Lifeless - Godconstruct

 

 

LIFELESS - Godconstruct (F.D.A. Rekotz LP 2013)

Every month brings us new band, which dismember the corpses with old styled death metal band and in the recent months the name Lifeless has been popping up more frequently, as this German band has just released their album titled “Godconstruct” through the relentless F.D.A. Rekotz (for sure one of the best labels around these days). But it would be a lie if someone called Lifeless “yet another band, which decided to take their piece of the trend cake”. Why? Well, Lifeless has been formed nine years ago and their first full length album titled “Beyond the Threshold of Death” was released already in 2008, at the time when this trend wasn’t so spread. This first album of Lifeless may not have been the most thrilling piece of death metal, which I have heard, to be honest, it was nothing special. But one day I’ve purchased a split 7”EP Lifeless / Chapel of Disease and from this moment I knew I will have to get the upcoming full length albums from both bands. They did present two killer tunes on that split, but it was the song titled “Godconstruct”, which I liked especially. It sounded like a classic masterpiece of the Swedish death metal and if you have in mind my eternal worship for “Like an Ever Flowing Stream” and other Dismember LPs, as well as for such bands as Goddefied, God Macabre, Mastication, Epitaph and Carnage, then you may realise how much excited I was for Lifeless upcoming LP. And finally here it is! I actually am a bit late, as “Godconstruct” has been released already three months ago, but I was going to get the LP version of this album, so this is why it took me so long to get it. Which I finally did obviously and now I can listen to it with all the pleasure!

But I guess I should start with one thing… I’ve read a couple of reviews, which “Godconstruct” got and they were very positive, but I must say that it starts to piss me off, when people describe new bands with words like “oh, this is new incarnation of Dismember… forget about Dismember, they’re dead, now you have Lifeless, bla bla bla”. For fuck sake, I will never forget about Dismember, they’re the masters and the best Swedish death metal band ever – and even if such saying would flatter Lifeless, then one thing must be said here: all in all Lifeless are only followers or almost the imitators of what Dismember and some other bands have done 20 years ago. And I really prefer to consider Lifeless to be just a killer, relatively new death metal band, not a damn reincarnation of whoever... Dismember will always be one. There can be only one.

Saying so, I won’t deny that the Swedish scene and this one particular band had an enormous influence on the music of Lifeless. There are many moments on “Godconstruct”, when you can scream that it sounds like a theme from the “Like an Ever Flowing Stream” or “Massive Killing Capacity” LP or something else, luckily Lifeless managed to get one thing right: they just composed some killer songs. Sure, among all those melodies or riffs you can find similarities to the old scene, but those Germans have really captured the essence of this music style and all the songs, which they have composed for “Godconstruct” are just deliciously lethal and infectious. I really, really like how catchy they are, how much energy they blast forward, punching the listener mercilessly and then giving him a moment to breath, when they start playing a nice, melodic theme, which obviously will stay in your head for the whole fuckin day. So, taking influences from the certain style and bands is one thing, but doing it correctly and managing to compose a decent material is another. Lifeless really did prove to be one of the best bands from this new wave of old school death metal and I can assure you that if you dig the albums from Entrails, Tormented, Graveyard, etc then I am sure that “Godconstruct” will also be a mandatory purchase for you.

When I listen to side A of the LP I feel just totally tormented. When the last sound of the finishing song from this side finishes I am almost hmm… lifeless, so much energy and passionate playing this album threw on me. Starting with the title song, which I already know from the split EP with Chapel of Disease and which for sure sounds like a classic masterpiece of Dismember, especially when that killer melody at the end resounds (this is Lifeless’ “Dreaming in Red” hehe!) through such awesome anthems like “Blood for the Gods” (fantastic opening theme), “Towards Damnation” (fast motherfucker!) and “Moribund”… This band has no mercy and compiled absolutely great riffs all the time through these songs. My only complaint would probably be the too obvious loan of the melodic theme in “Moribund”, which… well, I cannot put a name of the band and the album here, but I am absolutely sure that I already know it. I think it may have been originally used in an intro or something, but damn it… I cannot remember where. Anyway, it certainly sounds great and I like how Lifeless has arranged this theme, adding some keyboards to it. For sure this melody belongs to the most memorable moments of “Godconstruct”, so this complaint is nothing really major.

But when speaking about the songs from side B I feel like they not quite as good as those from side A, you won’t find there such an instant classic and memorable tune like the title song or “Moribund”, which is a shame. There are not so many melodic parts there or the epic, catchy moments… But the songs are very good anyway and I think that I can mention especially “Sworn to Death” – nice, aggressive tune, which features Sven Gross from Fleshcrawl on additional guest vocals. Then “Blindead” and “Seething With Rage” are also good, especially “Blindead” kills with that opening riff. It also offers some nice melodies and in my opinion this song sounds a bit different to “Godconstruct” for instance.

Production wise I have nothing more to desire… “Godconstruct” has a clean, crisp sound, the guitars tone is perfect and obviously very Swedish, and the whole album sound is very energetic and powerful, what I always require from killer death metal albums. For sure “Godconstruct” has been perfected, speaking of the production, to the best results. Artwork… Well, the front cover fits the lyrics very well. The album is very antireligious, it speaks about how the religions dominate this world and how they enslave the people, make them blind to see the truth… Figures of saints and the priests have demonic faces, so that all creates a nice concept. And the front artwork, done by Marc Niederhagemann (the vocalist and guitarist of Lifeless), looks great, especially in the big format of the vinyl. Sadly the LP doesn’t contain the poster with this artwork, but well, you cannot have everything. All in all, I must say that “Godconstruct” turned out to be an awesome album and for sure it met my expectations fully. I am very pleased with this LP and honour the band for delivering such an awesome piece of traditional death metal. And no, they’re not a reincarnation of Dismember, but new (lifeless) being, which is here to decapitate you and rip your guts out, with no mercy. Beware.

Standout tracks: “Godconstruct”, “Blood for the Gods”, “Moribund”, “Towards Damnation”

Final rate: 85/100