Life Sentence
Chaos Theory EP

Life Sentence have certainly been hard at work since their last EP and have managed to take charge of our CD player once more with their latest record, ‘Chaos Theory’.

Angsty lyrics are a heavy feature throughout and opening track, ‘Break’, is a good example of how to back the words up with equally angry sounding instruments. Some deep and dirty metal guitars throw everything they’ve got at the intro before slipping into a sparse riff for the verse. The Used-esque chorus provides not only a platform for some great vocals, but also serves up a tasty melody.

‘Silence Says it All’ could have featured on Kittie’s debut album. Rowdy guitars follow the chops and changes and the verse hangs in the air in anticipation of the return of the crashing riff.

Things take a gentler turn in ‘Dreams’, starting with a sweet sounding guitar interspersed with drum spikes. The intro lasts over a minute, but with several different direction changes to keep things interesting. However, the chorus is the main player in this song, featuring some poetic lyrics and haunting melody.

‘The Unknown Soldier’ has a fair bit pace coupled with a syncopated drum rhythm that creates something more interesting out of a 4/4 beat before the aggressive metal returns for ‘Violence is a Virtue’, which features some wailing harmonics and whispered lyrics.

‘Forty4 – 60eight’ starts off metal, goes a bit EMO, then finds itself taking an ambient break before returning to EMO and finally fading out in an acoustic and vocal pop finish. While this isn’t exactly archetypal stuff for these guys, based on the rest of the CD, there are plenty of hooks and ideas throughout this seven and a half minute epic.

‘DNA’ was a brilliant EP and the quality of ‘Chaos Theory’ matches the standard set by its predecessor. The sound has undergone a natural progression, getting a bit heavier and more defined but essentially the songs are as catchy as ever.

This record is so good, Life Sentence could well get off early for good behaviour.

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Written by Smith on 27th February 2005

Stuart 'Saur' Smith was a prolific writer for The Mag throughout the magazine's lifetime. He combined a day job of temporary office jobs in London with a nightlife of trawling the capital's music venues looking for talent. As well as writing about music, he was a session musician who featured on a number of singles in the 90s. Today, Stuart is a Chief Writer for Phonotonal.