Album Review (Soulless Hymns - The Last Ten Seconds of Life)

Soulless Hymns - The Last Ten Seconds of Life

 Soulless Hymns is the third studio album from American deathcore band The Last Ten Seconds of Life. The Last Ten Seconds of Life are a deathcore band that shy away from the new norm of breakdown after breakdown and weak repeated lyrics and revitalise the genre with a slower and heavier tempo that works amazingly well. TLTSOL are a relatively young band, only releasing their first EP in 2010, but have secured their sound and a loyal fanbase. Soulless Hymns was released though Density Records

Notable Tracks

 The Box - The Box is the second track from the album and was early on through the Pig Squeals and Breakdowns Youtube page. The Box opens with a heavy and stuttery intro that leads into the whispered lyric "Think outside the box" that is repeated throughout the track well. The Box is superbly dark with vocals being whispered while the instrumentals blare muted in the background. The Box also has a eerie spoken audio sample that really progresses the track. The Box closes with a broken down version of the main riff and more scarily repeated lyrics.

 North of Corpus - North of Corpus directly follows The Box and increases the momentum the the previous track conjured. North of Corpus is a monster of a track and single-handedly demonstrates what deathcore can be (and should be). North of Corpus is strangely catchy with a range of different vocal styles being used and blended. The instrumentals on this track and really something special as they travel from brutal breakdowns to sweet riffs like nothing. North of Corpus is just down right a amazing track and is a must listen

 Ballad of the Butcher - Ballad of the Butcher is at the halfway mark of the album and still has more to offer. Ballad of the Butcher opens with an extremely fast intro and continues a faster pace thoughout. The tracks experiments with different vocal styles while still remaining true at its core, vocals on this track move between the forefront and background giving the track a good fluency

 Sacrifice (The Prince) - Sacrifice starts loud with a 90's nu metal riff and stays heavy until the halfway point. Sacrifice is the best of both worlds with awesome breakdowns at the starts then followed by a mellow soft vocal section then slides into an almost psychedelic guitar riff until the finish.

 After way too many plays of this album. Its more than clear that this album is spectacular and an absolute must listen. TLTSOL have clearly defined themselves sound-wise with their against the grain deathcore formula of precision and atmosphere over speed and breakdowns. I am personally quite new to deathcore but TLTSOL are a breath of fresh air inside the genre but make no mistake; this album will not convert someone to the genre, just display the genre to its full potential. A flawless album (now they just need to come over to the UK)

2015 Update

November December 2015 Update

 So you have probably noticed that this site has not been updated for the longest time for a multiple reasons but this post should detail some of the events that have happened since the start of October.

 Feed the Rhino @ Underworld 17/10/14

 In a week with three gigs and two consecutively, Feed the Rhino was definitely a stand out gig. Feed the Rhino were supported by a favorite of mine Baby Godzilla and Night Verses. Didn't take many pictures because it got quite rowdy quite quickly and it was a messy night in general resulting in a lost phone and a split knuckle. Nevertheless it was a good night and I would recommend keeping an eye out for Feed the Rhino live in the future.

.5 The Gray Chapter and Slipknot in general

 Since October, Slipknot released their first album is six years: a very eventful six years with the death of forming bassist Paul Gray and the departure of drummer Joey Jordison. Slipknot released singles up until the release that showed promise (especially The Negative One) but after a month with album I can safely say that it is as good as All Hope is Gone. .5 has some throwbacks like more samples and a darker feel but lacks the commitment to a heavier and rawer sound that was promised during the build up to the albums release, a lesson learned form Linkin Park no doubt. To reiterate, .5 is not a bad album by any stretch but it wasn't worth the hype.

New bands

 I haven't posted in a while so i have had a lot of time to regroup and discover a ton of new bands that stretch across genres that i can't wait to introduce to you in band and live reviews

Changes

 Now that I am juggling employment and studying I'm trying to create a new update timetable that I will be able to follow with ease so things might be changing with that soon so watch out for that.

Gigs I didn't write about because...

 So during my 'hiatus' i missed reviews for quite a large number of gigs which has annoyed me because i can't really remember them that vividly now that time has wandered on. To generalise, Hacktivist pulled off two great shows during their Download Frozen Over tour alongside The One Hundred and Dead Harts (although Dead Harts dropped out for the last few dates}. Crossfaith also put on a good show at the Koko Club in November which was recorded for a DVD release this year so keep an eye out for me in the pit.

Upcoming gigs

 After the can of sardines that was the last three months of 2014: 2015 shows no sign of being anything less then crammed, with at this early stage in the year a gig planned for every month. 

Apology?

 I apologise from the bottom of my heart for the past couple of months: everything decided to become urgent and needing of attention at the same time so i had to put this on hold for a while. Things are still quite hectic but I'll try to do what i can for now until something starts to give. So for now post will be thrown out as soon and as frequent as possible.

PS: I started writing this in November so further apologies if this post doesn't seem so fluent or smooth