Life in the Sky "Illusions of Loudness" CD
[self-released]
I'm not sure how I feel about this. Some of it kicks ass (a scarce "some"), but a lot of it's weak, and the recording is way too suffocated and muddy to let the material shine. It's basically really heavy rock with a lot of rhythmic grooves that hit on a southern sort of tinge, as well as some post-hardcore melodic dissonance and things like that. The songwriting is generally repetitive and midpaced with basic chord progressions accented by droning melodies (the melodies are what catch my ear consistently), and the vocals sort of hover between gruff rock singing, softer clean singing, and an almost spoken delivery - never really doing much for me. "Ants" is an absolutely awful track, complete with an overly groovy rhythm, weird vocals half-spoken under effects, and tons of irritating guitar effects that aren't my thing at all; and the nu-metal sounding clank of "Irish Celtic" isn't much better. I don't know, I'm not into much of this. After about 15 minutes it wears thin, and nothing jumps out at me so much. The stoner-esque runs in "The Mix" aren't bad, but too often such passages get obscured by a grunge sort of feel. But my biggest problem is definitely the recording, as everything is muddy but the drums are the clearest and most separated element, so they sound louder and more focal than everything else. The guitars, bass, and even the vocals all lump together in one thick mass of low-end pulsing that, while discernible, just isn't detailed enough to allow the specifics to make themselves heard. They definitely need a much clearer mix to pull this off. The CD-R comes with a relatively professionally printed package that looks like it might be some sort of thick laser print or something. The layout's alright, a little plain, and I'm not a fan of it, but it could be worse. The lyrics are printed in one endless block of text that's hard to sort through, and the typefaces are a little plain in the booklet, but that's life. I find the lyrical content to be a little bland as well, just because the word choice is a little basic and disinteresting, but again, it happens. Overall? I can't say I'm a fan. Really the only things I enjoy are the distorted bass tone and the dissonant chords/droning melodic layers. The only single song that I enjoy as a whole is "Red to Blue", which still suffers from the muddy production but at least keeps its head above water as a solid composition. Were they to head in that darker direction more often they'd be onto something, but the vocals still need work, and the recording definitely needs an overhaul. It's strange when a band that does have some killer parts comes off as bland and uninteresting, but what can you do? (3/10)
Running time - 34:16, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Red to Blue]
Life in the Sky - http://www.lifeinthesky.com

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