This Life – EP "Stories of the Year"
Released 14. 10. 2015.
Label: KROD records
Genre: Hardcore
Review: Tihomir Škara
* Scroll down for English
_________________
This Life je hard-core bend iz Tuluza, Francuska, oformljen 2012. godine. Iza sebe imaju jedan album – "Lies about the truth", a poslednje izdanje "Stories of the Year" predstavlja kratak EP od svega petnaest i kusur minuta.
Dok nisam stupio u kontakt sa izdavačem ovog izdanja (KROD records), nisam bio upoznat sa vrlo bogatom HC scenom koju Francuska nudi i svesrdno oplemenjuje. Moramo priznati da je HC davnih dana rekao sve što je imao da kaže, i da danas sve funkcioniše po principu prepričavanja, tako da više ne postoji nova i sveža tema o kojoj se može pevati. This Life na ovom izdanju pevaju o prijateljstvu i zajedničkoj borbi za iskrenu muzičku scenu, o prolaznosti života kroz jedan ublažen pesimistički pogled i o konzumerizmu koji nas svakodnevno izjeda. Ovaj put konzumerizam je direktno usmeren na modifikovanu i otrovnu hranu koju svakodnevno nalazimo na našim trpezama.
EP započinje vrlo kratkom numerom "Rebirth", koja više podseća na intro, ali ovaj put vrlo dobro izveden intro, koji nije promašaj, kao što se često desi kada bend poželi da album otvori takvim korakom. Iduća numera potpuno razbija, puna je agresivnosti i odaje iskren buntovnički duh ovih momaka. Zatim sledi melodična "New anthem", koja predstavlja i centralni momenat ovog izdanja. Nakon nje, na red dolazi pomenuta pesma o konzumerizmu, a onda se ritam blago spušta u pretposlednjoj pesmi, koja setno najavljuje završetak ovog izdanja. Za kraj je ostavljena akustična verzija numere "Who order who" sa prvog albuma. Kažu, ako pesma dobro zvuči u akustici, dobro će zvučati i u električnom izdanju. Ovde je priča drugačija, prvo smo imali priliku da čujemo električnu verziju, a tek onda akustičnu. Iskreno, nisam previše oduševljen, izostaje kreativni akustični aranžman, možda čak koji gudač u pozadini, što je vrlo svojstveno pankerima kada svoje numere pretaču u akustične verzije. Bilo kako bilo, poslednjom pesmom bend nam poručuje da drugima sudimo prema njihovim delima, a nikako prema njihovom izgledu ili njihovoj pojavi. Završavaju rečenicom da smo svi jednaki i time udaraju pečat i potvrđuju suštinu hard core-a.
Zvuk je sasvim solidan, tipično pankerski, malo oštrije izbalansiran, ali bez ikakvih zamerki. EP je relativno kratak, izuzetno slušljiv, tako da slušalac neće ni imati vremena da se fokusira na tehničke detalje, već će biti koncentrisan isključivo na sadržaj i poruku izdanja. Izdanje dolazi u klasičnom wallet kartonskom omotu, što je vrlo jednostavno i ekonomično rešenje za bend, pa je izdanje široko dostupno i pristupačno širem krugu slušalaca. Ukoliko ste ljubitelji melodičnog a istovremeno pitkog i jednostavnog hard core-a, preporučljivo bi bilo da preslušate ovo izdanje, jer na našoj sceni zaista nema sličnih bendova.
This Life is a hard-core band from Tolouse, France, formed back in 2012. Thus far, they recorded one full-length album – "Lies about the truth", and last issue is represented in form of EP, with running time of just around fifteen minutes.
Until I got in touch with their record label (KROD records), I was not informed about very rich Hardcore scene that France is offering and wholeheartedly enriching every day. I have to admit that specific genre said everything he had to say a long time ago, and today everything’s based on paraphrasing, so there’s no new and fresh topics to sing about. This Life sings about friendship and joint fight for true musical scene, about transience of life with almost pessimistic thoughts, and consumerism that is eating us all day long. This time, consumerism is directly targeted on modificated and poisonous food we daily find on our tables.
The piece begins with a very short song "Rebirth", that reminds me more of intro than regular song, but this time intro is well played, and it’s not a failure as it often happens when a band wants to open the album with such move. The next track totally breaks it all, it’s full of aggression and reveals honest rebellious spirit of these guys. Then we can hear the melodic "New anthem", which represents the central moment of this release. After that, it’s time for mentioned song about consumerism, but then rhythm slopes gently into the rhythm of the penultimate song, which sadly announces the completion of this EP. The very end is reserved for acoustic version of "Who order who", taken from first album. They say if the song sounds good in acoustics, it will sound good in an electric version, too. Here we have a different story, first we had the opportunity to hear an electric version, and then acoustic. Frankly, I'm not too enthusiastic, there’s a creative absent in acoustic arrangement, the strings in the background would be good choice, which is very popular step when Punk-rockers arrange their tracks into acoustic versions. Anyway, in the last song the band tells us to judge others by their actions, not by their appearance or how do they look. They finish this EP with the sentence that we are all equal and hitting the essence of a Hardcore with that.
The sound is quite good, typical punk, a little sharper balanced, but without any objections. EP is relatively short, but very listenable, so the listener will not even have the time to focus on the technical details, but he’ll be concentrated exclusively on the content and message of issue. Release comes in a classic wallet cardboard box, which is very simple and economical solution for the band, and it’s widely available and accessible to a wider range of listeners. If you're a fan of melodic, and at the same time „drinkable” and simple Hardcore, it would be advisable to listen to this issue, because our scene really have no similar bands.
You can listen and buy the album here:
Podeli sa prijateljima:
EmoticonEmoticon