Rockfreaks.net

HafLife

Nightcrawler

Written by: PP on 08/01/2012 04:20:53

I have a hard time believing HafLife are on their fourth album already and yet they haven't mustered more than a few hundred fans on Facebook, not doing much better on Myspace play count, nor on Last.fm. Maybe people just aren't interested in the band? I wouldn't blame them if "Nightcrawler" is any example of their ability at their best.

Basically, imagine a garage rock style mixed with industrial rock with shoddy production and incredibly cheesy samples glorifying the band, their love for gore, sex, serial killers, psychosis and need-for-speed. Sounds not much unlike Revolting Cocks, I admit, but in comparison HafLife are frankly awful. The vocals are a monotonous, distorted mess, the songs roll along at a same boring tempo, and they lack any points of interest for the listener. Just because there are electronic effects littered all over the sound does not make it good. It's about as un-trendy as music gets in 2011 (unless you're playing nu-metal of course), which isn't a problem in itself, but it means the band are facing an uphill battle towards popularity...and the hill is steep like Mount Everest, and the band do not have the songs to even beat Mount Blanc.

I'll admit that one thing they've done well is capturing the atmosphere of the motor city (Detroit). Lot of bands coming from this area have a similar distorted, biker gang vibe to them as HafLife here. That said, overall "Nightcrawler" is a waste of your time. It's a record you'll listen to once before binning it, if you even get that far.

Download: N/A
For the fans of: Revolting Cocks
Listen: Myspace

Release date 02.04.2011
Urban Legends Detroit