The Word Alive - 'Violent Noise' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Red Clouds

2. Why Am I Like This?

3. Stare At The Sun

4. I Fucked Up

5. War Evermore

6. Human

7. I Don’t Mind

8. Real Life

9. Lost In The Dark

10. My Enemy

11. Run Away

12. Lonely

After losing not one, but two of their key members in bassist Daniel Shapiro and drummer Luke Holland, question marks were always going to be raised about what the future had in store for The Word Alive. The bands 5th studio album ‘Violent Noise’ puts any doubts to rest as they are back stronger than ever.

Opening with the storming lead single ‘Red Clouds’, the track starts with gentle piano notes that jumps straight into a catchy guitar riff, and their more Metalcore sound that we are all used to. Singer Telle Smith uses a range of vocals, from passionate singing to harsh screams, which keeps both fans of the heavier and more mainstream audience happy, and is something that more and more Metalcore bands are trying to do nowadays, namely Bring Me The Horizon.

‘Stare At The Sun’ really picks up the pace with a crunching melody and heavy riffs that open up perfectly for a feature of Asking Alexandria’s Danny Worsnop. Many of the songs on this record have both a delicate softer side and a more heavier side, and this continues in tracks ’I Fucked up’ and ‘War Evermore’, with the emotive lyrics beautifully balanced with their signature heavy style. ‘Human’ delivers some of the deeper lyrics off of the album, with ‘I’m blessed, I’m cursed, that’s my head making it worse’ from the bridge being one that relates to Telle’s personal struggles, the track also has a slight Hip-Hop edge with a feature from rapper Sincerely Collins and also sees Telle briefly tries his hand at rapping.

As the album progresses, songs such as ‘Lost In The Dark’ and ‘My Enemy’ show similar traits to the previous ones, yet without becoming repetitive or boring, The Word Alive have done a great job of creating a consistent theme throughout the record whilst always keeping it fresh and interesting. In the closing track ‘Lonely’, the album seems to end on a depressing note, however depression is a regular trend on this album and it would be unfair to say it subtracts from record, it’s a powerful track and lyrically one of the best 'Violent Noise' has to offer.

Despite the loss of two important members, 'Violent Noise' is far too good of an album to be remembered as rebuilding time for The Word Alive, it stands out as some of their best work, and shows that they still have far more to offer.