Madlife – Angry Sonnets for the Soul

Industrial rockers Madlife openly admit to striving to create radio ready tunes for a hook hungry audience.  Here in lies my first gripe with the admittedly catchy fusion of hard rock and industrial monopolizing their debut full length, Angry Sonnets For The Soul.  The band’s primary goal makes for very few surprises outside of its first moments.  Compounding matters, the band draws their influences from a 90’s scene that drowned itself in a climate of repetition that even living legends Rob Zombie, Nine Inch Nails, Linkin Park, and Powerman 5000 never evolved past over the previous decade.

Time and again, each song goes for only the biggest, meanest, throbbing combination of electronics and guitars.  It’s the type of pounding that everyone needs a break from in due time, but that Madlife seems intent on pummeling their audience with at an overbearing concentration.  Early listens hint at ample thought and ability, making the results all the more troubling.  “Little Ray Of Sunshine” in fact offers a reasonable first impression with its inclusion of radio-interview spoken-word commentary and thematic juxtaposition (the line “you’re my little ray of sunshine” is a curious anomaly for a bleached out band sporting gothic leather).  But alas, the draw proves short lived with “Falling Apart,” “I Hate,” and “Think I’m Dead” all impatiently jumping the gun and charging into overshadowingly similar choruses.

Lyrically, themes of greed, anger, and angst plague each track with forgettablly impersonal reminders that it’s all been done before.  “Money, all I ever want, Money, all I think about, Money, all I ever need, Money, this is my disease” moans “Angry” Phil with little consequence, stifling the otherwise smart topic of personal obsession.

Angry Sonnets For The Soul‘s biggest hurdle rests with Madlife’s drive to accomplish everything all at once.  What might make for a decent single hardly makes for a comprehensive album.  Songs blur together without build-up or an appreciation for beginning, middle, and end.  The result is one big pounding headache that can be enjoyed in individual doses, but becomes a nauseating chore when sitting through all eleven tracks.  While certainly a band with its merits, Madlife needs to rethink its priorities before its ambition plays out in its highs.