four eclectic and wildly fun songs we’ve been kicking around for what feels like forever, it’s great to finally have these out in the world. Let it happen to you. Hear all this and more on tour all Summer. The engine is turned on.”
God Made Me An Animal arrives as Better Lovers are about to embark on their inaugural tour, a mix of both headlining dates, with several already sold out, and performances with Underoath. The tour begins in Buffalo, N.Y., the hometown of Buckley, Holyoak and Micciche, on July 13.
The first project to debut since the sudden, unexpected and rather messy demise of Buckley's previous band, Every Time I Die, Better Lovers arrives into the world at a time when Every Time I Die's passionate fanbase have been thirsting for something new after months of rumours and teasers as to what the future holds. Speaking at the time of the release of 30 Under 13 Buckley hinted at the heaviness that was on the way.
"Looking back, I’m so happy everything got me to where I am,” explains Buckley. “The pandemic and the last few years made me hungrier and more grateful. This isn’t a hobby. This isn’t temporary. This is the next evolution for each of us. Greg and Will rejuvenated me and made me even more confident. Now, everybody needs to know we’re a wild animal that just broke out of the zoo—there’s no trying to put it back in the cage.”
Puciato is equally enthused about the project, commenting that Better Lovers has awoken a side of him he thought was long gone.
“Jordan sent me some already finished instrumental tracks, and they hit me at just the right time,” adds Puciato. “Those tracks woke up a side of me that I thought was fully extinct but was merely evolving and changing. To my complete surprise, there was still something left in that area to dig at, and the vessel for it made sense.”
Putney, who had worked on the most recent Every Time I Die albums, including their fantastic final record Radical and won a 2021 GRAMMY®-Award for his production work on Body Count’s Carnivore, encapsulates the band’s thoughts: “It’s a group of loaded weapons all firing at full power ready for the next chapter of our music careers, and I can confidently say our collective best work is ahead of us.”
Listen to the best new heavy tracks via the Metal Maniacs playlist.
