Life In Your Way
Ignite And Rebuild
8.6
This band’s nice little debut, The Sun Rises and the Sun Sets and Still Our Time Is Endless hinted at the being a slower heir apparent to Shai Hulud despite being a Christian outfit. Their multi layered, ultra harmonic riffs and soaring, intricate melodies were a dead ringer if slightly less orchestrated for Matt Fox and Co’s sublime sounds.
With their second effort, and with Shai Hulud no longer in existence, LIYW has solidified their place. Now with even more developed songs, that despite their sometime rock/emo lean are cathartic, Ignite and Rebuild is an exercise in faith converting aptitude. If you are a little concerned about a commercial lean, I would compare LIYW's second effort to the very subtle shift Evergreen Terrace took with their latest album; everything is there, it's just been cleverly skewed to appeal to more people as well as satiate the fan base.
Much like Shai Hulud, the songs are generally all over the place and initially seem unstructured, until after multiple listens, you realize the songs are so structured, it’s just your ear that isn’t used to the vast levels of layered harmonies being presented. Almost all the riffs are graced with some sort of intricate melody line that are at times simply breathtaking.
“Hope is War” opens things up with some early peaking crescendos and rousing choral arrangements that shoe expert awareness of note placement without being to busy. “Light In Mine” initially shows a Thursday-ish emo simplicity, but luckily turns around to deliver some truly captivating guitar work at 2:36 that is laced with a pain scream, rather than the track's early emo whine. The droning rending gait of “Threads of Sincerity” and the more simplistic trot of “To the Edge” are competent tracks that still contain threads of their trademark harmonies, but veneered in a slightly more commercial manner.
“This, the Midnight Fight” starts with perturbing emo whining, but as with “Light In Mine” when a band can deliver such evocative and introspective moments as this track delivers it’s hard not to accept them. The thin, tear crusted line between emo annoyances and truly, heartfelt epiphanies, is a line LIYW flirt with often, but they manage to keep me from cringing and instead hypnotize me with some of the most beautiful guitar work I’ve heard in the genre. The peak of “More Than Efforts’ is sheer metalcore though, even while still delicately flocked with the band's sumptuous harmonies.
Closing out with “Evident” (with its rare breakdown, that is still melodically draining), the more charged pace of “When Rules Change” and the short but sweet closer “The Change”, Ignite and Rebuild is a brainer for those waiting for the next Misery Signals album or Matt Fox’ The Warmth of Red Blood project.
