Greg Puciato, the frontman for The Black Queen and formerly for The Dillinger Escape Plan, has released his first solo live album Fuck Content to Bandcamp. On it are four new songs, “Absence as a Presence,” “Don’t Wanna Deal,” “Crazy All Around” and “Lying at the Bottom of the Sky.” The rest of the tracks are versions of songs from his debut solo album Child Soldier: Creator of God, which mxdwn just named the top album of 2020. One of the songs from the album, “Evacuation,” placed fourth on mxdwn’s Top 50 Best Songs of 2020 list.

Fuck Content premiered as a live stream concert on December 11 before now being made available for free or purchase in audio form. The album will make its way to Spotify and Apple Music on December 25.

Puciato shared a music video last week for one of the new songs, “Absence as a Presence,” showing an excerpt from the stream. It’s mostly footage of Puciato and his backing band performing with some video effects and touches of visual art overlaid at times. The song is slow but consistently heavy, even through the clean vocal hook.

“Don’t Wanna Deal” is comparatively very energetic, built around a memorable guitar riff with a few switch-ups keeping it evolving at as quick a pace as it’s moving. It’s simultaneously both catchy and relentless.

“Crazy All Around” initially showcases a completely different style, Puciato’s softer side. It starts with a few minutes of gentle guitar playing and dreamy vocals before the track breaks into chaos. 

“Lying at the Bottom of the Sky” also comes from Puciato’s soft side, but unlike “Crazy All Around,” does not have a drop. The acoustic guitar chords sound especially soft since it’s just the guitar and Puciato’s vocals filling out the space they were recorded in.

Photo credit: Raymond Flotat