Customer Reviews

Lifer

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Well now. It's been 3 years since this one was released, and the genre of new metal is pretty much dead. Lifer is no more, and 2 of their original members have found success (and an excellent band) in Breaking Benjamin. But the point of this isn't to rant about that stuff, it's to say that this CD is pretty damn good. Not the most original CD in the world, nor the greatest, but it's got some good songs on it, therefore I like it.

Highlights- Well, the vocals are solid, and Nick (I forget his last name) does a good job of mimicking Phil Anselmo and Maynard at times. However, he does a good job of singing as himself, and his vocals really stand out on tracks like "No Need", "Swallow", "Breathless", "New", and "Not Like You". Actually, his singing is excellent on most of this one. His rapping isn't as good, but it's decent. The band is solid as far as guitar, bass, and drums go but it's nothing really special. The DJ isn't necessary, and doesn't add much. For some reason though, I think this is a good CD. Probably because Lifer was better than a lot of other bands and just didn't get heard for some reason. I'd recommend this for fans of Linkin Park, Breaking Ben, Papa Roach, and other new metal bands.

Best songs: Swallow, No Need, New, Heave, Not Like You, Breathless.

Rating: 8/10.

I bought this cd about 2 years ago or so and i can't believe how solid and how catchy every song is. If they would have stuck around with the same lineup they could have been something. Also the singer has great vocal melodies and can change the pitch of his voice so well. I believe that some of the members still have a band under the new name My Downfall. But im not totally sure since i havent been to the website in awhile. But all in all this cd is very underrated in my mind.

My Lifer CD will forever remain my all time favorite disk in my large library. Ever since I saw them on Battle of the Bands... I knew they would be huge one day. Unfortunately I was wrong. I didn't know what happened to Strangers with Candy, until one long awaited day in Best Buy I saw their CD! I had to have it so I begged my dad to let me pay him back for it. Since that day I have breathed Lifer. I even ordered their indie relase entitled "IV". Now they have lot everybody but Cory and Chris, one of the x-members is in Breaking Benjamin (also very good). Now they are called myDownfall, and I still burn for new materials. But this CD is by far beyond just some nu-metal stuff. It's substance in words and music. If nothing at all give it a listen. The hidden track on 12 starting at 4:20 is the best piece of writing and acoustic I've heard from any nu-metal band in my life. I emplore you to listen to at least something from this CD, it's well worth every cent you can spend on it.

Nobody nowadays is that original to blame these guys named simply Lifer for sounding slightly similar to anything else in the nu-metal genre. Being not too much unique doesn't mean being untalented or too much boring. Even if it does for someone, try to get your own opinion of the band, and give them a chance: you'll find out they're never worse than a bunch of the nu-metal players, and I would rather avoid comparing them with something like Incubus.

Most of the tunes are highly memorable and joyful: My Room, Ugly, Swallow, No Need, New, Not Like You, and Breathless will keep you impressed with good melodies, powerful heavy guitars, nice vocals, and not so stupid lyrics. Heave (the heaviest track here), and a bonus track will greatly add to the picture, as well as, probably, some other, not mentioned yet songs from the cd.

The good music for anyone who's into nu-metal, and a perfect one for those who like a not-so-heavy stuff.

I heard LIFER almost 10 months before their CD came out. The first song i heard by them was their 1st studio version of "boring" when they were just coming out after joining in '99. I thought the song was pretty good so i stuck with them. Once thier CD came out they had completely changed from the first few songs i heard by them in the past. They made everything BETTER. This CD is good from beginning to end. I recommend u should buy this CD if you're into heavy but melodic music.

Now this is my kinda music. I mean this album raises the bar that other bands have to meet. It is so good that it is gonna put a lot of other bands to shame. There is so much bad music out there that its depressing what a record company will publish. And the comes a band from a Wilkes Barre Pa and totllay rocks 100%. This music really puts a smile on my face. The album is laid out awesome and the vocals leave you wondering what tone the singer can come up with next. The Dj always seem to put the right scratch in the right place perfectly. This is a album that any rock fan out there has to get It is such a good album. Support your local musicians they might just be the next big thing. Just like these guys.

While Aaron and Mark left to join Breaking Benjamin, Nick and Chris went on to form myDownfall. After myDownfall split up, Nick formed The Drama Club which is a pretty kick ass rock band. (...)

By the way, this cd is awesome. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. I'll probably have to at some point as I want another sticker dammit.

This album has AWESOME music. The members of this band are extremely versatile. Unfortunately, the singer tries to be overly versatile instead of finding his own style. It sounds like he has a great voice, especially for the older Pantera-esque style he does on a few songs. The band sounds very professional, but the singer sounds quite amateur. His "style" rings of Tool, Korn, and Sevendust imitation, however he does not pull off their styles. In the few songs where he uses his own natural voice, he sounds very good. Also, the way the vocals are recorded almost makes this album sound like a demo. Also, Korn already did the shock-value F-word songs (and better, I might add), so they're really not necessary here. And, they could afford to lose the DJ sounds. It doesn't work here, boys. Linkin Park can pull it off. . .

Enough of the criticism. As far as the music on this album goes, it rocks. They manage to sway from some Pantera-esque metal sections to some d*mn fine funk-metal (a la Infectious Grooves). Very versatile band. You don't hear people say it too often in a "heavier" band, but their bassist is excellent! And the guitarists & percussion really make this music come alive.

All in all, if you've listened to your Linkin Park, Korn, Disturbed, Sevendust and other "Nu-Metal" CDs until the laser has burnt a hole in 'em, this is a good album to get. If only the unnecessary profanity weren't present, and the singer developed his own style (especially lose the Korn imitation!), this album would have 5 stars.

Check out Every Six Seconds from Saliva for versatile vocals in this style. Man, can that guy tear it up.

Peace-
Anthony

So...Lifer. This is actually going to be a experienced review, as I've listened to this album at least 50 times through, and several songs (According to Last.FM's tracking of what I play on my iPod, iTunes & other media players) over 100 times. Anyways, let me get on with it. I would like to start by saying that the reviews that I read on this album are off their mark. They obviously came from people who don't even like this genre and probably didn't even listen to the album more than once. So, therefore, I'm going to aim for a different mark from my point of view.

The album starts with one of the best tracks on the album, "My Room". Moderately simple, but terribly catchy, the song opens the album up quite nicely to the listener. It gives you a pretty good expectation of what to expect out of certain areas of the rest of the album. You've got a mild amount of heaviness, a mixture of clean singing and alternative metal growling, turntables & a very rhythmic song structure. The second track, "Ugly", flows nicely from its predecessor and shows off a little bit more of the turntables. The guitar playing is more simple in this track than "My Room" but it's still good (I quite like the way the flanger effect is used in the pre-chorus and the little wah pedal break section near the middle of the track). After this comes the single, "Boring". I'll be honest, I didn't like this song the first time I heard it. It comes off a bit too cocky for my taste upon first listen ("Come and take a look at what I've got inside, stepping up to me will make you question your mind" ?), but after you hear it a few times it will get stuck in your head. I'm still not a big fan of the regular verses but I love the pre-chorus and chorus sections, especially the simplistic start-stop turntable use in the chorus. As well the break section near the end with the panning guitar is great. Next up comes one of my favorite tracks on the album, "Swallow", which is the first of several very melancholy tracks. The sound effects created in the background sound great in headphones (As well over the course of the album there are numerous tracks where there are really cool soundscapes in the background, but I will point those out along the way) and the song in general always kind of bums me out, but I tend to like more depressing tracks on albums anyways so it works. One thing I especially like is how you can feel the emotion in his voice throughout the song. I can't stand a sad song where you can't believe the singer, it just annoys me. Following this is "No Need", which is also the name of the band's EP which precedes this full length release. This is another more melancholy effort, which I don't like as much as the prior track but still like quite a lot. My favorite section is right around the 2 minute mark with the simplistic drum beat, the lurking guitar effects phasing in and out and the background soundscapes. It just sounds really cool to me, that is all. On from here we have "Parade", which I really liked at first but after hearing it 50 or so times you realize how cheesy the lyrics are. However, to make up for it the music on the track is fantastic, I just can't not kind of shake my head at the "IT'S RAINING!" sections, heh. The bass guitar at the beginning sounds cool as hell though.

After this we have "New", which is another personal favorite. This song makes good use of a simple palm muting technique on the guitar and uses Nick Coyle's melodic voice quite well to make the song a memorable take. This is also one of the tracks on the album where you can really hear where some of the sound that went to Breaking Benjamin when the guitarist and bassist left to join them came from. Now we've got the track "Disbelief", which is probably the only song on the album I'm not a big fan of and I think it may be in big part due to the turntable effects used here. On most of the album I like the turntables, just not here. And look at that, first thing that you see happen on the next track "Blurred" is the turntables making up for the last song. This song I always thought was mildly interesting in the fact that in the chorus the vocalist's output sounds really close to Lajon Witherspoon from Sevendust. This is another track on the album which makes good use of soundscapes and guitar effects around the 2 minute mark. I really wish I could've heard what it would've sounded like in a darkened concert venue. From here we've got a slightly faster paced track in "Heave" which boasts one of my favorite lyrics on the album ("Some people look good on their knees, but you look the best"). Another good rhythmic track with simple guitar harmonies and good use of turntables. Coming close to the end of the album and we've got my favorite cut from the album, "Not Like You". Another melancholy track, albeit a bit harder than "Swallow", once more makes great use of Nick Coyle's vocal melodies. I also really like the effect used at the beginning on the drums to make them sound the way they do. Another one of my favorite lyrics from the album comes from this track ("I know I'm no Jesus Christ, but I'm no different than you. What if I was everything you wanted ? Would you still point and laugh at me ?"). Simple, yet you understand where he's coming from and that's what I like. Yeah, I like smart work at times, but I also don't like everything to be overcoated in terminology that takes forever to grasp. Straight forward and to the point without sounding like too much of a bitch. This track, as with the one before it, has a nice effect section near the end before it builds strong into the final chorus areas. After this comes "Breathless", which most people know from the soundtrack of The Scorpion King. I'm not a big fan of the vocals on the track, but as on "Parade" the music more than makes up for it. I especially love the beginning bass segment leading into the high notes heavily effected on the guitar and then the start-stop heavy section before the actual singing kicks in. The album's closer comes after in "Perfect (With Silence)". It took me some time to actually appreciate this song, as it's acoustic and the singers vocals going along with the style seem odd in parts, but it really is a good way to end the album. Obviously another melancholy cut, I don't like it as much as "Not Like You" or "Swallow", but I do like it. And now we've come to our finish line. I think anyone who is reading this and is a fan of the Nu Metal or Alternative Metal genre should at least give this album a chance. As a final run-down I'd give the album an 8 / 10. Check it out.

Lifer was a band that was just beginning to break the surface back in 2000 with their debut album. Sadly however Aaron and Mark left to embark on a different project known as Breaking Benjamin. No real solid explination was givin and why they left just as the band was starting to gain a fanbase but it's pretty much known that that's what lead to Lifer's downfall. When I picked up the album back in 2005 only knowing a couple songs I had downloaded and liked I was suprised how good it was. It's nothing like Limp Bizkit, if anything it would be closer to a Breaking Benjamin than Limp Bizkit or Korn. This is straight up Alt Metal, not Rapcore. Anyway, It was good....sadly I learned of Lifer's breakup and found a whole bunch of unreleased songs to help me get my fix but I still miss the band. Anyway the album a good modern alt metal album and fans of stuff like Spineshank or Breaking Benjamin should find something in this. My favorite tracks from the cd are "Swallow", "No Need", "Parade", "New", and "Not Like You". Here's the rest of the album.

1. My Room - 9.5/10
2. Ugly - 10/10
3. Boring - 9.5/10
4. Swallow - 10/10
5. No Need - 10/10
6. Parade - 10/10
7. New - 10/10
8. Disbelief - 9.5/10
9. Blurred - 9.5/10
10. Heave - 9.5/10
11. Not Like You - 10/10
12. Breathless - 9/10
13. Bonus Track - 9.5/10

Overall: 96% A

Pretty much the album is solid Alt Metal and it's a good debut by a band that should have became much more. I see elements of Pantera as well as Tool in these songs. Tracks like "Parade" are a good example of this. Anyway, give it a try the cd's cheap and not hard to find. The unreleased songs however are still just as good... There are 4-8 tracks of the band played still as lifer and another 12 or so under the new alias "MyDownfall" before they disbanded.