Review Summary: letlive. lets ambition get in the way.
Without sounding too much like a broken record,
letlive.’s
Fake History is a crowning achievement in modern post-hardcore. Drawing comparisons to the titan that is
Glassjaw, it took everything great about the genre, threw in a fantastic frontman in the form of Jason Butler, and intertwined heavy and mellow to create a unique and exciting album. Songs like
Muther and
Day 54 still stand as some of the best songs the genre has to offer. Despite a relatively tame follow-up record in the form of
The Blackest Beautiful, sights were set high for the third LP
If I’m The Devil…. It was to be more aggressive, more powerful and empowering. But sadly, all we get is a Jason Butler album that is too caught up in its own ambitions to prove that
Fake History was no fluke.
And that’s not to say the album is downright terrible; if anything,
letlive. prove that they are still capable of creating catchy and powerful songs. The added space given to guitarist Jeff Sahyoun to make use of his riffs and pedals freshens up a sound that began to feel stale. On songs like
Good Mourning America and
Elephant, his use of traditional-sounding riffs to drive the songs forward and his application of various effect pedals adds an atmosphere not previously present in the traditional sound of the band. The life of the band, however, is in frontman Jason Butler. His erratic stage performances and insightful lyrics have captured fans attention for over ten years now, and even if it’s a slightly more reserved showing such as in this LP, he still provides a delightful listen. Having touched up his clean vocals, Jason soars his way throughout the album, sounding far more free-flowing than on any other previous outing. His performance on
Foreign Car Rides is especially notable; his slightly raspy delivery mixing well with his ability to switch notes with ease. However, despite his best efforts, he can’t save the album from sounding too overproduced and uninteresting.
The production present on
If I’m The Devil… leaves the listener struggling to listen to the album itself. All parts of the album are simultaneously working for themselves and against each other; nothing moulds together and thus leaves songs feeling disjointed. On
Who You Are Not, the wall of sound during the chorus leaves Jason’s vocals in the middle and everything else grasping for the spotlight; the backing vocals are slightly too fore-fronted, and the guitar line is seemingly an afterthought. Even when
letlive let loose on
Another Offensive Song, everything feels so forced and uneven; the riff, whilst catchy, doesn’t get any more interesting during the three-minute runtime, and the drumming, while seemingly intricate, is boring and uninteresting. Even closing track
Copper Colored Quiet is too easily overcome with piano, strings and choir vocals, and in the process loses what effect it could have had.
letlive. try too many different ideas and leave much of the album lacking focus, resulting in an uneven listen.
And perhaps that’s what makes the album so disappointing; it’s so lost in its ambitions that its left drowning in them. All of the instrumentals struggle to work as a single unit and instead fight each other for the spotlight. Even on the catchy
Nu Romantics, the audio for the instrumentals, instead of balancing each other out, just gets pumped louder than one another and leaves the listener searching for what exactly they’re trying to concentrate on. The bass line particularly leaves much to be desired. Although gladly played loud, it doesn’t differ enough to warrant the loud nature, and at times is washed away by the other instrumentals.
Even with a typically fantastic performance from Jason Butler and a great guitar line from Jeff Sahyoun, the overly-loud production and overuse of different ideas leaves
If I’m The Devil…. feeling too over-ambitious for its own good. Although the production is far better when compared to
The Blackest Beautiful, its use of ambient production in the form of violins and keys, coupled with its integration being valued far higher than the main band’s, leaves a mess of an album that will perhaps sound better in the flesh rather than in the ears of the listener.
