Locked In A VacancyI remember seeing these guys at the OKCOMEONKIDS Festival in Bensalem a few years back and buying one of the ugliest shirts I've ever worn simply because these guys were that awesome, and good guys to boot. Which seems to be a rarity with bands of this nature because usually they are too full of themselves to worry about anyone else.
LIAV, whose name was taken from a line in the movie The Breakfast Club, have been around for nearly a decade, playing a vicious style of metalcore that draws influences from thrash, death metal, hardcore. Although a touch more thrashy than their previous work, there are still plenty of chaotic eruptions and dueling guitars which I've come to love about this band. They have been featured on multiple compilations (V/A "Scene Report" [Triple Crown Records, 4/2000], V/A "A New Approach: The State Of Northeast Hardcore" [Purity Records, 5/2000]), put out a split with Death By Virtue, an EP ("Ethos") and a full length ("Exiting The Futility Ward").
The band have gone through multiple line-up changes with the most recent being a fatal blow left by the departure of the founding member Hector Rodriquez, although he was still on this recording. Luckily they have found themselves a solid replacement in Laz (Ex-Downpore). The press sheet states the lineup is tighter than ever, but I highly doubt your band can get better or tighter by having the lead writer and creator of the band leave.
Dyami has one of the strongest voices I've ever heard. He can hit the extremely high screams, deep guttural bellows and everything in between without missing a beat. On top of that he is one of the best lyricists in the genre. He is exceptional at writing socially conscious lyrics that speak about making a change in our society yet have a personal connection to everything he touches. He brings you in with arms opened wide and shows you the world through his writing ability.
This full length is a concept album that is broken down into three acts. Act I-Descent Into Madness, Act II-The Bottom, Act III-Ascension From Chaos and an Epilogue. Each are obviously broken down into chapters with 12 in all. The songs are extremely varied in structure and length. Some songs are 2 minutes long while others are 6 minutes and the final being is 10:34.
The production and mastering of this album were handled extremely well. The little touches like the unmastered drum intro to "The Death of Aslan" and again in the third track, "To Those Who Would Invoke The Grey Goo Scenario" were nice little touches. The guitar tone is top notch, plenty of crunch without sacrificing any clarity for the dueling harmonies. The bass lowers the boom utilizing a wonderful treble rich tone at some points, while at others, opts for a much more warm round tone. I will say the drums get buried at times though by the sheer ferocity of the guitar and bass tone. The production compliments Dyami's extremely forceful voice well, nothing to quarrel about here.
Like all of the other releases LIAV, the artwork never really did their music justice and this album is no different. They have shifted away from the cartoon/drawing layout to a much more simple photograph. The front cover is a dark picture of a small child standing in a hallway with a knife in his hand and the band name written in a plain white font. The booklet is pretty thick and features six pages however it is extremely bland and adds nothing to the layout, it is simply the lyrics printed in white over a bare black background, extremely simple. They could've definitely done a lot more with the layout. Certainly the weakest aspect of this release.
Rating: 4.8/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: The Lion and The Unicorn, To Those Who Would Invoke The Grey Goo Scenario, American History X, Warmongers and Whore Mongers
Thesis: This album is absolutely crushing, it has jarring rhythms, great harmony and some insanely awesome lyrics. Without a doubt, this eclipses all of the bands prior work.