Review Summary: Of Love And Lunacy has since it's release become a metalcore classic. But before that, Still Remains released an EP entitled If Love Was Born To Die. It is a fairly average CD but shows progression in the musicianship and the bands ability to write songs.
If Love Was Born To Die, the minute I heard that title I thought “lame”. Still Remains aren’t exactly known for catchy song titles but the songs themselves have proven to be good. First off, the EP’s quality is fairly poor. Inaudible bass and the drums are louder than the guitar making the melodic parts go to waste.
Here is a track-by-track breakdown of the CD.
Six And One
The intro is a sort of breakdown riff with nice guitar work but it goes to waste because the drums overpower it. The chorus is memorable because the lyrics
20 seconds to die, 20 seconds to say my last goodbyes get stuck in your head. There are some good work from the keyboards in here and some nice pinch harmonics. One of the better tracks.
Recovery
A track easily forgotten. There are some clean vocals here but compared to the clean vocals on Of Love And Lunacy is terrible. I find the singers voice to be too raspy and not as clear as on other tracks. The end of this long song shows Still Remains trying to do a brutal, slow breakdown and failing miserably.
I Can Revive Him With My Own Hands
The intro is one of the best on the EP. Nice guitar work with some keyboards complimenting the sound. Probably one of the only tracks that doesn’t get repetitive. Some good chugging riffs here for metalheads.
The Task
The guitar at the start really reminds of punk music with the notes being played over slow chord changes. A nice change for a metal band. The singing here for some reason is hard to hear, unlike the other tracks. I find the keyboard dominates this track but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Also, the bass can be heard for once here.
Light Through Skin
Light Through Skin starts with drums fading in before a typical metalcore riff comes in, the singing is a lot more brutal here. That is before the chorus comes in, he does that raspy thing again and the high keyboard notes make it sound terrible. Apart from the chorus, this track isn’t too bad. There is a good little bridge with some piano. After that there is a some chanting which is starting to become part of the hardcore criteria.
Outro
Not really track, no need for description.
Overall, I’ll think you’ll realize I didn’t really like this EP. That maybe because I’m comparing it to the later release Of Love And Lunacy or because the song writing is wasted by the bad quality. But whatever the reason, I don’t recommend it. If you’re a fan of Still Remains later work, I reckon you’ll be fairly disappointed by this. There are some good tracks though like
Six And One and
I Can Revive Him With My Own Hands. There are some nice breakdowns and memorable riffs but overall, this is brought down by the inconsistency and poor quality.
Rating:
2.5/5.
