ALBUM REVIEW: To live in a different way – Love Is Noise

On their debut album To live in a different way, LOVE IS NOISE tear down any risks of putting themselves in a box. They may have gained momentum within the alternative metal space, but on To live in a different way, LOVE IS NOISE utilise swooping cinematic soundscapes to carry you through shoegaze, alt-metal and post-hardcore influences. Each culminates at the album’s core: a listening experience rooted in embracing emotion in all of its different forms and intensities. 

Opening To live in a different way, the passionately charged Devotion transports you into this experience. Gritty guitars groove against the more sweeping melodic choruses, offering dynamic and anthemic moments to pull you in. Transitioning effortlessly, Soft Glow propels the pace of the album with ferocious drums and the remarkable versatility of vocalist Cam Humphreys on full display as he moves from melodic croons to tearing vocals.

One of the particular strengths of To Live In A Different Way is the fluctuations between softness and intensity. Just as you think you might have your finger on the pulse of what LOVE IS NOISE are doing, the album turns you in an unexpected direction. take.one.minute experiments with distorted vocals set to a groove infused hook that becomes one of the most memorable and unique moments on the album. The pressing drums add an urgency to the track that explodes into frantic guitars and intense vocals in the bridge. 

This intensity carries you into the equally commanding and brilliant Jawbreaker. Metallic riffs blaze out and recall the roots that LOVE IS NOISE set on their previous EP Euphoria, Where Are You? Yet, there remains a sense that on To live in a different way, LOVE IS NOISE are keen to push further. Tracks like Evelyn turn to 90s alternative rock influences and push grooves towards fierce breakdowns. Through each of these sonic explorations comes a drive to ensure that the emotional payoff is pivotal, and that in experiencing the album, you are immersed into the process of feeling it all. 

At the centre of the album comes It hurts to know you’re there. A slower moment in pace, the track’s anthemic chorus catches on the vulnerability of the album, offering a tenderness amidst the ferocity. The guitar that bursts out before the song’s final chorus stops you in your tracks and lifts the first half of the album into poignant catharsis.

Emotionally raw and vulnerable, it is the embracing of emotion and all of its varying facets that LOVE IS NOISE celebrate on To live in a different way. The album’s title track captures this willingness to “open every scar.” Equally this palpable vulnerability spans across the album, exploring haunting nostalgia in Anemoia, and finding a particular place in the emotive and wistful track Mist.

Evocative melodies carry the beating heart of the album’s vulnerability, and reach a particularly heart-wrenching moment on Sunshine. The slower track melds acoustic guitar with orchestral arrangements of cello and glockenspiel to create a cinematic feeling. This bridges into the closing track Ascending with direct clarity on mortality and the liberation found in this. The track lifts out to a euphoric bursting of guitars and culminates in the spoken word in the track’s bridge: “I am worthy of love. I am no longer afraid of the end.”

Moving through sonic influences with ease and delving to the heart of each, To live in a different way finds LOVE IS NOISE pushing their sound to new heights. Between swooning melodies and cataclysmic heights, LOVE IS NOISE push the boundaries of what their sound can do, and the emotional payoff strikes through each moment on the album. Each new listen brings new emotional threads to the surface, and it is in the catharsis that To live in a different way continually compels you to dive deeper into it.

Rating: 8/10

To Live In A Different Way is out now via Century Media Records.

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