REVIEW: S'efforcer - Life}.{Less [EP/2020]
Artist: S’efforcer
Album: Life}.{Less – EP
2020 has broughtabout a focus on several pressing social and political issues that had longbeen lurking in the overshadowed, uncomfortable collective corners of society’sconscience. Things like human trafficking, blight, disease, the ever-loomingthreat of nuclear warfare and dwindling mental health among the country’syounger generations. If those things—and more—weren’t on your radar beforelistening to S’efforcer’s Life}.{Less, then you absolutely willafterwards. A socially conscious, emotional and riveting display of technicallysavvy progressive metalcore, Life}.{Less picks up where the band’s debutfull-length left off, ensnaring the listener in the throes of something catchy,beautiful, creative and crushing all in one. Clocking in at nearly a half hour,S’efforcer don’t slack on bringing the listener plenty of bang for their buck. Maturedand more aggressive than the listener might otherwise expect, Life}.{Lessis one of the finest EPs this otherwise tumultuous year has set forth yet.
S’efforcerstunned the world with their debut full-length—maybe not the world,fair, but certainly the ecosystem defined by underground heavy music—and theyare poised to do so once more with Life}.{Less. Approximately twenty minutesof groove-laden, hard-hitting emotion, Life}.{Less is a tremendous testamentto the notion that metalcore can be both inventive and emotive, even down toits instrumentation. Take “72 Hours,” for example—a frantic explosion of concussivepercussion that dances with thick, burly bass and fleetly-fingered leads.Meanwhile, “To Exist & Expire” stands a more aggressive number, with drumsthat hit like sledgehammers and guitars that oscillate smoothly betweencrushing chugs and scintillating, stunning grooves. In these songs, S’efforcerprove they’re plenty adept at crafting more headstrong and abrasive brands ofprogressive metalcore; however, it’s songs like “Lost and Found” where the actexpertly blend atmosphere with precise, pummeling bitterness. “Lost and Found”sees the group interspersing moments of drum-heavy, immensely energeticmetalcore with drifting, ethereal dream-like sequences that lull the listenerinto a more melancholic and lethargic state. These sections last only so longas to give the listener a brief reprieve before pummeling them once more withgroove-heavy segments that could inspire even the most stalwart of hearts tobob their heads. In this fashion, S’efforcer inject emotion in a plethora ways,be it with moments of atmosphere, or outright in the most frantic segmentssongs like “72 Hours” have to offer.
What made S’efforcerstand out—even on their debut outing—from the pack of progressive metalcoreacts aching to make their mark in the scene is not only the precision and ingenuityby which they unleash their brand of metalcore, but the vocal elements they employas well. Covering everything from gritty, low bellows to shrieking screams andbeautifully sung bridges, S’efforcer’s vocal element is jaw dropping to say theleast. Songs like “72 Hours” are abrasive and stop at nothing to deliver avocal show-of-power, while “Lost and Found” is nothing short of soul wrenching,a tale of forlorn parents destined to recover their daughter—a victim of childtrafficking. “Lost and Found” is immersive such that even those withoutchildren can feel a tugging in the pit of their stomach—a sensation that eventhey might have lost someone or something—and such immersion is not only hardto come by in contemporary heavy music, but hard to craft. Life}.{Less continues the band’s legacyof incredible storytelling and vocal dynamism without skipping a beat, refiningonly minute elements to improve over the group’s debut.
Life}.{Less—whileshort—is stunning, and an incredible display of modern metalcore. Soundingsomething like an amalgam of Silent Planet and circa-2016 Currents, S’efforcercontinue to improve and hone their sound in subtle ways, carefully making theirsound more accessible yet simultaneously more raw and unfiltered, delivering adevastating yet doubtlessly beautiful record—one sure to end up near the top-endof 2020’s best of lists.
9.5/10
For Fans Of: Silent Planet, Currents, Erra, Spirit Breaker,Invent Animate
By: Connor Welsh