If the current musical climate has got you down then Vanishing Life is here to give you hope that all is not lost. A veritable supergroup, Vanishing Life features current and former members of …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Snot, Quicksand, Rise Against, and Bad Religion to name a few and if that impressive list doesn’t whet your appetite then what they bring to the big kids table of musical awesomeness surely will.
Walter Schreifels can do no wrong at this point. Associated with no less than three iconic bands over the last thirty years (Youth Of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand) and constantly creating the next great thing (Dead Heavens, Rival Schools), his voice and musicianship is unparallelled and unrivaled. On Surveillance, he revisits that sweet spot in the late ’90’s that saw the rise of Quicksand and Handsome meshed with Rival Schools more Pop-like sensibilities.
Then there’s drummer Jamie Miller, a legend in his own right, who played a huge part of the SoCal heavy scene with stints in Snot and later with Human Waste Project’s Aimee Echo in theStart before moving on with Bad Religion and the aforementioned Trail of Dead. In Vanishing Life he reconnects with current Trail of Dead bassist (And bandmate) Autry Fulbright to create an iconic rhythm section that is truly unstoppable.
And last but not least there’s Zach Blair whose excellent riffs can be heard on everything from alternative rockers Hagfish to the hardcore of Rise Against to the otherwordly heaviness of Gwar. If anyone was going to confidently play side by side Schreifels in a new project then Blair is your man.
But what’s it all sound like you ask? Like the best bits of all of their former/current bands infused their collective DNA into a musical beast and that beasts name is Vanishing Life. An album that is devoid of bad tracks. Seriously, not one “skipper”. Hard hitting, to the point, and most importantly…memorable. The moment “Realist” hits with its unbridled sense of urgency then listeners will immediately know they’ve stumbled onto something special. From there, the hits just keep coming. “Painter” and “Pretty Ruined” are prime examples of that perfect rhythmic synchronicity that Miller and Fulbright bring while “Vanishing Life” and “People Running” shred but still flow with glorious Schreifels-led melodies. Same with “Thinking Is Weightless” with its cacophony of guitars, drums, bass, and vocals meshing together into something beautiful and doubly so for closer “Big Other” which is a song that could easily be described as the epitome of “The Vanishing Life sound”.
Surveillance is out through Dine Alone on November 11th. Get yours here and here. And if you’re lucky enough, you might be able to catch Vanishing Life with the indomitable Burn soon. Head here for the dates/deets.