Oh jeez, another one of these bands. You know the kind - screamo/emo band who wants anything but to be labeled as such. They come up with alternate and sometimes startlingly inaccurate descriptors such as "melodic hardcore" or "emotion rock," or they take the easy way out and spout off the classic "we don't like to label ourselves" or "our music doesn't really fall under labels." If you ever witness a band making any of the last two statements, you can pretty much guarantee that they're just another fucking screamo/mallcore band who's too ashamed to admit that they picked a shitty style of music. Life in Your Way is exactly this kind of band.
Oh look, there's no swearing in the lyrics and they even thank Jesus a bunch of times in the liner notes. Sweet, another Christian band in the quasi-hardcore scene! Fuck, I really hope Christianity doesn't become the new straight edge or vegetarianism/veganism because it's already painfully obvious that hardcore kids are easily duped, and the last thing the world needs is a bunch of Jesus freaks in camo shorts and military caps prone to group beatdowns. Separation of church and hardcore needs to happen, and fast. Norma Jean pulled off the "Christ-core" thing decently, but at least they didn't bother with that "melody" nonsense. Forgettable melodic pseudo-core that would be totally cool to play at church pretty much sums up Life in Your Way (or "LYW" as they desire to be affectionately known by).
Haha. They even screw up gang vocals. Gang vocals! Leave it to this band to mess up the process of a bunch of dudes shouting together at the same time. On this record, it sounds more like one dude shouting in an empty stadium than a bunch of sweaty kids piled on top of the vocalist. Even if they were well-executed, it would just feel ridiculous on this record. Imagine gang vocals during a Thursday song. Unsavory. Everything about this package is unconvincing, and that's the one trait that stops any hardcore band dead in its tracks. If I saw this band live, I'd absolutely be more prone to laugh than dance when they busted out one of their "breakdowns." I suspect that I would not be alone in my derisive laughter.
All in all, this band gets an E for effort, but that's really not too far from an F.
