Band: Life In Your Way
Title: Waking Giants
Label: Solid State
Release Date: 3.6.07
Review By: Josh IndieVision
Tracklisting:
01. Reach The End
02. Worthwhile
03. We Don’t Believe
04. Making Waves
05. The Shame
06. Salty Grave
07. Help! The Arm Of The Almighty
08. Threads Of Sincerity
09. The Beauty Of Grace
10. Judas
11. Beneath It All
Members/Duties:
James Allen: Guitars, Vocals
Joshua Kellam: Vocals
David Swanson: Guitar, Vocals
Jeremy Kellam: Bass, Vocals
John Gaskill: Drums
Life In Your Way is by no means, new to the scene. They have released an independent EP as well as two full lengths on Indianola Records (“The Sun Rises And The Sun Sets…And Still Our Time Is Endless” 2003/ “Ignite And Rebuild” 2005), which by the way I highly recommend picking up. After their last record on Indianola, “Ignite And Rebuild”, the band sparked interest in the folks over at Solid State and were picked up soon after. This signing created a good buzz for fans who were looking for something new on Solid State.
Joshua Kellam’s vocals are higher & sound like they’ll tear up his throat. They bring a nice change from other heavier bands, lacking all the “tough-guy” sound. Another nice change is the way he forms his lyrics to the music. They do not follow the typical measure to measure matching, but are unpredictable. One line of words may stretch two measures or more. In those two senses it’s not your typical sounding release. A highlight as well is the great clean sung vocals and quality harmonization (“Help! The Arm Of The Almighty”).
Musically, the band opts out of the chugga-chugga and breakdown-laden metalcore. Life In Your Way is not your typical metalcore band though. They seem to pursue more beauty in their sound and focus more on the melodic, in melodic hardcore. Don’t get me wrong, they still bring the heaviness, but it’s tamed down a bit. It is not intended to bring utter destruction the listeners ears or to venues when played live, but to provoke thought. The music is far more intricate and normally has several parts written for each track, which are most often not repeated. The band rarely follows the verse-chorus-verse routine. This creates a truly everchanging landscape of music.
Overall Rating: I have been a fan of LIYW since I first heard them years ago, but this is by far their best release. The sound quality is amazing and really makes the release stand out even more than it normally would! The combination of GGGarth and Ben Kaplan did a tremendous job capturing each aspect of this band’s sound. The booklet art is also an added bonus. Another great design by Invisible Creature! I encourage all of you to go give this cd a listen and am pretty sure most will purchase it after that. A wise signing for Solid State! (10/10)
Standout Tracks: “Reach The End”, “Making Waves”, “Salty Grave”
Recommendation: Buy The Album & A T-shirt Too
Website
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Purevolume
Solid State
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