Sweet Jesus, absolutely nothing better than a hardcore album that has you forgetting that you wanted to jump off a cliff five minutes prior. The Danish delicacy, Lifesick, come at us again with gnashing teeth, dropping their much-needed fourth album (follow up to their EP drop in January initiating a new chapter with our beloved Metal Blade Records); Loved by None, Hated by All can now be consumed in three exceptional vinyl conditions as well as CD since November 1st.
If you love hardcore, you don’t care how generic you sound, hyping the shit out of the first track. “Death Wish” slices the jugular with razor-sharp entropy and resounds an end-of-the-world perspective lost in decades of influence, mixing classic hardcore tactile with a firepit of pleasure principles. You can hear the irrational echo of bands like Fuming Mouth, Gatekeeper, and Harms Way. The breakdowns feel more like rubber bands
projecting acid than the traditional wall-to-wall soundtrack to bouncing and gopher bopping. The lyrics solidly emphasize a contagion of pissed we all need right now to get by.
If you hopped on board with this band at Love and Other Lies, you recognize the emphasis they place on respecting instrumentals and vocal contention that runs with the bulls at Metal Blade. I have mad respect for that. They have proven exactly where they belong, and they belong with the legends. If you go backwards from there, you realize that they have been growing with the popular commands while mixing in so much individuality. Each member presents superior strength behind their weapon.
On this new ten track masterpiece, two other songs knocked me to the floor beside the cadence fire on the first track. “Liquid Courage” felt very metaphorical, emulating a battle that can’t be won without much stamina. The lyrics are very articulate of some current era battles that we are going to have in every society around the whole country in the not-so-distant future, but the lay claim is that there better be a damn good reason, and I think this song nails that on the head. The tones are such a beautiful emphasis, encouraging each verbal point to stand on both legs with a temper that we all need to take hold of.
The second song that really got me deep was “Straight Jacket.” I think I speak for every hardcore kid when I say the rage comes from an unspoken compression, and the depth of how much we take spiritually. We care; without a doubt, we care more than a lot of people have the capacity to; we register so much flying at us in life that we find significant joy in a room full of swinging fists. However, any band that isn’t afraid to display the unabridged velocity of a complete loss of control wins.
I almost feel unsettled trying to define this album because it really represents the mentality that should remain unbridled. One that has been through way too much shit. There’s no narrow scope of practice to create albums that can change a panic attack into fists of war with sophistication, and I think that’s something we need to just admire and be thankful for. I look forward to an incredibly progressive future for this new Metal Blade diamond.
