Stolen Lives - "Luciferův efekt" (Defense Records/Maximed Records, 2019)

Band: Stolen Lives
Title: Luciferův efekt
Genre: Thrashcore with Grindcore influences
Time: 25.55 min
Release Date: 1st April 2019
Rating: 72/100













Defense Records and Maximed Records are back on these pages after some months of silence! Credit for this goes to Marcin of Mythrone Promotion, that some time ago sent me new interesting albums to review. Obviously, when he send me releases edited in co-operation between those two labels, I must expect only tons and tons of extreme aggression! In fact, this "Luciferův efekt", second album by Stolen Lives, isn't an exception to this right trend. But, before talking about the album, I should like to say a few words about Stolen Lives. This is a quartet from Czech Republic that lovely destroys the ears of the maniacs since 2005, releasing mostly a lot of splits along with other ugly bands like Time of My Life or D.F.C., and whose first album arrived only in 2015. 4 years later, this album had finally a follow-up in the shape, indeed, of  "Luciferův efekt". Were 4 years enough to Stolen Lives to calm them down a little bit? OF COURSE NOT!

But what can you expect from a band whose implacable motto is "play fast or don't!"? In fact, you'll find in their new work 11 songs (+ outro) in which Stolen Lives plays essentially a sort of brutal thrashcore full of insane screams by the singer David. But it's so brutal that the blast-beats are very frequent since the opening song "Háček" and, in addition, it contains plenty of grindcore influences, that gives to the songs more levels of urgency and pure destruction while, from time to time, there are also slight death metal touches even in some vocals (i.e. growls, but only in the background). In particular, the grindcore side of the band is stronger in numbers such as "Nevyhnutelně", "Ó kruhu, kruhu" and "Raději být naivní", that are so hysterical and intense to be the shortest tracks (one minute and something more) of the album. But also the rest of the songs are short since no one of them neither reaches the 3 minutes of lenght, so you can imagine better the levels of intensity in this album. At this point, it isnt' a case if Stolen Lives loves to dub their music as "Fast Thrashcore"!

Despite this cult for the purest speed, Stolen Lives knows how to give some variety to the different songs, also by playing with a good dynamicity. To name a few, the titletrack shows a more melodic approach, even though with many blast-beats, as usual. Instead, the same "Ó kruhu, kruhu" has little black metal influences, as well "Nevíme nic". Finally, the band preferred to close the album through an unusual "Outro", a very melodic and slow instrumental with a kind of guitar solo by Tomáš. And you have to think that the guitar solos are completely banned throughout this album!

Speaking about the lyrics, they are really interesting. Fortunately, on the booklet there is the English translation of every lyric, otherwise they could be impossible to understand for who don't speak the Czech language (like me). Courtesy of Miloslav Štĕrba, this translation has been a very nice decision because the lyrics are serious and focused on various social topics that deals also with current world problems. For example, "Nevyhnutelně" is about the climate change (and the conclusions by the band aren't absolutely good...) while "Stopaři" denounces the dangerously influencing role of the Web in this society. In general, I suggest you to read all the lyrics also because Stolen Lives are able to face the themes with a good imagination, even taking inspiration from books such as the "Anna Frank's Diary" (like "Ó kruhu, kruhu", that talks about the wars involving the children). 

Summarizing, "Luciferův efekt" shows a band on fire with their thrashcore influenced a lot by grindcore and characterized by intelligent lyrics. But, to say the truth, the album could be more effective because, sometimes, the songs are structured in a too predictable way, also by repeating the same things without proposing real surprises  (for example, this is the case of "V zapomnění"). And I must confess that my favorite songs are the more grindcore-oriented such as the aforementioned "Ó kruhu, kruhu" or "Raději být naivní", so I suggest to the band to develop more the grindcore skills in their next productions to come. But, mind you, all these flaws don't undermine so much the good quality of an album perfect for the fans of the fastest thrashcore, as confirmed by my 72 out of 100 that I gave to "Luciferův efekt". So, check out Stolen Lives, go to their gigs if you have the opportunity to see them and mosh until death!

Tracklist:

1 - Háček
2 - Nevyhnutelně
3 - Luciferův efekt
4 - V zapomnění
5 - Prozium
6 - Ó kruhu, kruhu
7 - Čára bídy
8 - Raději být naivní
9 - Vztek
10 - Stopaři
11 - Nevíme nic
12 - Outro

Line-up:

David - vocals
Tomáš - guitars
Jarda - bass
Honza - drums

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/STOLEN-LIVES/429942147128370
Maximed Records: http://www.maximed.wz.cz/main.html
Defense Records: http://www.defensemerch.com/
Mythrone Promotion: https://www.facebook.com/mythroneprom