Review Summary: Only an imitation.
Alive Like Me got a few things right on their debut record
Only Forever. They nailed down a direction: fitting catchy, colorful, and focused post hardcore with an appropriate label to peddle their poppy brand of music. The young group was signed by the infamous Rise Records, home to many of the biggest bands in metalcore and post hardcore. Rise Records of course hosts the ever popular Sleeping With Sirens, and Alive Like Me has the honor of being the closest Sleeping With Sirens imitation since the band itself. There lies the band’s biggest flaw. They cling to the genre and label’s trends too closely and end up lacking any real personality. While the band has enough accessibility and style to be a big hit with the Rise crowd, there isn’t enough substance for listeners outside that demographic.
The band isn’t lacking instrumentally, but don’t leave their comfort zone. Everything rolls along at the anticipated pace, although the lead guitar surprisingly isn’t forgotten like many of the band’s peers. Quite a few pretty guitar leads brighten up the standard chord progressions. However there isn’t an instrumental passage that makes a lasting impression, absenting the melodic guitar work in “Searching For Endings”. The guitar leads there succeed in pushing the song to the next level. These flaws could be forgiven since the band is obviously vocally driven, but only to an extent. Even vocally centered musicians need a few standout passages in their music. For the matter, despite being vocally driven the album doesn’t feature enough consistently impressive singing to actually carry it. Frontman Jairus Kersey’s range is predominantly in the upper registers, warranting further comparisons to Sleeping With Siren’s Kellen Quinn. Furthermore his singing sounds autotuned at times, and occasionally his voice strains in a way that feels amateurish. “Searching For Endings” features his much warmer and inviting lower range in places, making it a highlight.
Only Forever is certainly consistent, just too consistent, with no diversions from the usual fast paced, chorus driven songs. The last song, “Never Looking Back”, tries by slowing the pace down, but it doesn’t result in anything interesting enough to save the album. In the end, Alive Like Me have potential, but their stubborn clinging to genre trends and lack of personality holds
Only Forever back from being anything more than just
ok.
