I haven't heard anything from this band in a long fucking time, and I really had no clue they were still at it. But I like this a lot better than what I remember thinking of their first record. Expect brutal metalcore that's hard on the metal, but in a mid- to late-90's style, with tons of crushing mosh parts, dual guitar runs that sound more like midpaced Slayer riffs than anything else, and raging vocal screams that remind me a lot of the "Bloodlust Revenge" EP from One King Down. There's really not any melody present, though at times they might kick out some quick octave chords or something as an additional texture against the chugging rhythms. "End of the Dream" has more of a European flare kicking in with spoken vocals over a dissonant dual guitar harmony during the intro, while "Revolution (Return of the Power)" is more forceful in its rhythmic shifts and gang vocals, definitely making for a strong closer. I don't really have any huge gripes with the production. The vocals sound great, the guitars are generally heavy, the drums are rigid but pack enough of a punch to work out, etc. I might add more crunch to the guitar parts, and warming up the percussion would of course help out, but... Visually the imagery of a knife dripping blood onto a white flower is pretty generic, but the textures and everything are consistent and it does look fairly good. Lyrically things are pretty straightforward and deal with revenge, surviving tough times, "only the strong survive" type stuff, all that. Could be better, could be worse. The CD-Rom portion of the disc contains a mini website deal with a really brief history of the band and some downloads (wallpapers and shit) along with two videos. One is random clips in the studio and stuff, and the other is live footage set to the studio audio of "Mad Titan". I wish this was a full-length, because it's pretty damn good. You won't find many bands still playing this style anymore, so I'm glad there are still some solid acts out there keeping this shit alive. Vicious.
[Life Sentence]
Running time - 22:39, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Mad Titan, Crusher, Revolution (Return of the Power)]
Life Sentence Records - http://www.lifesentencerecords.com
