Buckcherry - Warpaint (2019) [CD Rip]

Buckcherry seemed out of the step with the times when they surfaced in 1999 but, 20 years after their debut, they're more of a throwback than ever. True, the hard rock vets attempt to lay claim to some alt-rock credibility by covering Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like a Hole," but even that classic bit of angst comes out sounding like a slice of Sunset strip sleaze in the hands of Buckcherry. That's the group's signature: they're unapologetically keeping the sound of the dirty '80s alive. Singer Josh Todd may not be surrounded by the crew he originally brought to the dance -- lead guitarist Keith Nelson left in 2017 -- but his enduring presence only highlights how Buckcherry continue to serve up the same kind of cheerfully grimy good times that they did when they were younger, wishing it was the old days. The style may not have changed but Todd sounds older, and not just because his voice is becoming weathered. Throughout Warpaint, the rhythms are getting a little slower, the swagger feels a bit fuller, and Todd shows a sentimental streak, one that surfaces strongly on the power ballad "Radio Song," which is most decidedly not an R.E.M. cover. Perhaps Buckcherry don't sound as hungry as they once did, but their adherence to their rock & roll values, along with how they make no attempt to disguise that they're out of fashion, make the band sound more endearing on Warpaint than they did a couple of decades ago. -- Stephen Thomas Erlewine