| | Full Review | Ratings (487) |
Give your Rating |
| 2.5 average | baldymort | June 21st 12 |
This band needs to make an album full of songs that sound like The Hounds Of Anubis.
6 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | Recspecs | June 20th 12 |
Will you queefs learn real metal and stop bumping this bullshit?
6 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.5 average | DreamAgain | June 21st 12 |
Loved it. if you listen to one song on this album, listen to 'Astral Plane'. I'd say it's their best song to date.
5 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | tresm87 | June 23rd 12 |
best synth/electric programming i've heard, don't know why everyone hates on it sounds brilliant
3 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.5 great | sspedding | June 25th 12 |
The musical equivalent of McDonalds. You know what goes in is a bit rubbish but what comes out just tastes
so good. The Word Alive dumbs themself down for sophomore effort "Life Cycles" instead concentrating on
ticking boxes by adding a heavier emphasis on the syrupy keys they are famed for and raining down the
palm mutes and hammer ons. The breakneck intensity of "The Hounds Of Anubis" and the like seems to be in
the past but somehow I don't feel disappointed. Clean vocalist Tyler Smith betters his last
performance tenfold and his vocal melodies are much better fitted to the style The Word Alive adopt here.
Thankfully they also tone down on the stacked screamed vocals of the two guitarists. Sure, the Arizonans sell
themselves a bit short and they are far more capable than their showing here but in the end, from a purely
shallow perspective, "Life Cycles" just works.
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.0 poor | SentencedToSaturnus | June 24th 12 |
Band wrote a 4. Good, natural vocals that sound confident, Great guitar and synth parts. And its all drowned by fucking chugging. Stop it. Just turn it down, literally, in the mix, turn down the chugs.
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.5 average | Shiduba | June 20th 12 |
On itself, this album is not bad, and makes up for an okay listen. But compared to Deceiver,
which was catchy as hell, had some awesome guitarwork and was very energetic all around, it
seems like the band has lost their touch. Nothing sticks to your head from this album,
unlike Deceiver, where every song had something which separated it from others. Every song
in Life Cycles feels like the same song all over again. Where is the fun? This is a very
disappointing album from a band I have always loved to listen to.
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.0 good | BurnedBlack606 | June 20th 12 |
Guess I'm just a sucker for this stuff, but there's a lot of passion and some pleasant melodies here. However, this would definitely benefit from less chugging and breakdowns. Not as impressive as Deceiver, though still a decent listen.
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | RosaParks | June 20th 12 |
if this band would cut out the shitty breakdowns and synths and do more riffs they'd be
awesome but sadly they want to fit in to the shitty scene so they play dumb shit that will
get them dumb money and womans so fuck them
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.0 good | Mythr | June 20th 12 |
Not nearly as good as Deceiver, but still a nice listen.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.5 average | ILJ | June 20th 12 |
It lacks some of the punch that Deceiver had. Lots of chugging, lots of generic breakdowns. There's the occasional moment where it shines, but all in all a pretty disappointing album.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.0 good | Linx | November 20th 14 |
Generic yes, but done in the right way. And the lyrical content is very enjoyable to me.
Bump |
| 3.5 great | c0nf1n3d | August 30th 13 |
The Word Alive's sophomore LP does a few things right, and a few things wrong. In terms of what it did right, the vocals on this album are far superior than that of Deceiver. While some of the lyrics may almost feel repetitive, they're sung with passion and given incredible delivery. Many have noted that the superb guitar work is notably absent from this album, which I heavily disagree. The guitars sound brilliant, and the bass lines in the album are more diverse than Deceiver's. The issue with this album is the mixing. Much of the guitar work is drowned out by the rhythm guitar part, (either being power chords or chugging). Mixing aside, any problems musically would either be the drum parts or the stylistic change in songwriting. The drum parts are performed well and work, but they feel very uninspired due to the drummer learning the parts in a week's time. This album definitely feels a lot more "metalcore" than Deceiver, but that's not to say it's a bad thing. Tracks like "Dragon Spell" (which is a sequel to "The Hounds of Anubis"), "Wishmaster", "Evolution", "Room 126", and "Astral Plane" are fantastic songs that more than warrant a listen to this album. In the end, "Life Cycles" isn't a step in the right direction for The Word Alive, but it's definitely not a step in the wrong direction.
Bump |
| 0.0 | Durrzo | November 16th 12 |
I finally got around to listening to this. It's really boring, a huge step down in every way from their last release. They got lazy... reeeally lazy.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | Jstefut1234 | August 1st 12 |
The Word Alive return with a powerful force. With Deceiver showing such a display of talent, from the tasty riffs to Telle's amzing vocals, I was looking for a promising album. At first listen this album seemed dull and boring. The riffs were generic to average, and Telle's clean vocals sounded way to overproduced and whiny, (and we all know why the drums were completely filler). But after time the album grew on me and I noticed just how hard this album hits. This album shows more good songs than Deceiver, but not as many classic songs that will stick with you.
Bump |
| 2.0 poor | lacesout39 | July 17th 12 |
All the aspects of TWA that made them interesting has been tossed out and replaced with incessant chugging and awkward keywork
Bump |
| 2.5 average | Speed512 | July 8th 12 |
With really nice tunes and anthemic choruses, The Word Alive's 'Life Cycles' is a fun release to say the least but, nevertheless, generic.
Bump |
| 0.0 | iGuter | July 8th 12 |
Tired and rehashed. It's just waiting to test it's audience with the same stuff they expect but without any excitement.
Bump |
| 2.0 poor | Rumpelkombo | June 28th 12 |
The synth felt so out of place on this album. It may have worked on "2012" but come on, you really don't need to try fitting it around an entire album. Everything else was pretty boring - no sign of progression or maturity since "Deceiver".
Bump |
| 2.5 average | TehEric | June 26th 12 |
Screams are bad, drums are boring. Guitars have resorted to chugachug. Boring album in general. Telle's cleans are still ok though I guess.
Bump |
| 2.5 average | Paul Quinones | June 23rd 12 |
Matured as musicians definitely, and Telle's clean vocals show much improvement and actually sound like they belong in the music unlike the debut album. The screams bother me for a lot of the time for sounding all the same and the choruses lack creativity, but the guitar has improved a lot and it's a fun listen.
Bump |
| 3.5 great | iamSeraph | June 21st 12 |
3.75 - pretty solid, but worse than DECEIVER.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | DarthHideous1 | June 21st 12 |
I miss all the leads and catchyness from Deceiver. The album has to many fillers I feel but does have some nice tracks such as Wishmaster, Entirety, Life Cycles, and Hidden Lakes but some tracks unfortunately blend together. Hopefully the next release will be better.
Bump |
| 2.5 average | ChuckyTruant | June 20th 12 |
"Will you queefs learn real metal and stop bumping this bullshit?"rno such thing as real metal
Bump |
| 3.5 great | bbdmittenz | June 20th 12 |
This is really on par with Deceiver. Solid album, and Telle always delivers, as usual.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | rahulmenon | June 20th 12 |
I thought this album was pretty decent, then I heard Hounds of Anubis again. That was The Word Alive that I loved.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | Piem | March 13th 24 |
| 2.5 average | Get Low | February 1st 22 |
| 2.5 average | vykryl | November 9th 21 |
| 2.5 average | muevert | October 17th 21 |
| 3.0 good | xlev | October 8th 21 |
| 2.5 average | LilPeep | August 19th 21 |
| 2.0 poor | Skiiddz | September 27th 20 |
| 3.5 great | sfoat9 | July 21st 20 |
| 3.0 good | Sarah | May 30th 20 |
| 3.5 great | Halez | April 28th 20 |
| 3.0 good | heck | March 4th 20 |
| 3.5 great | josh | June 10th 19 |
| 3.0 good | Maximo | April 22nd 19 |
| 1.5 very poor | Josh | February 9th 19 |
| 3.5 great | STEA | November 9th 18 |
| 3.0 good | Keira | April 4th 18 |
| 2.0 poor | ian b. | October 9th 17 |
| 2.0 poor | YAAAOOO | September 14th 17 |
| 2.5 average | Verix | July 16th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | ORTCEZ | June 25th 17 |
| 3.0 good | tellah | April 11th 17 |
| 2.5 average | Brad | March 24th 17 |
| 2.5 average | El Olam | December 11th 16 |
| 2.0 poor | Illume | August 8th 16 |
| 2.5 average | Snide | May 15th 16 |
| 3.0 good | Shamus248 CONTRIBUTOR | April 30th 16 |
| 2.5 average | Trey STAFF | March 24th 16 |
| 2.5 average | 8genre | January 5th 16 |
| 2.0 poor | Ben STAFF | December 29th 15 |
| 3.0 good | SYL | November 26th 15 |
| 2.5 average | furpa | October 24th 15 |
| 2.5 average | Lassie | July 12th 15 |
| 3.5 great | ToT720 | June 25th 15 |
| 2.0 poor | slaps | January 24th 15 |
| 3.0 good | elry2k | December 15th 14 |
| 1.5 very poor | Runeii | December 12th 14 |
| 1.5 very poor | betray | July 2nd 14 |
| 3.0 good | A257U2 | April 19th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Aust4L | March 16th 14 |
| 3.5 great | TJM1992 | February 17th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | ilbron | February 11th 14 |
| 3.5 great | acbpn | February 6th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Sebe | February 1st 14 |
| 2.5 average | Haon | December 13th 13 |
| 3.5 great | Dischi | September 26th 13 |
| 2.5 average | Rice303 | September 26th 13 |
| 2.5 average | CutMan | May 8th 13 |
| 2.5 average | bwiese | February 24th 13 |
| 2.5 average | pbass0 | February 14th 13 |
| 1.5 very poor | Lenix | December 31st 12 |
| 3.0 good | mcchub | December 18th 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | exitt18 | December 13th 12 |
| 2.5 average | BabyJ | December 1st 12 |
| 2.5 average | Zikana | November 14th 12 |
| 2.5 average | Tonger | October 6th 12 |
| 1.0 awful | modron | September 29th 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | sacc87 | August 20th 12 |
| 3.5 great | ryan10 | July 26th 12 |
| 3.0 good | ZedO | July 6th 12 |
| 4.5 superb | al6666 | July 6th 12 |
| 2.5 average | Dev518 | July 4th 12 |
| 2.0 poor | Scoot | July 4th 12 |
| 2.5 average | Circle | July 3rd 12 |
| 2.5 average | lucho | June 28th 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | SimGod | June 25th 12 |
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