Album Review: More Than Life - 'What's Left Of Me'

More Than Life - one of the UK's premier underground hardcore acts - have outdone themselves with album number two. Building up from their debut EP 'Brave Enough To Fail' and debut full-length, 'Love Let Me Go', which were both good, this sophomore release ticks all of the right boxes, and it goes beyond its predecessors

However, the biggest issue with this album is its first "song", 'Asleep', which is a short, swelling acoustic guitar track. It just feels misplaced and kind of useless, especially when the drums come in for the next song, 'Weight Of The World' - which has a great, no-bullshit intro. From there though, there aren't any more hiccups.  

'Threshold' and 'Seasons Change' make extensive use of cleaner, more melodic chords and melancholic tone colours. These two songs are also a perfect example of flow in an album. The former ends with soft chords accompanying an echoing snare drum roll, and as it ends, everything transitions into the faster snare drum intro of the latter. These work so well back to back.

'Do You Remember' reflects on old relationships in a bitter, yet honest confessional way. Its mixture of soft spoken word and intense screams accent the themes of the song so well. Despite a lot of the ambience and melodic side of the album, there's also some real aggression on here. 'You're Not Alone', the fastest song off the album, is a very personal song as it deals with depression, but it constantly keeps up its punk appearances with it's fast drumming and staccato guitar playing.

Album standout, 'Sometimes', and the final song 'Love Is Not Enough', deal with the loss of those closest too us and these two really show the band at their best. Lyrically and musically, the five-piece ace it. The strings accompanying the acoustic guitar outro of the latter are immensely evoking and in a strange way, makes More Than Life seem more credible as a band. The former is just as evoking with its last minute, showing the band winding down all of the chords and rhythms bit by bit as the hefty vocal delivery of 'I love you more than life, but you're killing yourself' closes everything out. Classic.

With better production values, expanding instrumentation and a stronger emphasis on melody than ever before, More Than Life's latest offering is easily their best work. Of course, it's a basic melodic hardcore album. It's a mixture of emotions, passions, clean and harsh tones and it'll make you feel sad, yet somehow happy and content, all at the same time as well. Until the new Being As An Ocean comes out, make sure to spin 'Whats Left Of Me', it won't disappoint you.

Asleep

Weight Of The World

What's Left Of Me

You're Not Alone

Threshold

Seasons Change

Do You Remember

Sometimes

Love Is Not Enough