An open letter to all young American Metal bands:

“ I know you like Pantera, but please stop trying to ape them and forsaking your original sound-they are gone, get over it”.

Throwdown, A Perfect Murder, Lamb of God-just to name a few of the acts that seemingly thought being basically a Pantera styled cover band was more beneficial than their original sounds, and now the once promising A Life Once Lost have joined those ranks.

Rather than continue with their Meshuggah based take on angular hardcore, which admittedly is still ripping off another band, ALOL are now a far more restrained and predictable American Metal/rock band with little or no fire, energy or character. Only vocalist Bob Meadows seems intent on retaining the bands prior ferocity but even he falls into the modern rock trap with a track like “The Wanderer”, a soupy semi ballad.

Other wise, only a few strains of ALOL’s prior fury surfaces for tracks like “Worship” “Silence” and the chorus of “All Teeth” as I doubt few fans will be able to identify the band in other tracks like the Southern rock hued “Firewater Joyride”, blatant Lamb of God/Pantera-isms of “Detest”, “Masks” and “Others Die”, the simple, commercial throes of “Meth Mouth” and simply lifeless “Pigeonholed” from many other bands performing this form of watered down, intensity bereft hardcore/rock/American Metal. Granted its superbly produced and will appease any metal fan that like unchallenging, uninspired, yet heavy metal, but after the jaw grinding lurch of Hunter, Iron Gag is shallow and forgetable.

After some really promising albums, ALOL have been converted into a mainstream, marketed metal act for a spoonfed and easily satiable metal MTV based community and I would not be surprised to see a jump from Ferret to a major label in the near future. It was nice knowing you. Say hi to Mastodon for me.

[Visit the band's website]

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