Even as a fan, you have to acknowledge how much ironic enjoyment factors into Bilmuri. If anything, being a fan probably puts you in a better position to admit it. Claim to love the artistry if you want, but at the end of the day, the guy from Attack Attack! making bro-country with alt-metal grafted on is the elevator pitch that saw success. There have been so many Bilmuri albums now, and this clear concoction just so happens to be where they began to stick.
Not to denigrate AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS with that, either. It’s one of the most addictive albums to come out in recent memory, unequivocally more so than if Johnny Franck’s entire M.O. had been making this a joke. But still, the absurdity of it all is not an insubstantial factor. There’s not a chance this project in its current form would’ve opened for Sleep Token or Bad Omens without existing scene clout. But while Franck is unquestionably in on it, you have to wonder whether the meme is beginning to corner him. Like, just look at that cover—Franck, schlubby, shirtless and stone-faced, posing with a sword and a warthog as the visualisation of Bilmuri’s adopted catchphrase “crankin’ my hog”.
As KINDA HARD goes on, it’s unerringly indebted to the Bilmuri character. The introductory title track might tease a diversion into crushing, pulverising heaviness, but the truck revs and eagle cries suggest we’re still in all-American mode. In lieu of considerable progression, KINDA HARD instead elects to double down on its frat-core impulses. It’s strongly embedded in rock and country; it’s loud and burly, almost to the point of lunkheadedness; its angst post-relationship often takes the form of a vindictive bro-down. It’s exactly what HARDY tends to bring, Jeremy McKinnon feature and all, yet he’s never been awarded the same success in this lane.
So, are Bilmuri this far ahead purely on catchiness? …yeah, probably. KINDA HARD has not a complexity to its name, nor the same freshness as AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS, but this is as listenable as it gets, from cover to cover. There’s a knack for concentrating the gold-standard chorus-work that persists on KINDA HARD, to the point where you’d struggle to narrow down a ‘weaker’ cut among it. Even right at the end, the pop-country jam BACK, THEN and the whooshing excess of HONEST don’t give the impression of winding down. The first half is where it’s at, though, between beastlike earworms on the singles TWICE and MORE THAN HATE, and ROCK BOTTOM that’s only amplified by its put-on twang.
There’s just an irrepressible momentum that fills in every gap it needs to, no matter how severe it might seem on paper. Franck can generously be described as ‘unexceptional’ as a singer, but the decision to bolt forth on everyman personality is rarely a bad one. Musically, too, KINDA HARD’s blocks of alt-metal are shined and shaped to be free of the genre’s worst clunk. Even if the razzle-dazzle of Gabi Rose’s saxophone only appears on TWICE and HONEST, the default mix of clean, airy textures, meaty low-ends and the slightest country sizzle prove more than enough. (If anything, the last of those could do with being prioritised more as evidenced by how good SHYT FYST is, but oh well.)
There’s also a dash of metalcore in there, though that’s more peripheral to the overall experience. The blend as a whole does a good job of folding that in and ensuring it doesn’t overpower. It’s likely why growls are reduced to window-dressing on MORE THAN HATE and ALWAYS LET YOU DOWN, the latter case being the most of individual note that Jeremy McKinnon provides. Somehow even more perfunctory is WHERE TO FIND ME, apparently featuring Novelists but good luck deducing where. More than anything, both feel like a bone thrown to the wider scene, where if there were any danger of Bilmuri’s standing being lost, there’s a safety net already established. The same could be said about ST4RF1SH SPR34DR, little more than a single distorted breakdown that’d be an easily candidate for culling.
They aren’t ‘concessions’, per se, but they aren’t necessary, either. The core musical ideas of Bilmuri do plenty on their own, and are executed with a confidence that’s totally justified. As an iteration on a formula, KINDA HARD is about as sure-footed as it gets, sidestepping anything that might feel worn down or tired and chugging on ahead. There’s a comfortable feel about it, not unlike other acts up to their 16th album but not solely spinning its wheels, either. And even if the ironic, hog-crankin’ enjoyment is yet to be shook off, you can’t imagine Franck is too bothered by that. If it’s working, it’s working, and in the case of Bilmuri…oh boy, is it ever working!
For fans of: Don Broco, HARDY, Lakeview
‘KINDA HARD’ by Bilmuri is out now on Columbia Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
