Life Cycles

The Word Alive | Format: MP3 Music

Product Details

• Original Release Date: July 3, 2012
• Label: Fearless Records
• Copyright: 2012 Fearless Records
• Total Length: 54:14
• Genres:
  • Rock
• ASIN: B0089AEZKO
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,511 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An Immaculate Experiment July 3, 2012

By Elijah Kampsen

Format:MP3 Music

Going in to Life Cycles, my hopes were sky-high. I was expecting no less than a wholly inspiring follow-up to 2010's Deceiver, and I am thrilled to say I wasn't disappointed. In an effort that has gone awry for many a band before them, The Word Alive's impressively experimental, yet extremely refined sophomore album can be filed in the thesaurus as the end-all antonym for "sophomore slump."
"Dragon Spell" presents the album with a very eerie feel. The higher production quality than previous works is immediately evident, and contributes to a sound that is as immense as it is ruthless. With lyrics reverberating Deceiver favorites, long-time fans will have a hard time finding anything to their distaste on "Dragon Spell." It serves as a fitting intro, seemingly stating "we haven't forgotten where we came from, but we're not slowing down."
"Wishmaster" demonstrates singer Telle Smith's impressive vocal range, backed by the master of astonishing and stimulating electro-samples. "Entirety" is inarguably driving, as Smith croons "You're all I have." It sports one of the few moments when the sound is cut to nearly exclusively percussion and vocals, and the mastery of byzantine guitar-shredding follows. Lacking a resident keyboardist, "Entirety" and Life Cycles boasts even more haunting electric breakdowns than Deceiver.
"For Your Health" is a standout single, tracked with a very airy and atmospheric, well, atmosphere. Clean murmuring blends seamlessly with heart-beating screams, and the tentative vibe doesn't trip for a moment. Smith proclaims "we are still here," making it clear that The Word Alive will likely be around a while longer.... "Bar Fight" boasts an outlandish tempo, as Smith belts another remarkable lyric: "it's so simple," seemingly contradicting each band members' intricate composition.
The title track is what it is for a reason. The reprising "I'd rather die for what I believe, than live a life without meaning" brings a whole new depth to literally every slice Smith has written, and will write. At first listen, the plethora of style changes can be a bit distracting, but it's only a matter of time until the listener is anxiously awaiting every variation. A commendable exclamation, "MEANING," is worthy of shutting down the track.
The next piece, "Evolution," comes full circle when its interlude and exitludes piece together, encompassing handsome guitar work and layers upon layers of vocal magic, while the instrumentation and breakdown of "Hidden Lakes" alone makes it a keeper. On that note, every single breakdown on Life Cycles is incredibly diverse - a feat in the metalcore genre today. The Word Alive continues to make a name for themselves as being consistently inconsistent. Then, I had no hopes of the band keeping up with the primer sample of "Ambitionary," but again, what the hell do I know?
A grand piano builds to a rewarding outro in "Live A Lie," and "Belong" demonstrates each members' ability to complement the others' impeccably. The dynamic, at times fairly straightforward, rock verses of "Room 126" precede a culmination I've suspected since "We Know Who You Are" last album. That is, if they wanted to, I mean if they really, really wanted to, The Word Alive could likely piece together a concrete album of strictly ballads.
And so it seems that with a sophomore album of polished-unpolished work, The Word Alive has matured exponentially as a band. Unlike some albums fronting the metalcore scene today (read: Attack Attack!'s This Means War), Life Cycles boasts a vast variety of metal. The album in its entirety can be a bit overwhelming upon first listen, just as Deceiver once was, but once the listener becomes familiar with the work, it becomes entirely enjoyable.
They say "money can't buy you happiness." But it bought me this album, and that's pretty damn close.

Go Download: "For Your Health," "Life Cycles" Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars new metal its good February 22, 2013

By Kyle R. Steck

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

it sounds like prefab new metal corporate stuff - but its so damn good. Their first album has a little bit more variation but this is nice.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great album from great people... July 3, 2012

By D. Lear

Format:MP3 Music

This is definitely the album of the year for the metalcore scene so far...blew my mind and expectations entirely out of the water. This a cool group of guys who are great in person and obviously enjoy what they do.

This album is a great work of art...every track is astonishingly good. The iTunes bonus track "Smoke Monster" is better than the Amazon bonus track "The Conscience," at least in my opinion. But I bought both of them anyhow. None of the songs are a disappointment in the least.

BUY: The entire album. Every song is as good as the last.

UPDATE: I now think that "The Conscience" is better than "Smoke Monster" but the album is so amazing it's hard to put one song in front of the other.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great album! June 3, 2013

By Daniel Stevenson

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

Came across this group last week and was taken by storm. Not a huge fan of scream-o, but these guys hit hard and was taken back. Great album that I highly recommend!

5.0 out of 5 stars KILLER ALBUM! GREAT JOB AGAIN!! May 28, 2013

By Twisted Chris

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've owned every album from the Word Alive, and every time I'm very pleased on how much work they put into each of their songs. Heavy hitting and the Screams are great!! I love this band and they need to not change at all! Good Work!!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Emotional, uncomprimising quality December 28, 2012

By Shawn

Format:MP3 Music

Life Cycles is an extremely creative, and emotional album which is great to listen and play along to time after time. Even if you didn't like the old TWA, you will like this. It's bangin.

5.0 out of 5 stars A solid album with a unique sound November 5, 2012

By Benji

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

This was a tough one for me to leave a review for - I wasn't sure if it deserved 4 or 5 stars. It's not a perfect album, and my main dislike is that the songs have a hard time distinguishing themselves from each other. There's just not a lot of deviation from the overall 'sound' of the album.
It gets full marks because maybe there's not much deviation from the overall sound, but oh what a sound it is. The Word Alive pull off one of the harder tricks in metal - they made something that sounds unique, something that doesn't sound like anything else I have in my playlist already. They use a lot of familiar parts you'll have heard elsewhere (mix of clean and screaming vocals, keyboards and electronic distortions, and sounding generally more discordant/anarchic than usual), but they mix it all into something that's their own. It's not always easy to stand out in the increasingly crowded metalcore scene, and these guys deserve credit for wildly succeeding at it here.

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most amazing Post-Hardcore albums to date October 28, 2012

By MrGreedyGnome

Format:MP3 Music

This album blew my socks off, a great follow up of Deceiver. The Word Alive has established a place in my library and my heart. ;) bwahahaha