Shores - Life/Lost

Shores - Life/Lost

Life/Lost is the second EP from hard working band Shores. It's a lot heavier than their first release and a lot more polished up. I've been a fan of Shores ever since I first heard them. They were recommended to me by a good friend and I haven't found a reason to stop listening. Their second EP certainly doesn't do anything to change that.  Everything is taken up to 11 on this album although it does give in a bit more to some of the pitfalls of the metalcore genre.

First let's get what I didn't like about this album out of the way. A lot of the songs give into the stale tropes of the metalcore genre and border on what I like to call breakdowncore. It makes a lot of the songs blend into one. It also has the adverse effect of making the EP seem shorter than it is at times. While this album features much better mixing and production than the first EP some of the cuts and transitions are still a little jarring and rough. That's it, that's all I have to say about this album that's of a negative nature.

While some of the songs do trend into that pitfall of being too overzealous with the use of breakdowns, most of the songs skip past it. The clean vocals and clean guitars are not as prominent as they were before but they stand out even more.  The guitar riffs go from groovy to face-meltingly intense in a heartbeat. Even when the songs hit parts that may sound a bit generic they still will be stuck in your head. This is most apparent on my favorite song Shapeshifter. I had the pleasure of hearing a rough demo a few months ago and I didn't think it could be improved but somehow they managed it. The clean vocals on this track stand out amongst how simply brutal and assaulting it is. It also features some of the best lyrics on the EP. Speaking lyrically there's nothing here that could be called poetic but the lyrics and themes are certainly deep enough to satisfy. I definitely have some favorite lines from some of the tracks already.

Since I started listening to them about a year ago, I've held Shores in high regards. This EP did not let me down. It only ups the intensity of the first EP and improves on solid ground. It would still be nice to see them incorporate a bit more clean guitar and vocals and to explore more styles to be a bit more progressive. As they stand though they really do rise above with enough heavy for the metal fans, enough grooves and chants for the hardcore fans, and enough style for everyone else. It won't win over anyone not already interested in the genre but to anyone who is, this is some of the best new music out there.