Oh me. Oh my. ‘Fordirelifesake‘ has to be singularly the worst band name I’ve ever had the misfortune to come across. So already, we note carefully that we’re about to listen to a band who could well be the literary equivalent of herpes.
The record itself is a mish mash of their assorted material and boy can you tell; coherence is not a word that has not been added to the band’s collective vocabulary. In the dark and murky world of metalcore this bland where black is East and up is white it can be a little hard to get your bearings. Some of the guitar parts, although blatantly lifted, are executed well and, in fairness, and at least something of value to the overall sound; the point where what seems like a Doberman barks over what is undoubtedly one of the band’s “mini beatdowns”, however, does not. I cringed.
Those bands who scream with style and substance, namely Against Me!, Darkest Hour, Time in Malta and their ilk possess the ability to harmonise their aggression and present in an altogether listenable form. They can go from melodic to incisively sharp within the blink of a fringe-covered eye and leave you breathless. This release is just devoid of that ability and completely ruins what, at times, its reasonably impressive guitar work which is layered just enough to build to an almighty crescendo yet simple enough to be hardcore enough for the cool kids.
Unfortunately CDs aren’t advanced enough to come with a button which eradicates all traces of the vocals from space and time, but I sorely longed for one here. Succinctly, it’s passable, standard riff-laded metalcore which is beaten senseless by some shockingly bad vocals before being sodomised into a complete submission of any redeeming quality.
Thorp Records
Spud