Review Summary: Face All Fears Debut Release "Two Years To Live" is one of the best Hardcore albums of the year!
Face All Fears is the brain Child of Former Ligeia vocalist Keith Holuk. He not only acts as singer of Face All Fears but recorded this Debut EP as well. The mix on this album is superb, excellently produced. The First thing you will notice is the improvement of Holuk's vocals. He has refined his shouting vocal that Ligeia fans are familiar with, and has developed a death growl that honestly outdoes both of his guest vocalists by a long shot. His singing on the other hand, has honestly gone down hill from his previous work.
To start out I am a huge fan of Ligeia so I was excited to press play from the moment I purchased this Album. The first Track titled "Outcast" features guest vocals from Vincent Bennett from the Acacia Strain. This was the first single from the album and for good reason. I love Vincent but he is not too easy to spot on this track therefore I can't really say that he contributed much to the song. Aside from that the song consists of crushing breakdowns, smooth transitions, and some catchy lines. Overall it's a solid track, but not one of the stronger songs on the album.
Descending starts out with melodic riff reminiscent to something one might expect from After The Burial. From this point on the songs flows beautifully, about 2 minutes in you get your first taste of Holuk's singing. It's a quick catchy chorus that is enjoyable for the most part, aside from the occasional nasal sounding note that you will hear throughout the album. The lyrics to this song seriously get me pumped, UNTIL I DIE, I WILL STRIVE, I WILL FIGHT, in the midst of a massive breakdown with followed by an somewhat unexpected tapping riff, ending with Holuk's clean singing to cap off my favorite part of the entire album.
The title track Two Years To Live is my personal favorite on the album. This track features Frankie Palmeri from Emmure. The chorus to this song will give Liegia fan's that Bad New's sounding song they were expecting to hear. The chorus would be my favorite from Holuk if it wasn't for the nasal sounding notes that plague the clean singing parts on this album. If your going to try out one track this is the one I recommend, it represents the album well.
Rat Race is a solid track with some exceptional breakdowns, this will be a fun one for all you hardcore kids that think your ballerina's when you see them live. Probably my least favorite on the album.
She's Waiting is an instrumental interlude to the album. Usually I am not the biggest fan of instrumental interlude's in heavier albums (especially if the album is only 7 tracks). But this one is actually quite pretty it show's off the band's versatility as well as their drummers familiarity with bells and chimes.
Cancel Out The Son starts off sounding like something you would expect from Life In Your Way. The rest of the song follow suit as being one of the lighter tracks on the album. The post hardcore vibe from this song is quite unexpected but enjoyable. As the song progresses it get's heavier ending with a slow chug breakdown with 32nd notes going underneath on the kick drum(which I was very impressed with) My only complaint is that it was a little shorter than I would have preferred, with it's progressive song structure the timing is understandable but I guess I just wanted it to keep going. Standout track on the album, yet it does not escape the nasal notes, but just wait relief is soon to come.
Never-Ending Regret is the one track not to feature nasal notes on the clean singing parts. Another solid track consisting of fluid transitions and exceptional vocals, as well as a heart felt chorus, and tasteful guitar licks.
For Ligiea fans I am just going to go ahead and say, This EP surpasses "This Ghost Is A Gift", and "Bad News" by a long shot. It has everything Ligiea had going for them, on a grander scale in every aspect.
PROS:
Exceptional flow and song structure
Recording quality is superb
Guitars are catchy and tastefully written (this is what really sets this band apart from genre mates)
The vocals are powerful, heart felt, and have very good pronunciation
Soft parts are done at the right times, the right way
CONS:
inaudible bass
Nasal notes on the singing parts can really get on your nerves
Guest Vocals on the track were okay but didn't really contribute much
