Review: Stolen Lives – Luciferův efekt

Under the about-tab of this bands Facebook page it is clearly stated: the genre Stolen Lives plays is fast thrashcore and the description only says, besides a link to their Bandcamp, “Play fast or don’t!”. So, Stolen Lives plays thrash at an extremely high speed, that’s something that must be true. The line-up of this Czech band consists of vocalist David, guitarist Tomáš, drummer Honza and bass player Jarda. In 2006 Stolen Lives released its first split, together with Time of My Life. Two years later it was followed by an EP called Spal svou vlajku, which was followed by three splits, with D.F.C., Lahar (both in 2009) and Rapsöd (in 2012). Three years after that latest split, in 2015, Stolen Lives released its full-length debut, titled Budoucnost sviní. Since April the 1st Budoucnost sviní got a successor, titled Luciferův efekt.

After a short tension-building intro of opening track ček, Stolen Lives immediately goes full throttle. Something that stands out quite soon are David’s vocals, besides the speed Stolen Lives plays, which is indeed a really high speed. David’s vocals sound extremely intense, they really go through marrow and bone. He also brings his vocals in a way that sounds very energetic. Stylistically his vocals are probably best to describe as maniacal shouting, a description that probably also gives an idea of how intense and energetic he sounds. If you want an example to hear this be sure to check V Zapomně and Čára Bídy. There are also some other vocal styles to be heard on this album, but those are more credited to the backing vocals. For example some growls can be heard in the title track and a bit more clean vocals can be heard in Ó Kruhu, Kruhu.

Instrumentally the things that belong on a thrash album at very high speed can be heard: pounding drums, such as in Raději Být Naivní and Nevíme Nic, tight riffs, such as in Nevyhnutelně and the title track and a thundering bass, such as in Prozium and Stopaři. Jarda also gets some extra moments to showcase his bass skills in, for example, Nevyhnutelně, V Zapomně and the outro of this album, simply titled Outro. This instrumental Outro also contains a very nice guitarsolo by Tomáš.

On their Facebook page Stolen Lives clearly show that their music is fast and this is something that’s  important to them. That surely is nothing but the truth, because this is fast as fuck! What an extreme speed and energy does Luciferův efekt show! At some points this album contains a few changes in tempo, but for most of the time Stolen Lives pounds very heavily at an extremely raging speed. These few tempo changes are bringing a bit of variation on Luciferův efekt, but in an minimal way. Nevíme Nic is the track with the most variation on Luciferův efekt, this track even sounds a bit atmospheric at some moments, but the variation on it is still quite limited. So, are you searching for something with quite a lot of variation, Luciferův efekt probably isn’t what you’re searching for. Are you searching for an immensely heavy pounding and extremely energetic album? Don’t look any further. Luciferův efekt by Stolen Lives is all you need!

Stolen Lives Facebook

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