British metalcore band Starve To Survive are ready to leave their mark on the metal music scene after the release of their debut EP ‘Life//Loss’ back in December 2016.
Title track ‘Life//loss’ opens with a very eerie opening, setting an uncomfortable yet effective atmosphere to the track. This is something a lot of bands don’t bother with, but it works in favour for Starve To Survive giving them a good intro to the heavy opener. Primarily throughout the track, typical death metal vocals are used well and fit the track. However, the track isn’t entirely full of this as towards the end the track features more clean vocals which adds a different twist to the song and works in its favour. Moving on to ‘Extortion Of Power’, the same heavy style is cast across the track. Despite the track being the shortest on the EP, it is filled with the same headbanging power as the rest of the EP and doesn’t fall short at all. ‘Extortion Of Power’ mixes typical conventions of the deathcore genre, but throws it together in such a way that it sounds different to a lot of things you may have heard before. While seeming to take influences from bands such as Loathe and Northlane, the band show that while having musical influences, they can create something that shows them as an original band.
‘Abolition’ featuring Connor Sweeney from Loathe is certainly a stand out track. With awesome breakdowns and angst filled lyrics of ‘Your life’s a lie’ it’s a track that you will feel from the first second all the way to the end before leading on to closure track ‘The Fall’. Final track ‘The Fall’ is one of the heaviest tracks on the EP and in our opinion, one of the most hard-hitting lyric wise. The song brings anger through the vocals and lyrics and the impact of the instruments also bring a full impact to the track. The final breakdown of the track really highlights the impact of this song. ‘You are the cause of this violence’.
Taking over a year to write, it shows that Starve To Survive are intent on making a polished debut and not fall victim to the quickly fused together material some bands use for quick publicity. With the dedication that Starve To Survive have towards their music, this EP is something you really don’t want to miss!
Rating: 9/10
EUPHORIA OF BREAKDOWN 