Review Summary: I never knew The Contortionist had a brother band.
Lifeforms is a relatively new progressive deathcore band (djent fans eat your heart out on this one) trying to make their mark on music. They have released
Synthetic, a five track EP that doesn't disappoint, but also doesn't bring anything new to the table.
Let me start by saying that if this album doesn't just scream
Exoplanet by The Contortionist then I'm not sure what does. Maybe it's the similar gutteral vocals, similar tone of guitar, similar melodies, etc. I don't think I'd be wrong in saying they are heavily influenced by their older progressive deathcore companion The Contortionist.
Now with that being said,
Synthetic does manage to stray from the path a little bit. Lifeforms like to use heavy polyrhythms pretty much throughout every song, and some pretty killer bass drops. This EP isn't for the fans of the melodic side of music,
Synthetic is their take on making progressive music about as heavy as it can get it without losing the flair.
Did they succeed? Well, I'd say an alarming "yes" for the most part. They manage to make the stale elements of deathcore fresh again, they just don't manage to keep it going in a manner that grabs attention. The songs will slur together upon first listen - it's an EP you have to hear 3 or 4 times to fully appreciate each song individually. Throughout the catchy polyrhythms and soon-but-gone-too-fast ambient tones, you can tell Lifeforms have an idea of what to do to succeed, they are just having trouble implementing it.
The musicians are more than capable of their instruments - however it's the vocals that get old. From deep lows similar of Beheading of A King, to highs that sound like Of Mice and Men, some improvement is needed. This EP honestly would have been better as an instrumental.
One highlight track stands out from the rest -
Paradox, the third song on the EP. The song starts with a deep gutteral growl with some nice "djenty" chugging, then moves into some awesome polyrhythms that are hard to keep your head from banging. The nice touch on this song are the short-but-sweet clean vocals around the 1:40 mark. They are a breath of fresh air from the rest of the EP, and it's a well needed one. It then finishes with an amazing polyrhythm breakdown that's pretty unique in my eyes.
Generally, this album is above average. They are a very new band, and for that I give them some slack. This is a solid (but feels rushed) EP that deserves attention from at the very least any fans of deathcore or 8 string guitar work. What Lifeforms need to do now is hit the drawing board, and try to create some kind of idea on how to improve in a genre that is ever-growing and also full of stale bands. Otherwise, they will always be overshadowed by bands like
The Contortionist.
