Lorraine - Victory
Lorraine is a hardcore/metalcore band from the USA and they released a debut album Victory in 2011. These guys have been around for about two years and their aim is to try and make some kind of dent in the hardcore scene. As soon as you hit play on this ep it is immediately evident that they haven’t gone for the conventional, linear song structure of ordinary hardcore, they have added a metalcore touch to it by adding technicality to the mix. Not to mention awesome breakdowns as well as modern hardcore stylish vocals. They have also described them as having Christian themes in their music. So basically, its hardcore, with breakdowns, with technicality and Christian… is it just me or does this remind anyone of For Today?
These guys have taken many different techniques used by many bands around the world, especially from the hardcore/metalcore genre. They really have blended the music together rather than making a cheap sounding hybrid. The music is powerful yet melodic, exactly what is expected from many Christian hardcore bands. I’m not exactly sure where these guys are going with their Christian themes because at the moment, the only Christian themed hardcore band that is making any kind of dent in the business is For Today. There are heaps of bands out there who have the same motives as these guys but how many have we actually seen take off? So what can these guys offer that the rest don’t have?
The song writing in this ep is quite decent but it is incredibly unbalanced. The music seems to be all over the play and quite messy at times. This probably comes from all the technicality within their music. It sounds like the drums are doing one thing, the guitarists are doing something else and the vocalist is doing something completely different. This makes the whole thing really confusing and hard to listen to at times. But this is only during the “fill in” parts of the songs (where it’s not the chorus, breakdown or anything, it simply fills up the songs). But I’m not saying that this is a complete mess, there is evidence that there is some kind of method to their madness. On the plus side though, the choruses are well constructed and the transitions sound quite smooth.
There is something that Christian band must obtain if they want to be successful and that is to have attitude of a hardcore band. From what I can hear, they certainly do have this attitude. I mean look at some of the track titles, “Hardcore Dancing at Prom” and “Gettin' Money Is The Only Thing On My Resume”, how could you have more attitude than this? Not only is their attitude in the titles, they certainly have it in their musical style. I love their riffs, it just packs to much punch and tells the world that they have attitude, and the breakdowns, you cannot possibly forget about those. I think these guys have the attitude of a screamo/deathcore band. Sure, the combination might sound a little off putting but that’s what they are and it sounds awesome.
Ahh, the breakdowns, I can’t forget about those. There is something a little odd about the breakdowns here. You would think a Christian band would have high paced, lightish style of breakdowns. But these guys have deathcore ones which are dark, eerie and quite heavy. Not only that but they also add some super speedy doubles to spice things up a little. It is a little hard to understand how a band can sound dark and bright at the same time. If you take a look at For Today, sure they have some have some sure sick bass dropping breakdowns which make their music heavy, but not necessarily dark. Maybe this is the new wave coming along who knows, only the future will tell us the answer.
But, like many hardcore Christian bands, they have a brighter side to their music as well which makes their music a whole lot better. They do this by introducing some melodic metalcorish guitar work and some clean vocals. Not only does it add a happier feeling to their music, it also gives it a sense of juvenility which I think helps their music quite a lot. It just takes the seriousness away and gives the listener a sense of freedom. Because after all, we all want to feel young and free sometimes otherwise life would be boring. Also the contrasting elements give this ep a nice texture to it as well which is always good for any band’s sound.
Overall this is not a bad debut ep, it features everything that a typical post-hardcore/metalcore/hardcore fan would want in their music, but it just doesn’t give us the extra stuff. But not having those extras doesn’t prevent this ep from being decent, I mean this is still quite a decent ep. There is a combination of light and dark as well as fast and heavy. Its combinations like these which makes us fans want to listen to these guys even more. There is just something about these guys that gives you the impression that they are writing this music for the love of it, not for the money and its bands like this that don’t come around often enough so it’s good to have a little change. I recommend this to any modern hardcore or metalcore fan out there, and I recommend the tracks Hide And Seek and Gettin' Money Is The Only Thing On My Resume those two songs should give you a fairly good impression on what this band is like and what they are about. Overall, this is definitely worth a go because these guys deserve it. I give Lorraine’s Victory a 14/20.
These guys have taken many different techniques used by many bands around the world, especially from the hardcore/metalcore genre. They really have blended the music together rather than making a cheap sounding hybrid. The music is powerful yet melodic, exactly what is expected from many Christian hardcore bands. I’m not exactly sure where these guys are going with their Christian themes because at the moment, the only Christian themed hardcore band that is making any kind of dent in the business is For Today. There are heaps of bands out there who have the same motives as these guys but how many have we actually seen take off? So what can these guys offer that the rest don’t have?
The song writing in this ep is quite decent but it is incredibly unbalanced. The music seems to be all over the play and quite messy at times. This probably comes from all the technicality within their music. It sounds like the drums are doing one thing, the guitarists are doing something else and the vocalist is doing something completely different. This makes the whole thing really confusing and hard to listen to at times. But this is only during the “fill in” parts of the songs (where it’s not the chorus, breakdown or anything, it simply fills up the songs). But I’m not saying that this is a complete mess, there is evidence that there is some kind of method to their madness. On the plus side though, the choruses are well constructed and the transitions sound quite smooth.
There is something that Christian band must obtain if they want to be successful and that is to have attitude of a hardcore band. From what I can hear, they certainly do have this attitude. I mean look at some of the track titles, “Hardcore Dancing at Prom” and “Gettin' Money Is The Only Thing On My Resume”, how could you have more attitude than this? Not only is their attitude in the titles, they certainly have it in their musical style. I love their riffs, it just packs to much punch and tells the world that they have attitude, and the breakdowns, you cannot possibly forget about those. I think these guys have the attitude of a screamo/deathcore band. Sure, the combination might sound a little off putting but that’s what they are and it sounds awesome.
Ahh, the breakdowns, I can’t forget about those. There is something a little odd about the breakdowns here. You would think a Christian band would have high paced, lightish style of breakdowns. But these guys have deathcore ones which are dark, eerie and quite heavy. Not only that but they also add some super speedy doubles to spice things up a little. It is a little hard to understand how a band can sound dark and bright at the same time. If you take a look at For Today, sure they have some have some sure sick bass dropping breakdowns which make their music heavy, but not necessarily dark. Maybe this is the new wave coming along who knows, only the future will tell us the answer.
But, like many hardcore Christian bands, they have a brighter side to their music as well which makes their music a whole lot better. They do this by introducing some melodic metalcorish guitar work and some clean vocals. Not only does it add a happier feeling to their music, it also gives it a sense of juvenility which I think helps their music quite a lot. It just takes the seriousness away and gives the listener a sense of freedom. Because after all, we all want to feel young and free sometimes otherwise life would be boring. Also the contrasting elements give this ep a nice texture to it as well which is always good for any band’s sound.
Overall this is not a bad debut ep, it features everything that a typical post-hardcore/metalcore/hardcore fan would want in their music, but it just doesn’t give us the extra stuff. But not having those extras doesn’t prevent this ep from being decent, I mean this is still quite a decent ep. There is a combination of light and dark as well as fast and heavy. Its combinations like these which makes us fans want to listen to these guys even more. There is just something about these guys that gives you the impression that they are writing this music for the love of it, not for the money and its bands like this that don’t come around often enough so it’s good to have a little change. I recommend this to any modern hardcore or metalcore fan out there, and I recommend the tracks Hide And Seek and Gettin' Money Is The Only Thing On My Resume those two songs should give you a fairly good impression on what this band is like and what they are about. Overall, this is definitely worth a go because these guys deserve it. I give Lorraine’s Victory a 14/20.
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