Band: Life’s Question
Album: A Tale of Sudden Love and Unforgettable Heartbreak
Genre: Hardcore
Country: USA
Release Date: 10th of July, 2020
Released via Trip Machine Laboratories
Cover Artwork © Trip Machine Laboratories
Yeah, with Life’s Question, I finally found a band that knows exactly how to mix classic NYHC with snotty modern street sounds. The current A Tale Of Sudden Love And Unforgettable Heartbreak compilation record contains the last two EP’s of the band from Chicago and should shorten the waiting time for an upcoming album. So if you already know the Cursed the Will to Dream EP and the A Tale of Sudden Love and Unforgettable Heartbreak, you don’t need to expect any new songs, but you can get both releases on one record.
The first 3 songs of the original A Tale of Sudden Love and Unforgettable Heartbreak EP, which is audibly influenced by all No Warning albums and causes a furore with its bouncy 90’s HC sound, are the first ones on the album. While the vocals are mostly dull barking around, as you would expect from a record of this genre, Life’s Question also try out clean vocal parts, which remind me of the first two Neurosis albums. Besides the vocals, the slightly progressive, noisy riffing and its metallic melodies is probably the biggest musical difference to the previous releases. You try yourself, try not to get stuck on dull hardcore, which is mainly due to the, for this genre, quite sophisticated song structures. What the band from Chicago delivers here with these 3 tracks is definitely catchy and will taste really good to fans of rough backyard sounds.
On Cursed the Will to Dream, which was already released before A Tale Of Sudden Love And Unforgettable Heartbreak, Life’s Question sounded a bit different. Much rougher and much more street. But instead of the classic NYHC vibe, the sound is more reminiscent of crossover HC bands like Cro Mags in their Alpha Omega Phase or Prong with Beg to Differ, while the setting is a lot darker and can probably be compared most closely to that of Poison Idea. Deep guitars with groovy metal riffs, which give their best in fast parts and a lot of mosh passages. Here the band sounds much more uncomfortable and dirty than on A Tale Of Sudden Love And Unforgettable Heartbreak.
But what clearly unites both sides is the thick sound, with which the songs are pushed out of the speakers without being mixed too clean or neglecting the street attitude.
Via Trip Machine Laboratories A Tale Of Sudden Love And Unforgettable Heartbreak is available as a 12″ EP compilation since 10.7. and should, in my opinion, not be missing in any 90’s HC collection. Life’s Question is a very talented band, with great strengths in songwriting. An upcoming album should combine the best of the two EP’s in order to go even further. If the guys can musically combine their bounciness and grooviness without failing with overloaded songs, the Illinois band will probably be heard a lot more in the future
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