Review Summary: They don't really know me, but they hold me in such high regard.
That Handsome Devil is the best band you’ve never heard of. Aside from a modicum of exposure as a bonus artist on Rock Band and Guitar Hero, THD’s signature “gonzo-rock” is an unusually well-guarded secret. Mixing elements of bombastic Broadway swing, light-hearted surf rock, and moody, depressed hip-hop, The Heart Goes to Heaven… is the ultimate culmination of THD’s various musical faces into one consistent and amazingly unique sound.
“Adapt” introduces us to the strange world of That Handsome Devil’s downtrodden characters. Frontman and criminal mastermind Godforbid warbles off a tale about being left behind in an increasingly fast-moving world, a common theme in his lyrics. The band would really be nothing without the maniacal man behind the microphone: a former rapper, Godforbid soaks his chords in whiskey and abandonment and delivers the most captivating drawl since Tom Waits. Beyond that, every song is a lyrically genius tale of the misery of a lost generation; that same generation Tyler Durden so righteously derides yet defends. From “Charlie’s Inferno”, a showtune about the most moral man on Earth who still manages to be sent to Hell, to “Buyer’s Remorse”, a gloomy, dangerous surf/reggae song mourning the loss of youth and chastising the monotony that today’s adulthood guarantees, Godforbid pulls you into his city of denizens much like J.R. Hayes in Book Burner.
Of course, That Handsome Devil isn’t just a vehicle for the talent of Mr.Forbid. Behind him lies the swanky riffs of bandleader Jeremy Page, the main songwriter of That Handsome Devil and the only other consistent member. Page leads his rhythm section simultaneously like a band in a jazz club and like homeless street buskers; at once lethally uniform and playfully all-over-the-place, these guys have more chops than the session musicians of all the different seventies singers and genres they clearly take influence from. In a song like “Becky’s New Car”, Page and the band are content to repeat a constant upstroke beat, juxtaposed against Godforbid’s almost innocently nonchalant story of a teenage girl killed over her birthday present; on the other hand, “The U and I in Suicide” combines their typical surf flair with the synth elements typically present in club bangers, flying all over the handle in delivering their anti-societal sentiment. And this wouldn’t be a THD album without their other star on the marque, backing vocalist Naoko; whenever Page and the boys have strayed a little far from the bar, Naoko’s soothing croon brings everybody back inside the smoke-filled lounge, wallowing in their alcoholic misery.
The Heart Goes to Heaven, the Head Goes to Hell went criminally unknown; the mix of genre eclecticism and lyrical genius is too intoxicating to ignore. Above all else, this was a perfect summer album for its year and from here on out, as the focus on surf and swing can make one forget about the loneliness in the words. Indeed, most of the album juxtaposes gloomy lyrics and remarkably energetic and up-beat rhythm until the climax, “Party’s Dead”. Finally, for the first time in their discography, That Handsome Devil kicks the clever word-play and allows the band to mourn over their lost innocence in a slow, somber dirge; “we’ve been cool way too long” Godforbid laments, “party’s dead, friends are gone…and no-one will look me in the eye”, as though this song represents the ultimate realization of all of THD’s characters: God isn’t there, nobody cares, and you’ve squandered your life away towards something you thought matters.
