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| Reno Divorce feature review on For The Love Of Punk |
Check out the review on For The Love Of Punk
"It is both beautiful and tragic that the best OC punk album in years comes from half the country away. Lover’s Leap from Denver’s Reno Divorce delivers the sound we have all been waiting around for, but didn’t get. This is the record Mike Ness wished he would have written. From the opening bars of “Rep to Protect”, you know exactly what you’re in for. “I’d love to sit and chat about all the times I let you down, but now I’m all done with that. ” It’s a bold and plaintive statement, accompanied by a “come at me bro” old school sound that is both reassuring in its familiarity, yet cleaned up with just enough polish to make it shine. It’s like the hot rod in your old man’s garage that just needed a tune up to roar down the road.
Highlights of the record include some of the best written lyrics about fake friends, like in the song “Ill Gotten Gains”. “Oh, I wish that I knew who I was talking to, but with you I don’t know who to smack”. The song “Sunsets and Corvettes” deals with love gone wrong: “I’ve got a box full of your things, I guess that I should throw it away.” The final track, “Don’t Let It Slip Away”, shows the band’s attempts at redemption: “ I know I let you down, and I’m sorry for that, there’s a million things that I’d take back.”
A few songs do get a bit sophomoric, and seem more suited to a 19 year old’s mentality. Some examples are when Brent Loveday sings “I’m sittin on my couch, drinkin whiskeys and water, braggin how I fucked somebody’s daughter” in “Time Flies When You’re Having Fun” and in “I’ll Always Be Your Slave” when he bluntly states “sometimes when we fuck, I don’t think we fuck at all.” Sonically the musicianship here makes it easy to overlook these rare moments of immaturity. The bright ringing guitar work and perfect steady drumming deliver an overall vibe that makes you feel simultaneously young and invincible, yet road weary from having seen too much hurt and heart ache.
This album contains a lifetime of feelings packed into thirteen tracks. Reno Divorce dares you to “ride with me to Lover’s Leap, where the rocks are sharp and the waters deep” and dive in. Do it. It’s a great ride and worth every second."
