Review Summary: An awesomely bad potpourri of chugging, breakdowns, gang vocals, and junz.
To make a broad generalization, ‘core’ music has always stylistically been more about raw aggression than creativity or cohesion. However, it’s not really a good enough excuse to make music that sounds like the aural equivalent of a bar fight.
Liferuiner apparently didn’t get the memo. Taking Back The Nightlife is just about the angriest, most simplistic, most straightforward, and most straightedge hardcore album ever made. And while that may sound horrible, the result is actually an incredibly accessible and passionate if uninteresting chunk of man-core defined by chugging, gang vocals, shouts, breakdowns, and just about anything else you’d expect a good bar fight to involve.
With lyrics on par with the most offensive tracks off of Felony, the band sends a pretty clear message: we’re edge and we don’t like you because your drunken ass is ruining our scene. But with a name like Liferuiner, what do you expect? It should be fairly obvious we’re not exactly dealing with lyrical and musical prodigies here.
The album is unsurprisingly generic, but has some disgustingly catchy tracks. ‘You Look Better When You’re Drunk’ features what may be the most awesomely offensive breakdown intro ever: “*** You! *** This! *** your mother***ing life!” Sure, it’s not the most sophisticated or technical LP ever to hit the music scene, but it hits the music scene hard in the nuts because it got their girlfriend drunk and then groped her. Besides, it seems pretty clear what Liferuiner’s intentions were while recording.
Clearly very very pissed off that the stereotypical American nightlife has become defined by binge drinking and promiscuity, Liferuiner manhammers out an album that is just as pissed off, and vow to ‘take back the nightlife,’ alcoholics be damned. Of course, any self-respecting individual who isn’t as absolutely filled with rage as these guys evidently are knows not to take them too seriously. After all, it’s all in good fun. Unless you break edge, in which case, if you come across this band, you’re likely to meet the same fight as the person referred to as ‘Doug’.
Recommended Tracks:
You Look Better When You’re Drunk
Taking Back The Nightlife
Amaranthine
MegaDeath
Chernobyll