Buckcherry revitalized their career with 2006’s 15, the band’s bestselling disc and a commercial rebound from their previous album, 2001’s poorly received Time Bomb. Part of 15’s success was due to its two prominent singles – the sexy hard rock of “Crazy B****” and the simple vulnerability of the pop ballad “Sorry.” Black Butterfly, Buckcherry’s follow-up, lacks such out-of-the-box hits, although several songs try to copy the formula of those two smashes. What results is an album that rarely flags but isn’t quite exciting enough to match earlier Buckcherry peaks.
A Series of Strong Mid-Tempo Tunes
Though Buckcherry is made up of five members, the primary creative spark comes from frontman Josh Todd and guitarist Keith Nelson. In an interview prior to Black Butterfly’s completion, Todd and Nelson mentioned that they were having an easier time writing mid-tempo songs than full-throttled rockers for the album. Listening to Black Butterfly, their observation was accurate: On the whole, melodic, guitar-driven tunes (like “Dreams”) have more juice than the album’s aggressive tracks, which feel forced and obligatory. “Dreams” starts off softly as Todd sings sweetly to a girl he’s in danger of losing. From there, Nelson’s guitar roars to life during the urgent chorus. Another strong melodic number is “Rose” – in this first-person narrative about a cross-country wanderer in search of a fresh start, Buckcherry put together a worthy road anthem full of yearning vocals and highway-wide riffs.A Bad Boy Grows Up ... Kinda
When Buckcherry came onto the scene in the late 1990s, they had a reputation for being a Guns N’ Roses-style bad-boy rock band, and while there are still traces of that on Black Butterfly, the prevailing tone is no longer so willfully hedonistic. A case in point is “Too Drunk…,” a self-deprecating song about a babe magnet who gets so wasted that his attempted hookup with a hottie falls flat. Rather than reveling in debauchery, “Too Drunk…” actually sends up frontman Josh Todd’s image (at least in his band’s music) as a cocky, sex-crazed rock god, and in that regard it’s a fun subversion of the Buckcherry persona. The problem is that the song’s slow groove isn’t particularly sexy or catchy – it’s a solid piece of craftsmanship, but nothing extraordinary.Drawing Inspiration From a Book
While working on Black Butterfly, Todd drew lyrical inspiration from Dave Pelzer’s memoir, A Child Called “It,” about his personal experiences with child abuse. But although it’s clear that the book touched Todd, the resulting songs are a mixed bag. “A Child Called ‘It’” rattles and rolls but doesn’t have a strong enough hook, while “Rescue Me” is one of the album’s best rockers, undone slightly by touchy-feely lyrics. At the very least, Pelzer’s memoir allows Todd to expand his range of subject matter, even if he doesn’t yet feel fully confident in this new terrain.Bottom Line
Black Butterfly is an accessible hard rock record that speeds by at a brisk clip. The bad-attitude stomper “Tired of You” and the power ballad “Don’t Go Away” will sound great on the radio, and several other tracks are memorable, but there’s an overriding feel of professionalism that hinders Black Butterfly’s energy. Responding to 15’s breakout success, Buckcherry have taken some chances but mostly stayed within their comfort zone.Best Tracks:
“Dreams”“Don’t Go Away”
“Rose”
“Tired of You”
Release date – September 16, 2008
