Light Up the Sky
Nightlife


3.5
great

Review

by ParkersCannon USER (13 Reviews)
March 19th, 2016 | 28 replies


Release Date: 2016 | Tracklist

Review Summary: A very solid debut from this post-hardcore Rise outfit.

Light Up the Sky is one of the newest signings to Rise Records, a label that predominantly signs groups that play middle of the road metalcore and post-hardcore, with traces of pop punk and even deathcore thrown in for 'good measure.' This time around, Rise pulled back and it would appear that they weren't down the band's throat with creative control. 'Nightlife' the eleven-track inaugural outing from Light Up the Sky, plays like the album these guys wanted to make. At times, they lean towards a brooding and even vicious style of performing uncleans, but far and away, the post-hardcore intonation is through and through.

Light Up the Sky made their proverbial public debut when Rise's YouTube channel posted a lyric video for their song "I Will Never." "I Will Never" is by all accounts standard Rise fare, but succeeds in invoking more ingenuity to its merit. Middle of the road lyricism maybe ('I will never/I will never/I'll never ever feel the same.') but above average execution. Lead vocalist Ray Luna uses this first effort to show he has the vocal chops to compete with fellow Rise bands and so forth. 'Memories' is a minute long transitional track, before 'Breather' comes in and gives the listener the most post-hardcore track you will hear on this record. Lead David Wen flexes his guitarist muscles to great effect, providing strong riffs to move the tracks along, that is until Luna comes in to scream 'light up the sky', which is something that in retrospect, wouldn't feel any more welcome, even if the band wasn't in fact called Light Up the Sky. As mentioned earlier, post-hardcore isn't the sole captain of the ship that is 'Nightlife.' Traces of metalcore and even some electronicore is present on this record, feeling somewhat reminiscent of a band like I See Stars, without totally hijacking their brand.

'Stop Me' recycles lyrics 'I Will Never' ("I'll never be the same") but the track does see a slightly more predominant performance out of drummer Nick Mayhew, who throughout the record, delivers a solid performance with the sticks. 'Let You Down' is another track may come from the same old song and dance in some facets, but out of left field in terms of composition. Light Up the Sky come across as a group able to take the standard conventions of the genre or sub-genre they're in, and still conjure up a lot of creativity. 'Bring It On' however doesn't come out of left field. A strong performance vocally and instrumentally can't make up for the rather abhorrent lyrical content ("Enough is enough...the only one is me."), but the track will probably find its way onto a Warped Tour compilation album before all is said and done.

All in all, a very solid debut from Light Up the Sky, a post-hardcore outfit from Spokane. While Rise Records has been picking up established acts of late, their most recent debut project is one with staying power and long-term potential to be a success for themselves, the label and the genre. I have a couple gripes, but those aren't that important. I am certainly going to be eager to see where this band goes going forward. I see more than a few Warped Tour stints. I see a group with a chance to rewrite the post-hardcore playbook. They just need to grow out of what few rookie mistakes they made first.



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user ratings (27)
2.6
average


Comments:Add a Comment 
Gameofmetal
Emeritus
March 19th 2016


11755 Comments


"this post-hardcore Rise outfit."

idk that mentioning that they're on rise records is really all that integral for the summary, but it would read a little better as "this Rise Records Post-hardcore outfit"

"'Nightlife' the eleven-track inaugural outing from Light Up the Sky,"

you need a comma after Nightlife, and most people put album titles in italics. if you don't know the bb code, just ask and ill explain

"they lean towards a brooding and even vicious style of performing uncleans, but far and away, the post-hardcore intonation is through and through."

the "performing uncleans" thing makes this confusing for me. like you're talking about their musical style so just saying they have harsh vocals, a common aspect of contemporary post-hardcore and then using post-hardcore itself later in the sentence like a contrast or something is weird. also just the words "performing uncleans" in this context don't really make sense.

"Rise's YouTube channel posted a lyric video for their song "I Will Never.""

shorten it by just saying "debut single "I Will Never". also your period is accidentally inside quotations there

"most post-hardcore track you will hear on this record."

this strikes me as being a little off. if i understand the point you're trying to get across, maybe substitute "self-indicative" for "post-hardcore".

"Lead David Wen flexes his guitarist muscles to great effect"

A "lead" would insinuate a frontman which could be anything, which is slightly confusing until you finish the sentence. simply cutting and pasting "guitarist" up right behind "Lead" would make it read better I think

"that is until Luna comes in to scream 'light up the sky', which is something that in retrospect, wouldn't feel any more welcome, even if the band wasn't in fact called Light Up the Sky."

Should make this a sentence by itself. Attached to the previous line it just becomes tedious and overlong to read.

"'Let You Down' is another track may come from the same old song and dance in some facets, but out of left field in terms of composition."

I'd like to see some follow-up on lines like this and the following one. You just say they're more creative and such without actually explaining how.

Think that's all for nitpicks, your grammar for the most part seemed solid. Mostly just some awkwardly worded sentences and content gripes I took issue with. Decent review for the most part. Hope it helps

Edit: Let me know when you make some edits and ill edit the fixes out of my conment, don't like to leave this kind of thing on reviews permanently.

MarsKid
Emeritus
March 19th 2016


21035 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

Pretty much had the same things to say as Game. Pretty good review overall.



Not sure if this sounds like anything I'd really enjoy, but I might give it a chance.

ParkersCannon
March 19th 2016


77 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Gameofmetal, I do not know the bb code haha

Ebola
March 20th 2016


4576 Comments


Good review, might check this

MarsKid
Emeritus
March 21st 2016


21035 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

Aye, nice feature there.

Calc
March 21st 2016


17474 Comments


the song i heard from this was dogshit.

Jots
Emeritus
March 21st 2016


7584 Comments


might have to treat that artwork like a hazmat-warning-label red flag and avoid consumption.

review is ok but reads kinda matter-of-factly considering the fairly solid score you gave. for a 3.5 (great) it would make sense to sell it a little more, I dunno

and fix those errors lameofmetal 😏 pointed out - go to your profile and click "edit my reviews" or whatever it says

gordodustin
March 21st 2016


538 Comments


Game of Metal, calm your shit man! The review reads great through 98% of it, and this is a newspaper. It's ok to not be 100% professional in every fucking review. Seriously, it's fine.

cliiint
March 21st 2016


1363 Comments


How are the cleans? For me that typically makes our breaks how much I enjoy this brand of music

FearThyEvil
March 21st 2016


18833 Comments


"post-hardcore Rise outfit"

think I'll stay for away from this

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
March 21st 2016


11755 Comments


"lameofmetal"

bruh we gunna fite?

"Game of Metal, calm your shit man! The review reads great through 98% of it, and this is a newspaper. It's ok to not be 100% professional in every fucking review. Seriously, it's fine."

ummm

lol?

cliiint
March 21st 2016


1363 Comments


jesus gameofmetal, the fuck you doin being helpful

Danred97
March 21st 2016


2544 Comments


This is one of the most uninspired post-hardcore albums I've heard in a while. I mean, they didn't even make an attempt to stand out from the dozens of other middle-of-the-road phc bands out right now. That said, they'll definitely fit in over at Rise.

rufinthefury
March 21st 2016


4106 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

I'll check it out. Haven't had much luck with the modern crop of PHC outside of DGD and Hail the Sun so here's hoping for something cool.

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
March 21st 2016


11755 Comments


"jesus gameofmetal, the fuck you doin being helpful"

ayyy lmao same, just gonna log off now

rufinthefury
March 21st 2016


4106 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

I actually really like it. I'm throwing it in with my group of bands like Adventurer: not revolutionary or stand out but cool nonetheless.

this is actually the first electronic PHC act I've ever enjoyed to any extent (outside of ironically blasting Stick Stickly) so that's cool.

DreamAgain
March 21st 2016


2489 Comments


Similar bands: silverstein

so I check em out.. WTF is this garbage.


Man this is so bad and uninspired.. The most generic crap. And I *like* generic post-hardcore for the most part, just look at my ratings. I love DGD, Silverstein, Saosin, whatever. This isn't catchy at all.. riffs so bland. Screams average at best. I'm not seeing the appeal.

Go listen to the new Adept album instead :D

ElegantElephant
March 21st 2016


1391 Comments


this band genericore as hell

ramon.
March 22nd 2016


4204 Comments


Seeing 'very solid' in the summary made me wince a little. Not enjoying the music too much, sounds too samey. Progressions are just a little too done-and-dusted.

But for mindless moshing, I guess it has some merit. Worth nothing more than a 2.5 though imo

rufinthefury
March 22nd 2016


4106 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

2.5 to a 3, but more like a 2.7.



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