Last Updated on Sunday, 30 December 2012 15:17
Written by EvaLantsoght
Artist: Live Not On Evil
Album: When Everything Goes Down
Label: Creep Records
Genre: punk/metal/rock
When Everything Goes Down is the 3rd full-length album of Phildelphia-based Live Not On Evil. They play a dark punk-infused rock with distorted metal guitars.
As much as I enjoy the variety between the tracks, the cross-over style and the raw power of the album, I'm also pushed away from listening to it by the vocals that at times are too nasal, too dramatic and too much lingering on the consonants.
The album opens with “Falling For It”, a great punk rock track, and is followed by the title track of the album “When Everything Goes Down”. In this track, the vocals sounds like Brian Molko who caught a cold. The chorus, on the other hand, is so catchy that it got stuck in my head for several days in a row.
From the pounding rock of “Set On Random”, via the angry “Nothing Wrong”, the album surprises with “A Little More”, a slower, Bauhaus-inspired track with a lurking melodic guitar line.
Pennywise-like punk comes back on “Switchblad Angels”, after which the layered “Coming Back To Life” invokes Placebo (the nasal gimmick done right, there). “Still Haunts Me” brings rock 'n roll riffs and the entire band shouting – a track that must work really well on stage.
“Moment of Clarity” experiments with more lyrical vocals, supported by a guitar line, and prepares the way for the slow final track “The Claim”, in which doom-like guitars and pounding drums (similar to Primordial) are combined with lamenting, yet nasal punk-style vocals. This interesting combination makes “The Claim” an unexpected end to the album, where you might anticipate more experimenting but are left in curiosity.
If you want to hear a refreshing take on punk, with a metal and rock 'n roll sauce over it, and don't mind the occasional extra-nasal vocals, this is your go-to album.
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