Earlier this week, Fearless Records’ The Word Alive released
their second studio album, Life Cycles
amidst a flurry of new releases that spilled over from late June. As the summer
heats up, and large scale tours start moving, TWA finds itself in a precarious
position – with so much new material, if their new album fails to distinguish
itself, it risks being blasted into obscurity once the hype of the first few
days of release have passed. TWA’s decision to play on the far smaller All
Stars Tour, as opposed to well-known festivals such as Warped or Uproar,
certainly won’t help them. So, how exactly does Life Cycles fare in the suddenly competitive metalcore scene?
Quite
well, actually. The mistakes the band made on their 2009 EP Empire are long gone, and while the
release of Abandon All Ships’ Infamous earlier
this week may have left a bad taste in my mouth with regards to electrocore, Life Cycles manages to keep things fresh
and exciting. This may very well be because the synthwork and wobbles TWA use
are incredibly subtle – they are used almost exclusively for atmospheric effects
and rhythm. The focus remains (as it should) on the riffage of Zack Hansen and
Tony Pizzuti, with the electronic elements almost vanishing into the background
in a supporting role, adding a bit of flavor to each song.
Which,
to be completely honest, the record does need. As with most metalcore, TWA
rides a thin line between innovation and repetition, but sways towards the
latter in some cases. It is, without a doubt, a chug-heavy album, favoring
breakdowns and distorted verses, but not everything repeats. Some of Hansen’s
riffs actually become surprisingly technical, and while this is unfortunately seldomly
used, the few times it occurs, it heightens the urgency and aggression of the
song (take the intro riff on ‘Live a Lie’, for example) before the invariable
scream comes in and furthers the overall energy.
Just as
well, there is no set-in-stone vocal style – certain songs are unclean-heavy,
others focus on clean singing. Telle Smith’s bellicose roar is matched by his
emotional singing, creating a difference that keeps you on your toes. This is
aided by the fact that the instrumentals will often change to match this
difference, reserving the chug for screams and switching to more emotional
riffs and louder synthwork for the clean portions. It’s this variety within
each song that protects the record from repetitiveness. Breakdowns are used a bit too often, but
ultimately, because the instrumentals are so varied, things stay fun. It's this sort of contrast that makes music sound good, a technique bands like Abandon All Ships took completely too far and ultimately produced a mediocre record.
Lyrically,
the album preserves TWA’s main theme of ‘family first’, but tackles other ideas
such as feeling alone, and lacking motivation. Interestingly enough, ‘For Your
Health’ is a salute to standing up for your beliefs, which, for the longest
time, has been The Devil Wears Prada’s signature theme. The track ‘Hidden Lakes’ is Telle’s salute to
his late grandfather – who must have been a pretty awesome grandpa if he would
have enjoyed TWA’s sound for that song. The lyrics aren’t exemplary, but they’re passable and forgivable when the
instrumentals are hammering at your ears. There’s an overwhelming feeling of
anger and futility that comes through in many of the songs that will definitely
appeal to the ‘core’ side of ‘metalcore’.
But TWA’s
biggest change is a complete, occasional switch to a softer sound. The
introduction to the last song ‘Astral Plane’ reflects this, as it couples
synth-heavy instrumentals with whispered vocals reminiscent of 30 Seconds to
Mars, almost. Of course, this only lasts a few seconds, but it does show that
TWA are willing to step outside their comfort zone. While it’s almost routine
for a new record to have an instrumental break near the end of the record at
this point, TWA still shows that there’s still a lot that can be done to make
sure this doesn’t get stale.
Overall,
though, this is a record that gets phenomenally better near the end. The first
few tracks, up to ‘Hidden Lakes’ are decent romps through metalcore we’ve all
heard before, but the end of the album is a complete moshpit. With the
exception of the aforementioned ‘Astral Plane’, unclean vocals and distorted
verses abound. Combined with aggressive lyrics and frenetic rhythm, it’s clear
which songs TWA are playing live.
To
conclude, Life Cycles is a pretty
good record. It’s a sizeable improvement on the staleness that was Empire, and only helps TWA by joining
the ranks of 2010’s Deceiver.
However, it faces the same problem its predecessor did – there simply isn’t
enough variety. There is some, and it prevents listening to the record from
becoming a chore, but not enough to merit much replayability. It’s catchy and
fun, but overall slightly forgettable. Will I be listening to it for a bit?
Probably, but it is by no means the summer’s best so far. TWA have improved,
but there’s a long way to go.
Listen
to ‘Belong’ here:
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