Music Reviews
2ND LIFE ‘EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE’
(NEON REPUBLIC/STORM REKORDZ/SOUTH AFRICA IMPORT)
In the USA thousands of bands are active in the current Modern Melodic Rockscene, but if we head over to South Africa, we need to use a magnifying glass in order to discover some bands that actually play Rockmusic. Happily, there are still plenty bands active in the Rockgenre and one of them is a band called 2ND LIFE. This band is formed around a lead singer called BOON, who is the former vocalist of a band called MOVIE 55. Although unfamiliar to me and probably most people out there, MOVIE 55 achieved fame and fortune in South Africa, but the young teenager BOON wanted more and is now entering the International World of Rockmusic with the debut album release of his new band 2ND LIFE. Musically speaking they are clearly drifting into the direction of the current American Rock Standard, which is all about polished melodic vocals, catchy choruses and downtuned guitars, with comparisons to 30 SECONDS TO MARS, LIT, 3 DOORS DOWN, FOO FIGHTERS, KINGS OF LEON, ALTER BRIDGE, STONE SOUR, CREED, DAUGHTRY, etc. etc. 12 tracks are included and a few of them are quite familiar, as these are well-done covers of FLEETWOOD MAC (“Go your own way”), PHD (“I won’t let you down”) and the very original sounding STING cover “Fragile”. Lead singer BOON has a good strong voice and most of the original songs of the band sound quite catchy and actually reminding me a lot of the Finnish bands SUNRISE AVENUE and THE RASMUS, so it is a little lighter sounding than the American bands mentioned earlier on in the review. Highlights are “Breathing” (DAUGHTRYish modern melodic rock), “2011” (short catchy uptempo poprock a la RICK SPRINGFIELD, WALTHAM, SUNRISE AVENUE and such) and the already mentioned STING cover “Fragile”. ‘Everything is possible’ could well be the start of something bright for the future to come for 2ND LIFE, because they clearly show they can play catchy modern sounding Melodic Rock, but I do feel they can deliver something even better on a follow-up record and perhaps toughen up their sound with a little more edge on the guitar department. Nevertheless, recommended to fans of especially SUNRISE AVENUE and 3 DOORS DOWN.
More at: http://www.2ndlifeband.com
(Points: 8.4 out of 10)
published in september
pls keep in touch
Gabor Kleinbloesem
Editor of Strutter'zine
STRUTTER'ZINE
ZANDRAK 82
2924 BC KRIMPEN AAN DEN IJSSEL
THE NETHERLANDS