27th September 2018

Review: “Lyfeless” EP by A Legacy Unwritten

Atlanta, Georgia is the home of Deathcore crew A Legacy Unwritten. Starting out circa 2015 with their debut full length “Vanitati Mortem” or “Death Meaningless” before 2016 stand alone single “Forgotten” and EP “Six”. The quartet, comprising vocalist Erik Green, guitarist duo Corey Richburg and Stephen DeFoor alongside sticksman Austin Zamaryka have taken 2 years to forge “Lyfeless” and as Chugcore Promotions put it fully embrace death. How long ago the EP was actually written, remains something of a mystery however with “Worthless” having surfaced 11 months prior to the EP’s 14th September release.

“Introvert” is an introduction instrumental that sets the tone with buried electronics making way for a bone crushing riff and pummelling drum fills and kicks. An evil sounding distorted voice speaks some barely comprehendible words, almost as if computer generated to give an eerie, dark atmospheric start. “Shatter” sees vocalist Erik Green joined by James Mislow of King Conquer as some downtempo rhythm work is highlighted by some eerie and off kilter leads. The vocal tones are very reminiscent of Traitors Tyler Shelton, so much so that on a couple of occasions you could be forgive for thinking he was on the track. Plenty of punch, plenty of bounce and those throat shredding guttural uncleans are enough to strip the paint off the walls. “Death Note” keeps the tone of “Shatter” while introducing some more full on drum work from Austin Zamaryka. The blast beats and fills are phenomenal while Erik Green demonstrates a much wider vocal range with squeals and some higher pitched tones alongside that bark to show he has plenty of bite in him.

“Embrace Death” has a palette cleansing slow build and almost creepy introduction before the blast beats come in full throttle through the opening verse. Hats off to the production team because the drum sound is crisp and clean with very little muddying of the sound in the mix. The whirlwind of Austin Zamaryka’s work shines through above the soaring slow lead tones that are only shattered by the heavier stomping staccato rhythm guitar work. “Worthless” returns us to the electronically distorted voice with a 40 second spoken word reflection about the voices in ones head bringing out the psychopath in you and what is real. When the song kicks in, the eerie leads return with some driven and punchy DJent inspired riffage overlaying them. The only disappointment is that with the length of that introduction passage the track itself ends too soon. “Lyfeless” closing title track brings the 21 minute affair full circle with it’s longest tract at just over 4 minutes. It’s a much more straightforward affair, piling the breakdowns on top of each other and having a loser, more relaxed feel to it. The closing fade mirrors the introductions rise and there you have it. Overall, the vocal range on display is phenomenal as is the kit work but one or two of the more Avant-garde take away from the whole rather than playing to the bands obvious prowess [7.5/10]