Back in October I reviewed Low Life’s grimy “Flag Burner” and have since anticipated their next release. Last month yielded “Empire of Shit,” Low Life’s best work so far by a wide margin. Low Life’s brand of unapologetic, coarse hardcore punk reaches destructive new heights here while evolving aesthetically as a band.
Low Life take their name seriously, as is evident in their work, especially on “Empire of Shit” with its four tracks of self-loathing and world weary attitude. Hope is dangled on the end of a string for all to see, but never reached for, its acquisition in constant question. “Empire of Shit” is a testament to hanging on in an ever more fucked up society and speaks wealth on the detrimental effects of enduring in such an environment. These are songs of low sadness punctuated by near unfathomable anger over the condition of the world and the self.
Opening track “Dead” demonstrates the dizzying weight that hypocritical establishments bear on the unsuspecting. The worrying toll they, religion and government, can have is evident to the core of “Empire of Shit” and is its overarching theme. The effect is epidemic, spreading in the form of apathy, greed and emotional mutilation. The songs move like the wildfire this infection spreads and boy aren’t these songs infectious. “Ill Society” is the self trying discern its existence amid a sea of sick people, hoping that in the unbiased mirror the self is not one of these sick people, only to discover in horror that they are just that and the desired escape is an uphill battle. As the mind begins to break, alone amid those who are same, a “Wasted Daze” overtakes “Empire of Shit,” giving room to respite as the waste lands of violent melancholy are wandered. “Possessed by the Rock” is the record’s centerpiece and best track, taking “Empire of Shit’s” already furious, lose-it-all sound to faster, darker levels. This track is the sermon to end all sermons and the message scrawled on the wall of the fatal cycle we are part of.
“Empire of Shit” in addition to “Flag Burner” and Low Life’s demo can be heard in their entirety at the link above.
Visit them at their Facebook and Stereokiller profiles.
lock f
February 21, 2013 at 9:43 am
This shit is excellent. Sometimes when I feel sad about what hardcore is these days, I listen to a band like this and feel excited about it like I’m fifteen again.