The current wave of US metalcore is borderline unstoppable at the moment. Born of everything from thrash, grind, post hardcore and nu metal to straight up emo, the technical ability of this generation of guitarists has become eyebrow raising, and though there’s most definitely a level of studio trickery with plenty of the bands, those who endear have the ability to deliver the goods live – which is where a formidable live band like The Word Alive step in.
One of the scene’s relative newcomers, the band are now infiltrating the UK in a much bigger way than a year ago, and the release of new album ‘Life Cycles’ sees the band on the cusp of a major breakthrough ahead of a tour with Parkway Drive later in the year.
There’s absolutely no doubt that The Word Alive are a band that will rub particular people up the wrong way. Having “the haircuts”, “the synths” and “the production” can work against you with the older generation as much as it endears you to the younger ones – that’s pretty much bound to happen here, and it’s far from “punk” by definition – but what The Word Alive have done here with ‘Life Cycles’ is create an expressive and experimental album that toys with genres and instrumentation while delivering some beatdowns that make up for in brutality what they lack in originality.
On face value, the band sit comfortably in the fashionable end of the current metalcore crop, but under the surface are elements of industrial and black metal  that augment the band’s approach – opener ‘Dragon Spell’ and ‘Evolution’ carry a sort of nightmare-ish feel peppered with synths – but they’re still very much the sort of melodic metalcore band that parents are having to deal with all over the world right now.
In any case, it’s pretty likely that if you’re going to dislike The Word Alive, you will turn the album off -very- quickly, but if the band or their ilk have already caught your ear, ‘Life Cycles’ is likely to exceed your expectations – every aspect of the genre has been refined here, and The Word Alive have arrived in a big way with the release. Like or not, you’ll be hearing much, much more from the band in the future once ‘Life Cycles’ has had some time to dissipate. A solid and praise-worthy release from a band with plenty to say.
TOM AYLOTT