Review Summary: Phase 2 of The Word Alive's Life Cycle.
I remember the incident well, as if it was yesterday; they brought him in, without cuffs and they sat him down. I asked, “Your name?” to which he responded, “Code name: Life Cycles.” I shuddered as those two words left his mouth, I quickly spun towards my file cabinet, digging deep into the draw named ‘Fearless Records’. After a moment or two, I found a file for a band called ‘The Word Alive’. In the contents of the folder, was their band history, formation date, a list of major tours they’ve participated in and their debut album ‘Deceiver’. I laid the ’Deceiver’ file out on my desk, and briefly read the contents. After doing so, I slowly looked up and uttered, “So, tell me about….yourself, Life Cycles.” My job at the Elitist police was usually easy, but not today, today was different. Life Cycles began to speak and I began to listen…here is how the event unfolded.
“It was like any other day at my home, the Metalcore household; it was frantic, loud with sometimes melodious overtones but mainly abrasive noises, that are repeated daily…generally nothing all to unusual. Except today, I felt an odd sensation, a sense of composition, thought and effort; indeed there was the fast, chugging motion which I could normally live with, however today there was more than that.” He hesitated, I bluntly groaned “Go on….” thinking that this was nothing more than needless hype, although I couldn’t of been more wrong. “Well, this morning, there was plenty of chugging as I mentioned, but throughout today there was a whiff of technicality around the house, and dare I say, I heard some well placed solos ring under the floorboards, buried beneath the rest of the noise. In between the chugging, the, at times nauseating breakdowns and whiffs of technicality came ambient like sounds, sometimes haunting, sometimes sickening.” I suddenly interrupted, “sickening, what do you mean sickening?”, “Well,” he carried on in a much quieter tone; “At times the ambience can be too sweet sounding, to the point of sickening, yet it fits in at the right moment but more often than not it feels out of place. I’d like to call it electronic ambience, it weaves in and out of the well constructed noise, either purposely being at the forefront of it all or hesitantly waiting behind it all, like a final layer.”
Perplexed, I scratched my head and stated “Please, do go on”, he nodded with a look of joy on his face. “Finally, above it all are the voices, the various voices of which sounds like they are in pain or feeling extreme anger, the anger seems to be in a lower register, like a growl. The growls are very powerful. What sits between is a mid-range, sounding slightly raspy but not strained; the painful sounds are best described as higher registered screams, border lining shrieks.” Again, I sat there stunned by what I was hearing, I cleared my throat and with a sense of relief chuckled “I guess that’s it?” Life Cycles shook his head and mumbled “No, no. There is more”, I nodded as a sign of understanding, he swiftly carried on. “As well as the growls and shrieks there are moments of calm, it’s very clear and tranquil. These clearer voices, which I believe to be singing is much stronger, they have a sense of weight and emotion about them unlike last time. However, when the higher notes appear they can sound too air-filled, or off pitch; but generally speaking the voices have improved!” Life Cycles exclaimed with a sudden surge of happiness, I quickly chimed in “They’re not voices you’re hearing, it’s a voice, mono, as in one person carrying out the vocal duty.” Life Cycles looks shocked, “BU-U-HT LAST TIME…” “Last time was different, which seems the case when compared to the entity before you, known as Deceiver.”
After taking a sip of water, calmly I asked “To wrap this interview up, may I ask whether your listening experience was enjoyable?” Life Cycles looked at me, I could see it in his eyes; he really enjoyed what he heard but he didn’t wish to give it too much praise for logical reasons, I assume. “It was enjoyable, very much so, but for what it’s worth, the time I spent listening was perhaps too long, maybe if they honed their skill into a smaller running time; it would be even better.” I nodded as I finished writing the final sentence in my notes, then I turned back towards the filing cabinet, while I was doing so I dismissed Life Cycles. As I turned back round, expecting to see an empty chair I saw a gun, a handgun to be precise. The barrel was aligned with my forehead, it was Life Cycles. All I remember was five shots being fired and then a sharp pain in the back of my head, as if something blunt had hit me.
The doctor looked at me and said, “By the sounds of it, you’ve had quite the experience today” I responded light-heartedly “Quite an experience indeed.”
