Source: Album Artwork
If the name I Prevail sounds familiar to you, then it’s probably because of their notorious Pop Goes Punk cover of Taylor Swift’s ‘Blank Space’. With their debut album Lifelines, they are out to show the world that they are so much more than that.
Lifelines is an unusual debut album. It doesn’t have any of the trademark clumsiness or overproduction sometimes prevalent in a debut album. However, Lifelines definitely sounds like a band trying to find their feet in the busy world of post-hardcore, and mostly succeeding.
Kicking off with the best song on the record, ‘Scars’ is packed full of earth shattering breakdowns, and the contrasting and intertwining vocals of Brian Burkheiser and Eric Vanlerberghe which leaves listeners begging for more. ’Chaos’ and ‘Already Dead’ are another couple of highlights, demonstrating the talent of a band who could one day be competing with seasoned post-hardcore bands like A Day To Remember or Sleeping With Sirens. For the most part, Lifelines is full of guaranteed fan favourites that fans will be demanding to hear live long after the band members are sick to death of playing them.
I Prevail seem to struggle slightly with is the more pop punk side of post-hardcore. Occasionally, on Lifelines, it sounds like the band are trying a little too hard to combine the soft and harder sides of the music. ‘Stuck In Your Head’ isn’t the strongest example of pop-punk, and the album wouldn’t have suffered without it. Any debut album is a learning curve, and I Prevail are amazing at post-hardcore, so this is what they should probably stick to.
Overall though, Lifelines is an impressive debut from a talented band, who will definitely be going places. With Burkheiser’s swirling harmonies and Vanlerberghe’s effortless yells, accompanied with some skilled guitar and pounding drum beats, I Prevail are set to go far, and we can’t wait for them to score some slots at major festivals next summer.
