Modern Life Is War- Life On The Moon (Album Review)

Modern Life Is War ended up as one of the more influential bands in the melodic hardcore and hardcore punk spaces in the early to mid-2000s, with their original six-year run producing memorable efforts like Witness and Midnight in America.  Despite disbanding only a year or so after Midnight in America’s release, they wouldn’t be gone for long and would return with Fever Hunting in 2013.  But in the time that followed the band’s output would slow way down to a trickle in the form of the Tribulation Worksongs EP trilogy.  Two of these came out in 2018 but it would take until 2021 for it to be completed, and last year a re-sequenced compilation of all three volumes came out.  It once again showcased Modern Life Is War’s ability to find that sweet spot between the melodic and aggressive ends of the spectrum while also pulling in territory outside of hardcore.  Given how much time had passed since Fever Hunting, I found myself wondering if this compilation was a way to tide listeners over before another full length and that’s proven to be the case now that Life On The Moon has released.  It’s very different from what many might be expecting through, coming through as an almost stream of consciousness and emotion where the music moves between everything from post hardcore and dub to the band’s usual brand of hardcore punk.  The flow isn’t always seamless and not every idea is as fleshed out as it could be, but there’s something to be said for a group like this to want to experiment and push further outside of their usual boundaries.

Modern Life Is War hasn’t necessarily pushed too far outside of the hardcore spectrum on previous albums, but there were clear influences outside the norm when it came to the subject matter of their songs and the types of covers they did.  Whether it was the hardcore re-interpretations “Stagger Lee” or “Survival”, which were originally folk and reggae songs, the group showcased something a little bit different than some of their peers and that feels like it’s now reflected holistically in the music on Life On The Moon.  Opener “Invocation” gives you an indication of how different the album will be, as its instrumentation is slow and methodical, pulling in elements of electronic, Americana, folk, and lots of other things to create a moodier soundscape.  “First Song on the Moon” then flips back to what you would expect with high energy melodic hardcore that moves by quick but packs plenty in that timespan.  As you continue to make your way through Life On The Moon more new directions come out, as “There Is A Telephone That Never Stops Ringing” has the jagged edges and swagger of noise rock while “Empty Shoes” goes for sprawling dub and electronic not unlike the “End Times Dub” from Tribulation Worksongs.  “Jackie Oh No” also has guitar work that sounds like a cross between Converge and Planes Mistaken For Stars, once again pushing Modern Life Is War into some different territory.  But while this all sounds good on paper, there are some flaws to the execution.  The back-to-back slow tempos of “Empty Shoes” and “Jackie Oh No” deflate some of the early momentum, and when these ideas are explored on the second half with additional instruments like saxophone they cut themselves short.  It does sometimes make this come through like a lot of different ideas thrown onto one album rather than a fully cohesive one, but that doesn’t mean that Modern Life Is War’s latest is unlistenable by any means.  Tracks like” Johnny Gone”, “Homecoming Queen”, and “Bloodsport” all have killer riffs that reflect everything I loved about this band and some of the experimental side does work well on its own despite feeling a little scattered in the context of the entire album.

Jeffrey Eaton’s vocals have been a defining feature of Modern Life Is War’s music, as he has a scream/yell that has a lot of bite to it but makes it easy to make out the lyrics.  As is the case with the instrumentation, things are a little bit different this time around and you won’t hear Eaton’s familiar pitch until “First Song On the Moon”.  “Invocation” instead makes use of some guest vocalists, including Coliseum’s Ryan Patterson (who’ll you hear more of throughout the course of the album), to kick things off in a mellower and haunting fashion.  There is plenty of that more aggressive approach on songs like “Johnny Gone” and “Bloodsport”, but with every member contributing some vocals and plenty of additional guests it doesn’t feel like Eaton is as much of a highlight as before.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as there is everything from more rock ‘n roll sounding singing to moodier post hardcore ranges.  In some ways it reminds me of Converge’s Axe to Fall, which I like to call “Converge plus friends”, and that definitely seems to be true for Life On The Moon as well.

The first few times through this album I bounced off of it, as it felt like it was drifting a bit too far from what drew me to Modern Life Is War over a decade ago.  But having revisited with a different mindset, there is still plenty to like about what the band is doing here and some of the softer moments do carry the same emotional weight as the faster hardcore bursts.  The earlier dub and slower tempos do bring down the first half’s energy too much and the experimentation on the second half feels like its too brief and cut short before it can reach its full potential, but I still have to applaud the group’s decision to expand this much musically even if it doesn’t all come together.  Whether Modern Life Is War continues to experiment further with some of these ideas or this remains an intruging one-off in their discography, I’m still glad to have them back.  Life On The Moon is available from Deathwish Inc. and Iodine Recordings.

-Review by Chris Dahlberg