Released: 20th September 2019
Rating: ★★★★
Straight out of the former European Capital Of Culture and into the upper echelons of modern-day punk, LIFE’s second LP sees the Hull quartet take their game to the next level and smash their own previous high score.
A Picture Of Good Health takes 2017’s Popular Music and ramps it up into an unyielding beast of aggravation and battle cries. This 21st-century anarchy with stylish outfits is a powerful manifesto crammed with passion, rage and sheer excitement for stepping away from the norm.
With the longest track lasting just over three and a half minutes, this feisty rabble have mastered the art of swift, aural justice with Mez Sanders standing atop a podium where his message is screamed to the masses. Mez’s vocal style is reminiscent a young Mark E Smith and that cheeky grin adorning his face can be heard in between his carefully crafted anarchistic tirades.
These short, sharp bursts of angst-fuelled rants against the mainstream shine a spotlight on the frustrations of an ever-growing mass of disenfranchised voices who aren’t willing to sit and wait patiently for their turn any more. This is a call to arms to rise up and fight for your beliefs from a band so assured in themselves that they’d gladly standoff with even the most obnoxiously proud peacock.
Recent single ‘Moral Fibre’ is an absolute banger, and probably the angriest list that’s been committed to record, while there are other slabs of genius waiting further down the album in ‘Niceties’ and the raw, furious brilliance of ‘Don’t Give Up Yet’.
This raging, unrelenting dose of sonic chaos is a thunderous reminder of why guitar music is mankind’s greatest creation. LIFE have forced their way into being one of the essential bands of the moment, and it doesn’t sound like they’re planning on going anywhere.
Ciaran Steward
