There isn’t anything in this life quite like heartbreak, and in Spider Rockets’ breakup-lamenting “Rip Your Heart Out,” ruing past lovers isn’t exactly the narrative at hand. This is a track about the most vicious kind of pain transference around, and if its cutting lyrics don’t paint a clear enough picture for you, its anime-style music video definitely will. The sum of this release is simple: Spider Rockets have no time for cutesy rock n’ roll B.S., and their unrelenting mixture of hard rock panache and punk rock rhythm really does speak for itself.
The guitar is the hardest element in the mix, but it doesn’t overshadow what the bass, drums, or singer does for the cohesiveness of the song. There’s just no competing with the guttural crunch of its strings in a couple of key spots closer to the conclusion of “Rip Your Heart Out,” and while this might be considered out of fashion among contemporary alternative rock acts, it doesn’t sound like a throwback when Spider Rockets do it. They’re transcendent of eras here, and this is mostly because of how much heart they’re lending these lyrics and the formidable wall of overdriven melodicism framing them.
Watch the video for “Rip Your Heart Out” below
It might be pretty cool to hear this at a higher tempo, and I wouldn’t put it past Spider Rockets to give “Rip Your Heart Out” a Black Flag-like twist if performing in the right circumstances. You can tell they’re just itching to come undone between the swinging beats of this song, and in a live show, I don’t imagine them being able to restrain the energy as much as they can in this instance. Self-control matters in the studio, but only to the degree that it advertises the animalistic side of your sound, which is what this band gets so right in this track.
Spider Rockets have been around for a while now, but their sound is as fresh as ever in the music video for “Rip Your Heart Out.” There haven’t been many rock bands worth discussing outside of short-form indie press articles and internet clickbait from the left side of the pop music lexicon, but this is a group that might have the right muscle to get heavy music back into the mainstream spotlight it once ruled as little as a few years ago. The bottom line – it’s difficult to step away from “Rip Your Heart Out” without calling yourself a Spider Rockets fan, as I learned firsthand just recently.
