Left To VanishPhiladelphia's Left To Vanish have managed to reach their current status through hardwork and constant gigging. Their guitarist Sean Salm helped run First Things First Productions with some other fellows which provided them with an avenue for constant local shows. After building a strong local following they took the show to the road in support of their 2005 debut full length "Buried Alive In A Grave of Your Own" (which had the absolute worst cover art I have ever seen) on End All Music. Somewhere during that point the renowned Lifeforce Records took notice and signed these guys.
These guys are a deathcore band with some ambient interludes now and then but the meat and potatoes of their sound is rooted in the frequently used structures and techniques found within the deathcore genre and by that I mean lots of breakdowns, harmonics, and staccato riffing. Sparingly they throw in some riffs that slightly resemble the metallic hardcore sound and they have the seemingly obligatory pseudo-southern riff (which bands really need to stop doing, especially you mother fuckers from the North, it's overdone and cliche). They are also pretty talented with effects and pedals, I especially liked the dizzying, whirling effect they used to start off the album (definitely listen to it with some good headphones on). Some of the melodic parts that pop up, like the one at 3:00 in "North Lights" and at around :40 in "Suffrage Under A Sulfur Sky" are very catchy and work well and are a nice change up to the constant barrage of blasts and breakdowns.
You can tell these guys love their A Life Once Lost because there are parts throughout the CD where they almost sound like a clone. I would have been down with it more if they were mimicking "The Fourth Plague: Flies" instead of ALOL'w newer stuff.
Didn't really feel the lyrics. Sometimes it seems whoever wrote the lyrics is trying to use fancy phrases and words just to use them. I came away thinking it was more about witty song titles and lyrics than substance. It seemed like in "Long Live This Heresy" the writer heard the term Occam's razor (anyone who has read enough metal lyrics has seen that term one too many times) and thought it would be cool to write a song off of it.
The recording which was done at 1021 Studios, a quality studio in the PA area, sounds good and it didn't hurt that Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer fame mastered this either. While the album is polished to a certain extent it still retains enough rawness.
While I enjoy a lot of the shirts that Benjamin Lande has designed as well as several of the layouts he has done I'm not too huge into this one. It would look great on a t-shirt but I feel it doesn't translate well into a CD layout. With a title like Versus The Throne and some lyrics that challenge religion, a lot more could have been done. And the band picture in the tray art is god awful. I wonder who thought it was a good idea to gather around a urinal for a band photo? And damn man everyone in the band looks scene as fuck, on some real fruity emo shit, especially with those fucking haircuts.
Rating: 3.3/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: "Suffrage Under A Sulfur Sky" & "Falling In Love In A Whorehouse"
Synopsis: For some the term deathcore is an immediate turn off, others get a bloated penis, and some just enjoy the best that the genre has to offer. If you are the first or the last of those three then this album may not be for you but if you enjoy much of what the genre has to offer and haven't grown tired of it yet then you should like this release.
As I always say, check out the band and decide for yourself. I am but one individual with his own tastes and preferences that are probably much different than yours. With that said, check out these links: