IF HOPE DIES „Life in Ruin”

Music: Metalcore
Country: USA
Website: http://www.ifhopedies.com
Duration: 36.46


Cool Songs: Burned Out, Dead Reckoning, Time is Not on Our Side, Marked for Death.

What we have here is a fairly hefty aural assault folks. Clearly, New York State’s ‘If Hope Dies’ are very quickly carving themselves a nice little niche within the (oversaturated) Metalcore market. Having had their label, Iron Clad recordings align themselves with the mighty Metal Blade – resulting in a re-release of their ‘The Ground is Rushing Up to Meet Us’ – If Hope Dies’ profile is bound to increase five fold. On the strength of ‘Life in Ruin’, nothing appears more certain. But the rejoinder is: You got to be a fan!

As I sit and listen to this new full length there is one major aspect of their overtly metalcore driven sound that stands out – the production. Seriously, as good as this band is at driving home the aggression and pit inducing breakdowns, I contend that without the added golden touch of Jason Suecof in the chair, ‘Life in Ruin’ would be just another regular run of the mill American Metalcore album. But that’s about as good as it gets.

If you really did deep under the ‘sonic’ surface of this new album, you will find that most of what ‘IHD’ churn out isn’t all that different from what we’ve witnessed from countless others. Crushing and metallic, everything here is spot on as far as this style goes (and there are far worse choices than this), yet as far as providing any sort of ‘x-factor’ that just might put these guys in the upper echelons, IHD just don’t have the chops, nor the songwriting skill to lift it any further than competent. Vocally, things are just as bog standard – Alan French’s ferocious grunts combine with some ‘cleaner’ more decipherable prose – all good, but nothing different.
Fortunately, it is the aforementioned production that gives ‘Life in Ruin’ the added edge over their contemporaries. Still, having said that, If Hope Dies (along with all of their countrymen) falls way short of the mark set down by the Europeans – most notably ‘Cataract and Heaven Shall Burn’. The Yanks just cannot match the brutality of the Euro-core component.

If hefty, ferocious American flavoured Metalcore is your weapon of choice, If Hope Dies are worth checking out. The stunning sound and production is its major drawcard, yet by the albums half way point, even this can’t overshadow the generic songwriting that has been laid out here. Inventive it is not. Still, fans of Unearth and Shadows Fall will appreciate the metallic aspect of what ‘If Hope Dies’ has to offer.

note: 7

Tracklist

Burned Out
Anthem For The Unemployable
Dead Reckoning
Time Is Not On Our Side
Fear Will Keep Them In Line
Water Into Wine Cooler
The Ultimate Nullifier
Marked For Death
Some Skynyrd
Nuked From Orbit
Life In Ruin