My Useless Life - Negative Memories
When I see a band with a name like My Useless Life, I hope and pray to our lord and master, Satan, that it’s dark and bleak Black Metal with suicidal/depressive lyrics. All too often, I’ve been burned and the band turns out to be one of those Emo/Angst-ridden Mallcore bands that whines about how miserable their existence is because mommy and daddy bought them an iPhone 5S in the wrong color. Lucifer only knows what would happen if someone saw that the color of their iPhone clashed with their $300 Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, $1500 Mac Book Pro and their $900 iPad Air! Why, someone’s life might be completely ruined! The horror! (Insert sarcasm where appropriate.) Granted, listening to a bunch of whiny 20-somethings technically qualifies as suicidal/depressive music because it certainly makes me want to commit suicide. And murder. Not necessarily in that order, though. Luckily, My Useless Life is as dark and depressing as I’d hoped. The band hails from Sacramento, California (not exactly a hotbed of Depressive Black Metal, I know…), and this is their second LP. I missed their first album, 2012’s On the Edge, but this new one is really good and makes me want to seek out the debut. The music on Negative Memories is sorrowful and melodic, skirting the edges of Doom at times in terms of speed, though it lacks the heaviness that would put it with true Doom Metal. It doesn’t possess me to want to slit my wrists or jump off of a cliff any more than normal - I average ten to twelve suicidal thoughts a day and I didn’t notice any upticks in my desires to end my life while listening to this LP - but it did put me in a nice deep blue funk the way old Katatonia does. My Useless Life has a good grasp of melody and atmosphere, using various means to achieve that melancholic and dreary feeling you get from each of their songs. Another plus on this record’s already impressive list of good qualities is the fact that all of the songs are excellent. Each one has its own identity, but at the same time, they all fit in with the general dark and sorrowful vibe of the LP as a whole. It’s rare that I hear an album where all of the songs fucking rock, but Negative Memories pulls it off well. This is definitely one to check out.
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