Life In Your Way

Waking Giants

Written by: PP on 23/03/2007 16:39:08

I don't know much about Christianity but I do know one thing, their hardcore bands tend to be the very best bands in the genre, and Life In Your Way is no different to that stereotype. "WRAAAH LIFE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS!!" screams vocalist Todd Mackey with his all-powerful and fierce, yet lyrically understandable voice on one of my favorite lines on their new album "Waking Giants", which features complex guitar work fitted to overwhelmingly awesome vocals, intricate solo passages, and deadly breakdowns supported by dual growls and gangshouts. Think Misery Signals with much more melody.

It's strange how bands can sound so similar in the genre but how some just are so much better, leading me to my hypothesis that it's the little details that count in the usually messy and brutal genre. This is true in Life In Your Way's case, because much of the instrumental work is standard metalcore meets hardcore: scale-based riffs, ultra-heavy bouncing breakdowns, and plenty of power chords. You know the drill. So why am I describing this band almost like the saviors of the genre? Perhaps my hype is slightly overstated but Todd's vocal delivery is among the best I've heard in the hardcore scene. You'll hear him screaming his lungs out and it sounds well-produced, yet edge and sharp corners surround his voice. The next moment he is contrasted with high-end clean vocals and occasional spoken passages, giving all the more power to his voice, especially when it steps side-by-side with the clean vocals. It's just beautiful.

Now, I wish all songs were like that with "Salty Graves" and the fastest track on the album "The Beauty Of Grace" at the forefront. These tracks destroy everything on their way and while they are remorselessly powerful, melody and quieter passages haven't been forgotten, creating an end-to-end extreme contrast. It's just too bad that there are one too many slow songs like "Help The Arm Of The Mighty", because on these the band falls on its face. The lack of speed downgrades the power-effect significantly, making each of these songs sound as just another cliché filler track.

But the presence of a few flow-breakers isn't enough to significantly downgrade this album, especially because it has songs like "Salty Grave" and "Reach The End" in it. These are the kind of tracks all melodic hardcore bands need to be inspired by, and write more clean vocals over melodic screaming-based songs with metalcore instrumentals. A very, very promising album.

Download: Salty Grave, Reach The End
For the fans of: Beloved, Misery Signals, Shai Hulud, Hopesfall
Listen: Myspace

Release date 06.03.2007
Solid State

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