This Life – Lies about the truth

This Life from Toulouse, France, released their debut album late last year. Quite an achievement as the band has been formed in 2012. They claim to have been influenced by Rise Against, Sick of it All and Comeback Kid. From what I hear, the latter left the biggest impression. Comeback Kid’s debut album, Turn It Around, must have left them stunned. Now, I’m not telling you that this is an exact copy, but they are clearly not hiding their influences…

Talking about influences, let’s take a look at the song titles: Celebrity Bell, Back In White, Who Order Who, Age To Thrill, Mediatalks, Highway To Nowhere… Don’t tell me I’m the only one who’s thinking: sound like AC/DC! I could have mentioned every single title by the way… Anyways, that only influenced the names of the songs and not the sound. No, sir, no AC/DC influences to be found in the music. Nowhere… I’ll leave it up to you to decide if that’s a good thing.

So, let’s get back to the music. Is wearing your influences on your sleeve a bad thing? No not at all, as far as I’m concerned. First of all, hardcore is not exactly the most progressive genre in existence, is it? And secondly, I’m in it for the music, not for the originality. Just make sure you do it right. And these lads are doing a good job at that. Most songs are mid – to up-tempo, the production values are just right and the singer has exactly the right voice for this stuff. A bit like Scott Wade actually (that shouldn’t come as a surprise now, should it?). In case you’ve lived under a rock a while, This life plays old school hardcore with a metallic edge. Expect catchy parts, every now and than a breakdown, occasional almost sing along parts, a lead guitar that leads the way. You get the picture?

I imagine live this band can raise quite a party. On album though I’d like them to have a bit more edgy sound. I’d go to see ‘m live, but will probably not listen to this album a lot in the future, if you catch my drift. I’m curious to see what these lads will come up with in the future. Both in music and songtitles…

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