Source: Album Artwork
The Conservatives have stood a full term in power and have been re-elected in the time it’s taken Conduit to put out a sniff of a debut record. In fact, after six years together this post hardcore lot have decided to make haste and release, Life On Repeat.
Like a plague of pissed off locusts ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ swarms in hell bent on destruction. Even if it draws from the pool of post hardcore that’s floating about, with fluttering melodies and buzzing riffs it is still a stonker and full of bile.
It’s not until you sink deeper into the record when the Christian metal bands musical palette broadens and sonically things get interesting. Think marvelling at the Sistine Chapel’s exterior and the utter shock at finding Michelangelo’s masterpiece inside. The influences Conduit draw upon give off a similar feeling of awe. The generic hard hitting riffs and devilish drums wouldn’t be enough on their own, but the angelic melody that flutters through tracks such as ‘Others‘ make for a worthwhile listen.
Sure the religious undertones such as “we will never be perfect but we will always be something in his eyes,” may make you want to reach for the sick bucket but it’s not enough to dismiss the Midlanders fully and there’s a part of you that admires when they attempt to step up the intensity with dollops of brooding atmosphere, but it doesn’t always hit home, leaving you cursing in vain.
Life On Repeat is a decent effort of trying to break free from the post hardcore tomb. But after taking six years to rise and release a full length you would have thought that Conduit may have been a little less Lazarus and a lot more messiah.
