Fans of The Armed have come to expect the unexpected from the Detroit hardcore collective. The band's breakthrough album, 2021's ULTRAPOP, packed more riffs, blast beats and power vocals than the oversaturated tracks could contain. So when the band announced its follow-up record, Perfect Saviors, was mixed by Alan Moulder — the guy behind the decks for albums by Nine Inch Nails and My Bloody Valentine — the hope was that he would give us a clearer picture of who The Armed really are.
In "Liar 2" (perhaps a sequel to one of the band's earliest songs), Moulder tones The Armed's sound into muscular dance punk. A squelching synth, rumbling bass and four-on-the-floor beat drive the track, and the song's lead vocals are processed with the same crunch of another Moulder client, The Killers. But we're in The Armed's universe, where anything that's worth doing is worth doing spectacularly. "The brightest stars shine through darkest clouds," the lead singer utters before a miraculous breakdown halfway through the song. It's clear they're talking about you.
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