“This song sets up the album with the urgency I feel to show appreciation for the one who’s kept me grounded and feeling loved throughout all the tragedies I’ve faced.” — Jeremy Bolm

Touché Amoré’s newest album starts with the banger “Come Heroine,” a track that lead vocalist Jeremy Bolm wrote as a tribute to his partner. It’s an epic opener, and one that sets the stage for Touché Amoré’s most ambitious and best album.

Off mic, Bolm sets the mood and screams “From peaks of blue, come heroine” enthusiastically, and the band follows his lead with gusto. The song rips, roars, and amps me up so much that it makes me forget heartbreak and want to joyously embrace all my exes, friends, and acquaintances.

Of course, that is not possible right now. Every interview given by the band for Lament’s promotion has obviously included the nature of their creative process during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like a lot of art at the moment, it is about processing the shit we are going through. Lamenting the state of the world, our communities, our families, ourselves.

Touché Amoré, however, are hell bent on an attempting to stay positive, and even though they cannot see a crowd mosh, they wrote an album that alleviates some pain. Whether or not you enjoy listening to post hardcore lyrical delivery, I hope everyone appreciates screaming along to “I need reminders of the love I have.”

The video for that track, “Reminders,” is perfect, and I encourage all to watch:

It is a beautiful video, and it is easily the best and most accessible song the album has to offer. And yet, the stellar follow up, “Limelight,” is devastating: “I’m tired and I’m sore / I’m not so young anymore / worn down, but I imagine / this uniform stays in fashion.”

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The album’s closer, “A Forecast,” is a complete surprise. Bolm does not scream over heavy rock music, but candidly sings while accompanied only by a piano:

I’ve healed more than suffered

I found the patience for jazz

I still love the Coen brothers

I’ve lost more family members

Not to cancer but the GOP

What’s the difference I’m not for certain

They all end up dead to me

So here’s the record closer

Still working out its intent

I’m not sure what I’m after

But it couldn’t go left unsaid

Unapologetically, the band makes an emphatic entrance and Bolm screams, “I’m still out in the rain / I could use / A little shelter / Now and then”

Touché is a French word that acknowledge’s cleverness at the expense of another, and for a band such as this, love has always held the upper hand and had the last laugh, even among the hardships. Lament is about depression, anxiety, and loss. But above all, it is about the love we have, good or bad.

I need reminders of the love I have, I need reminders, good or bad.