ALBUM REVIEW: Lovely Light Of Life – Leach

Has a country ever absolutely nailed heavy metal as well and as often as Sweden? It’s certainly a contender to say the least. It’s also from this proud tradition that the Borås-based thrash ‘n’ roll trio LEACH are looking to make their name. Lovely Light Of Life is the band’s third full-length album, and one that ticks a fair few boxes. It may not be particularly original, but fans of heavy music of most stripes should at least find something here for them. For starters, there’s an obvious debt to ENTOMBED, but there’s also the groove of a band like LAMB OF GOD, the thrashier leanings of early TRIVIUM, and a HATEBREED-esque hardcore aggro in the mix as well. If that wasn’t enough, there are even subtle hints of classic heavy metal and melodeath thrown in for good measure.

The album opens with the 23-second Prelude which rolls straight into the first song-proper, Serenade (For The Broken Brave). While the prelude feels kind of pointless, it’s pretty much all things go from here. Serenade is stuffed full of raging riffs, soaring leads, and a real neck-snapper of a breakdown. Drummer Joachim Dahlström fires on all cylinders in particular, maintaining a high level of energy throughout. The production’s solid too. There’s a good sense of grit to this, but it also manages to make the three-piece sound pretty massive.

From here, the album tears along almost exclusively in one gear. It seems LEACH know what they want to do, and they just do it. To an extent this makes it hard to pick out highlights, but there are a few worth mentioning. Third track Carry The Stigma is an absolute rager for example. It features rapid thrash metal riffing and some particularly memorable barked hooks. Elsewhere, True North’s Gothenburg-style riffs see the band evoke their countrymen in AT THE GATES – always a good thing, and definitely not the only time this happens on the record. Later, tenth track Gaslighting veers towards trad metal catchiness with its melodic leads and simple chorus, while Sweet Blasphemy after that all but demands constant headbanging.

If any one member of LEACH stands out on Lovely Light Of Life it’s the band’s guitarist/vocalist Markus Wikander. As a frontman, Wikander has a lot of charisma. His vocals are pretty consistently harsh, but rarely unintelligible. They draw comparisons to the likes of Jamey Jasta or Matt Heafy – surely two of the best frontmen to ever do it. His guitar work is also invariably solid, with impressive riffs and leads aplenty.

As solid as what’s on offer often is, there is an extent to which LEACH feel like A.N. Other heavy metal band. There’s not loads of variation on Lovely Light Of Life – just solid riffing and a fair bit of energy. Nor is this record all that dynamic. Aside from a few moments of quiet towards the end of seventh track Aniara, there really aren’t many points where the band take their foot off the pedal. As a result, this album quite quickly becomes a wash of perfectly fine heavy metal. It definitely feels too long, and struggles to keep its listeners invested until the very end.

This is a bit of a shame really. It’s clear LEACH know their way around a decent metal track, but they rarely manage more than that. With a lot of different influences in the mix, one might’ve hoped for something a little more boundary-pushing or varied. Then again, that might be a bit harsh. Listen to any one of these tracks as an individual and it’s unlikely you’ll hate it, it just feels like the band will need to do a bit more to earn their place in Sweden’s pantheon of legendary heavy metal bands.

Rating: 6/10

Lovely Light Of Life is set for release on May 21st via Brutal Records.

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