LiveKill – Scum of My Life
Similar artists: Slipknot, Korn, Static-X
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Progressive Metal
Anger has done some marvellous and some terrible things for the human race. Naturally, most of the time, we are tempted to focus on its destructive elements. Wars, feuds and words that you can never take back are consequences of living with anger. However, ambition, a desire for change, and a willingness to right wrongs ought also to be added to the mix.
And while Michael Jordan would’ve never won a title had he not been motivated by anger, nor would Johnny Rotten have sung the way he did on the Sex Pistols album, keeping things in check is never easy. When it comes to anger, everyone needs a bit of target practice someplace where they know it’s unlikely that they’ll hurt anyone.
Music is the perfect place to store and express anger. Ignore it at your own risk. LiveKill’s “Scum of My Life” puts into nu-metal form all of the animosity and contempt we naturally feel for someone who has wronged us. And while, just like the song, we may be compelled by visions of ripping their heads off and impaling them on a stick, most of us realize that this would be wrong. Thankfully, we can depend on the art of bands like LiveKill to ensure we don’t let our feelings fester.
Lives Lost – Champagne
Similar artists: The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Silverstein, Saosin, AFI, Hoobastank
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Alternative Rock
Most of us like to imagine that what makes a champion is pure talent. It’s convenient to think that. It makes it much easier on the rest of us. The truth might be that the most significant ingredients in developing greatness are pain and how one deals with it. That ought to make us uncomfortable. It would mean that either we’ve not welcomed any suffering into our lives or that we haven’t found a way to deal with it.
If they’re doing it right, none of the great athletes who make the news and cash the big checks are having much fun giving their bodies a difficult test each day. If artists are doing their job right, they, too, feel discomfort as if they are treading into territory that they’d much rather avoid. The folks who find the strategies to do their jump through this all end up being crowned champs.
Lives Lost’s “Champagne” starts from the belief that being able to get emotional yet remain tough while terrible things happen around you is a gift. And it is. Musically, “Champagne” will bring to mind the emo, alt-rock and metal bands of the mid-2000s, those that combined tough riffs with vocal melodrama. Conceptually, “Champagne” is a song about bad people and bad energy and how to use that to your advantage. Dealing with it, rather than ignoring it, is the first step toward greatness.
