Fake History [CD]

I'm not the sort of person to write reviews but I will make time to quickly comment on this band. To sum the album up in one word, it would have to be: emotional.

Youtube some of their live performance and you'll see the emotion emitted is beyond many mainstream bands today. The lyrics are just plain beautiful at some points in the album and the composition has a unique feel to it (in a genre where it is very easy to become generic and same-y sounding.)

It's best to describe this as a post-hardcore album, although it has distinct influences (Homeless Jazz has slight funk feel to it.) As a metalcore/hardcore fan it's very rare I stray into untested territory musically but I'm so happy I did with this band. I hope this album brings letlive. the mainstream success they clearly deserve.

Music genres are a strange old thing. Band 'A' revolutionises our perception of what music should entail, thus defining a whole new genre, spurring a wave of copycat under dogs, all too keen to ride the band wagon, seize the 'it' sound that they have been waiting for all this time, and milk the cash cow for all it's worth. The vitriol conveyed by the pioneers of the post hardcore and yes I do mean post-hardcore and not that bland sub-context derivative commonly referred to as the 'Emo' scene of the early 00's, the greats such as At The Drive-In, Glassjaw, Refused, to name but a handful, was neglected when translated into another bands sound, who tried to emulate the brilliance of said bands. The result would sum-up the entire music scene for the forthcoming decade. Words such as 'Trite', 'Watered Down', and 'Devoid of passion, soul and energy' spring to mind. Post-Hardcore would eventually be rebranded and repackaged as the sub-mediocre genre now known as emo, the name alone is hyper-contradictory in itself, as most bands affiliated with the tag are anything but 'emotional' instead a complete shambles of routine drum beats and 3-chord progressions, replete with a frontman with all the charismatic prowess of a wet flannel. The flames of post-hardcore doused in a charade of posers more concerned and intent with style over content, more preoccupied with the time taken to straighten or ease the kink in their fringes, than performing any trace of a decent song with unbridled conviction.

This is why Letlive are the most exciting, refreshing thing to happen to music in a very long time. They should be rich, but they're not. They should be huge, but are they going to be? Hell no! But do you think that this is a concern for them? You couldn't be further from the truth.

Fake History, takes the glut of these so-called contemporary post-hardcore/emo type bands, magnifies them in intensity by about 500, adds a splash of Glassjaw, a dash of At The Drive-In, and a nod in the direction to greats such as Refused and even The Blood Brothers, and creates something devastatingly powerful and raw as it is beautiful. It is as hip-shaking as it is mosh-worthy. The grooves cut by the guitarists sometimes verging on the hypnotic, a perfect synergy courses through the music at all times. You can hear that all musicians are comfortable with playing with each other, and I feel this is why Fake History sounds so cohesive and tight on audio disc.

Front-man Jason Butler's vocals are nothing short of deranged. His bi-polar and unhinged outburts frequently tight-rope the fine line between genius and insanity, as one minute he is crooning wistfully, then in the forthcoming seconds emitting a visceral and nerve-shredding scream. And if it is anything to deduce the man Butler is on record, I've heard his live antics are equally unpredictable as they are unrelenting.

In sum, for a relatively new band Let Live, exhibit a maturity and musical understanding that their peers in this scene could only dream of being able to grasp and fully comprehend. The sound, that albeit, has been done before, of a band that knows that when you listen to them on record have your full and undivided attention, and for the duration exploit it by bombarding you with lush textures and at times uneasy listening. But that is the beauty of music, and again the unique quality of the thing that is the genre, that every so many years comes around full circle again. What I say is that if it is not broken then there is no need to fix it.

When I see Let Live. I envisage all the great things and potential of Post-hardcore that would and should have been. In Butler I see a young Daryl Palumbo bursting to get out, and make himself a name on the live circuit. Definetly a welcome, and much needed breath of fresh-air breathed into a stagnant and decrepid old thing of a scene.

If you're in any doubt, do not be. For once believe the hype that surrounds this band. I'm a fairly grizzled rocker and this album is one of the most vital things I've heard in a long time. Stand up.