1. Banshee (Ghost Fame)
2. Empty Elvis
3. White America's Beautiful Black Market
4. Dreamer's Disease
5. That Fear Fever
6. Virgin Dirt
7. Younger
8. The Dope Beat
9. The Priest And Used Cars
10. Pheremoe Cvlt
11. 27 Club
Genre: Hardcore
For Fans Of: Glassjaw, Stray From The Path, Defeater
This album was the first time I’ve ever listened to letlive and I can honestly say it was a well-deserved listen. Letlive manages to do something a bit different, as many hardcore bands do, they make a style up that’s unique and something that only they can do. This is something that gives hardcore bands an edge in the music scene; it’s all about being different and trying to be original. The thing about letlive that is really enjoyable is that when you hear the vocalist, you can tell that he has a lot of emotion, and he also tries to put a ton of emotion behind his vocals. He manages to do so in some of the songs on this album, which is really enjoyable, in my opinion. Many people might enjoy this. A few songs that stand out on this album are, “Banshee (Ghost Fame)”, “Dreamers Disease”, “Virgin Dirt”, “The Dope Beat”, and “27 Club”. “Banshee (Ghost Fame), is the first song on the album, and it has a very unusual intro to it. For better, or for worse, it shows off the band’s sound pretty well. The song is also around the perfect length. It’s about four minutes long, and it does show every bit of letlive perfectly, from every angle; emotion, guitars, drums, vocals, bass, and almost everything. The only bad thing about this release would probably have to be the production. The production could be a lot better, but it still does its job pretty well, and that’s the main thing that it needs to do. There could be some different production styles here and there that could have made certain things sound a bit differently. But that might be the case! The album still sounds great, and it’s pretty much flawless if you’re big into the hardcore genre. As I’ve seen, hardcore is split into sub areas; hateful, emotional, meaningful, or a combination of them all into one band. These are the things that make bands in the hardcore genre unique, and different, or worth listening to. Now, this doesn’t mean you should go right ahead and listen to every hardcore band you find on YouTube. Not at all am I trying to apply to that, but what I’m trying to say is that there are some bands in the genre that you should definitely check out, and letlive is one of these bands. And “Banshee (Ghost Fame)” definitely shows that off pretty well! “Dreamers Disease”, is my favorite song on this album, and my favorite song by letlive. Their emotion behind this song is outstanding, and it pretty much hits a homerun. It’s very relatable, which is something that I’ve noticed in letlive’s music. They hit topics that you can relate too, and they make the song catchy, which makes it a sing-along possibility, at shows. The only thing that I would honestly change on this song, would have to be the vocal production. Other than that, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. Two lines on this song that may stand out a little bit is “If home is where the heart is, then what do I do with empty chest?” and “They say home is where the heart is, so where do you keep your bed?” These two lines stand out on the song very well because of how they are sung. As for the emotion, these lines have very strong emotion behind them. Now for “Virgin Dirt”, and yes I know, it’s a weird name indeed, but the song is done just as well as “Dreamers Disease”. Both are packed with emotion behind them, and this may be the reason as to why I enjoy both of them so much. I definitely give letlive props on making music that is relatable, emotional, and enjoyable. “The Dope Beat”, is yet another song with an odd name, but as well as “Virgin Dirt”, it’s done as well as the other songs on this album. It is around the four minutes, but the longer the better right? This manages to show the sound of letlive a bit more. “27 Club”, is the last song on the album, and it is also the longest song on this album. In my opinion, this was a good move on letlive’s part. They wanted to end this album to where it will hype their fans up for the next release (maybe, I’m just taking a guess on this). If that’s the reason, then I would have to honestly say that they did it correctly, and it just may have possibly worked.
Breakdown:
Cleans: The clean vocals are a bit spoken, but other than
that there are some cleans on this album. The clean vocals sound a bit
different, which only makes the sound that letlive is making, sound a bit
different, and a little unique. Almost every hardcore band has a different way
to do their clean vocals. This is something I do find quite enjoyable! I love
hearing all the different emotions that bands add to their vocals in order to
make them sound different.
Screams: The screams, oh my… The screams are way different than
anything I've heard, honestly. The vocalist adds so much emotion to both his clean
vocals, and his screams. It’s really fascinating to hear at first. Some people
may not like it as much as I do, but hey, we all have opinions right? I've
honestly came to enjoy letlive’s vocals, more than a lot of other bands that I've
listened too. There are many different styles used on this album for vocals. The
screams are just… I honestly can’t really explain it, but there are some vocal
parts, the screams being one of them, that’ll you’ll have to hear for yourself.
Instruments: The instrument plays are as unique as the
screams. There are some different riffs, and different drumming styles, which
makes letlive sound so different. The band members are all very talented, no
lies there! The guitar riffs aren’t really mind blowing, but there are some pretty
good ones, and maybe some that can be considered mind-blowing, but I don’t categorize
them as such. The drumming style is a bit fast and heavy, which is something that’s
really enjoyable for me. It really improves the sound of letlive.
Rating: 9/10
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