Liferuiner – Sons of Straight Edge

Liferuiner is a Canadian straight-edge hardcore/metalcore group that if you told me several years ago that I would’ve enjoyed their latest release, aptly named “Sons of Straight Edge”, I would’ve laughed and patted you on the head. Just a few years ago they were a terrible hardcore group with awful vocals, “joke” lyrics, and pretty terrible structure (way too many breakdowns, even for me). However the group disbanded and an American group came and took their band name and songs. This might’ve triggered some maturity in the group as they reformed and took the American group to court and effectively won the lawsuit. The group matured in many ways as Liferuiner has now adopted a more melodic sound. Lyrics are now more intelligent and even positive, and the vocals have vastly improved. Dare I say it, I’m listening to a Liferuiner album and loving it.

There are only 5 tracks and considering that this includes a 1 minute intro and a cover of The Beatles “Revolution”, this leaves us only with 3 actual original songs. “SOSE” and “Kids Wanna Rock” are both while very heavy also includes very well done melodic sections, while “1990″ is easily the most melodic and is the album highlight. “Revolution” is an alright metalcore cover, it’s not horribly done, but it’s pretty predictable in it’s execution. While yes there are breakdowns, they are used more sparingly and mostly effectively.

This is a surprisingly well done release, I’ve seen bands in the “core” genres shift styles, but this is the most impressive. As long as you can get past the idea that Liferuiner now delivers very solid metalcore, then you’re in for fairly impressive album. It’s catchy, heavy, and melodic when it needs to be. I can’t wait to see what they release next.