I PrevailLifelines

Fearless Records / Caroline Aus
October 21, 2016
7
Catchy rock mosh

I Prevail’s rise from bedroom project to arena mainstay has been swift. Taylor Swift, that is. A few months after releasing their first EP, the Detroit quartet’s cover of Tay-Tay’s Blank Space went viral on YouTube and got their name in front of all the bigwigs who matter. Their debut album Lifelines is the product of two years of heavy touring and weeks shut away in the Michigan woods writing and re-writing. I Prevail’s signature move, if you will, is the twin vocal attack of two frontmen. Brian Burkheiser’s cleans and Eric Vanlerberghe’s screams are a clever combination: Burkheiser alone would be too saccharine and an unmitigated Vanlerberghe let loose would render their songs too harsh and unmelodic.

Lifelines shows its influences openly—Linkin Park, Killswitch Engage, Sempiternal-era Bring Me The Horizon.

Album opener Scars’ cut-up riffs and sing-a-long choruses set the mood for the album, while ballad Alone is a little reminiscent of latter-day Amity. Like most debut albums, Lifelines shows its influences openly—Linkin Park, Killswitch Engage, Sempiternal-era Bring Me The Horizon—but when your influences are the pinnacle of the genre you’re in, there’s really no way to go wrong by picking up a few of their tricks. That said, I Prevail are at their best when they’re mad. Album opener Scars has the kind of downtuned riffs you’ve been missing since the mid-00s and if Come And Get It doesn’t get added to Spotify’s Pumping Iron playlist, I will put in an official complaint to Spotify HQ. Mixed to rock radio perfection by pop-metal mastermind David Bendeth, I Prevail’s music is part man, part machine and unnaturally catchy. Anyone for a commercial rock moshpit?

Stand Out Tracks: Scars, Alone, Come And Get It
Stick This Next To: Linkin Park, The Amity Affliction, A Day To Remember


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