Review Summary: The labels pushed it, but even they knew when to back off. Or, The creation of Breaking Benjamin rendered this band obsolete.
I'm a bit of a stickler for mediocre material, be it TV shows, movies, or in this case, music. I like nu metal, in spite of its polarizing reception amongst music fans then and now. Compared to what's considered mainstream today, nu metal had more of a bite to it, and hell, back then you had more options for popular music on the radio. Something about nu metal had a endearing charm to me. A majority of them just start out as a group of guys getting together to jam and hope to get big. With a lack of producer interference, nu metal could anything it wanted to be, industrial (Fear Factory, Static-X), heavy (Downthesun, Slipknot) and yes, even *** (No One, Limp Bizkit, Rage Against the Machine (don't *** yourselves))
Where does Lifer fall into all this? None of the three. They're their own category, label fodder. They came in, recorded one album to help their record label make some dough and when that failed, they ***ed off never to be seen again (beyond some acoustic revival.) They had nothing new to bring to the table, and rightfully fell beneath the cracks once the heyday of nu metal wore off.
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Before I get into the album, I'd like to go over some smaller tidbits first. It's a habit.
I will say this, they did have some original things going for them, though it had little to do with music. For one, they originated in Pennsylvania. Nu metal bands typically come from California, Florida, New York or Illinois, so it's nice to see a nu metal band from a state that isn't one of the four. Another original aspect of theirs is their backstory. They started out as a cover band and got exposure by MTV, leading to a record deal and the ensuing obscurity.
From a visual standpoint, it's fad following at its worst. People (or at least the one guy who did a review of No One's album) give No One *** for being unoriginal, but Lifer is so much more shameless. Vocalist Nick Coyle rocks out the classic "I jog in my spare time" clothes and spiky unnaturally colored hair. Speaking of hair, going by the band's lone music video, the drummer seems to have sentient hair, as strands of it stay anywhere but close to his scalp, like even it had enough of surefire radio fodder and wants out.
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Now let's get into the album. The album was released under Republic Records and Universal Records, itself a huge red flag. Of all the record labels back in the day, Republic/Universal were all about that money (the all American equivalent to Roadrunner), so they sought to back bands that would show no reluctance in producing music that would surely please the censors and give them money. To give you a better idea, Republic and Universal manage bands like 3 Doors Down and Godsmack. The latter on its own managed Mushroomhead, their only objectively good metal band signed (though Universal also made Hinder a thing.) For newbies, the former two and the latter are radio fodder generic garbage.
Lastly, the album was produced by Alex Lifeson, the guitarist for Rush. I think at that time Lifeson wanted to go the Rick Rubin route and just allowed the band to put out what they wanted to, so long as Republic/Universal had say in how radio friendly it had to be.
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For the music, it's appropriate in how not ready Lifer were for mainstream success. Songs mostly sound the same (albeit in different keys and slightly different speeds.), lyricism is lackluster, the guitar work is lackluster, the drums are unremarkable, and the vocals are butter-less toast, with an obvious channeling of failed nu metal musicians from yesteryear. I'd love to give a full summary, but I can't. I have nothing to work with. Best I could say is that the production is good, but how could it not when it's under such well known record labels, and handled by a producer with years of experience in music.
Okay, so the music sucks, did they do anything else?
Well, they did release a music video for one of their songs, the aptly titled Boring. Now, one aspect of nu metal that I love is that nu metal artists always make the craziest music videos, which themselves could serve as saving graces for otherwise mediocre albums.
Boring's music video just consists of a performance and shots of someone driving down an expressway. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGN6sj6-3HI
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To sum up, Lifer has nothing to call its own, other than potentially being the most generic offering within the nu metal genre, and a case for other nu metal punching bags. I've seen bands with one time albums gear out superior content in their own ways. I'd say more, but what would be the point? After the decline of Lifer, the guitarist and bassist went on to become part of Breaking Benjamin. However you feel about the band, they have more to show for it than anyone in lifer.
Lifer has the sound and look of a band that was used as a marketing ploy to cash in on the nu metal genre when it was at its peak in popularity, and it seems that the labels had no idea on how to execute the band beyond going for visual references to help them along.
It's a 2 because the production is good.
