Lifesick

Misanthropy

Written by: PP on 22/01/2022 23:51:12

Lifesick hails from the depths of the Fredericia hardcore scene here in Denmark, a brutal, metallic hardcore band that specializes in excessively heavy beatdowns and down-tuned smashing. Their third album "Misanthropy" is a Jacob Bredahl production and continues to establish the band as one of the heaviest and most uncompromising groups within the Danish hardcore scene.

To summarize the majority of "Misanthropy": it's a monstrous breakdown after a monstrous breakdown, ideal for karate moshers and pit stompers, mixed with swirling thrash metal riffs like those on "Dies Irae", in particular. Drawing heavily from the likes of Brutality Will Prevail, Code Orange, and Nasty, the objective has been to craft music as heavy as humanly possible by often slowing the riffs and breakdowns to a crawl. In the meantime, guttural growls wraagh on top of the expression in regrettably monotonous fashion. Case in point: as soon as a track like "Death Stays Close" uses semi-clean alternate vocals, it immediately stands out from the flock and we're already on track six at that point.

The problem is that despite individual tracks showing promise, as a package "Misanthropy" blends together too much. The unforgivingly heavy distortion and constant battering and breakdowns result in a one-dimensional album full of senseless pounding and testosterone display without enough thought being given to the overall expression from a songwriting point of view - something Nasty finally solved on "Shokka", for instance. The vocals lack variety - despite the weird monk-like tenor cleans in the acoustic middle section of "Necessary Evil" - and come across as merely wraagh for wraaghings sake. There's little more than stomp-friendly brutality on offer here, so while "Misanthropy" isn't bad, a few listens in you realize you still can't remember individual songs from it a couple of days afterward, despite the admirable technical flair their guitarists display from time to time. It sure would be interesting to hear what they could do in a thrash metal band.

Download: Death Stays Close, Misanthropy, Dies Irae, Ill Will
For the fans of: Nasty, CABAL, Brutality Will Prevail, DTHRNR, Code Orange
Listen: Facebook

Release date 11.02.2022
Isolation Records

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