More Than Life
What's Left Of Me

“I've given up
I'm letting go
I'm so scared, of what will follow
I've never felt a pain in life so hollow
Letting go of everything I used to know
Love let me go....”

Thus ended in a heartbreaking way “Love Let Me Go” in 2010. Here was the painful farewell to a person, the tears turning into flames and enveloping the heart. The fear of the future, the desire to be far from this time, perhaps in another world.

Two years later, the last announced tour seemed like the farewell to music and More Than Life as well. Fortunately, it was just a goodbye for now.
The radar started to show the first signs of life at the end of last year, a natural prelude to “What's Left Of Me”.

The first step, the first pebble thrown into the pond is “Asleep” (the intro), an important clue of how they want to avoid a mere carbon copy of what once was and represented four years ago, the black passion and lo-fi production of “Love Let Me Go”.

A turning point that recalls the one experienced by Los Angeles-based Touché Amoré just a few months ago in the splendid “Is Survived By”, even more explicit in content. However, it delivers a band in excellent health, capable of providing us with a handful of great songs accompanied this time by a powerful and clear production where one is fascinated by the evocative melodies that emerge from the guitars.

And so, after the brief “Asleep” "Weight Of The World" launches immediately, followed by the splendid title track “What's Left Of Me” which represents the dawn of the day after. One sees the morning sun, begins again, gets out of bed knowing that the previous day was tough and full of problems and that this one will be too, but tries to face the world anew with renewed energy.

The band intelligently inserts various expedients that make the entire listening experience smooth and flowing, convincing both when they switch gears with a classic 4/4 rhythm as in “You're Not Alone” and in the first half of the finale “Love Is Not Enough”, and when they show a new melodic side: the almost post-rock of “Threshold” (even sung!), the airy opening of the cathartic title track, the second part of the already mentioned “Love Is Not Enough”, a duet between acoustics and soft violins.

“Do You Remember” is the unexpected track (the piano? The little choruses?), the one that sticks the most initially, certainly not the best, but soon it's overtaken by another great piece like “Sometimes” and the scene is still that of wide open spaces.

Naturally, the tormented aura of the lyrics is the constant that remains and creates an excellent combination with the melodies, well-positioned and always convincingly balanced.

“...Let me take away your bad dreams that hold you awake at night
and kill the pains that fill your heart.
Even through the worst, you still stand strong. The struggles that
repeat themselves, you're in harm's way.
After tragedy and illness, the hospitals and heartache. You always
put on a brave face and promised me you will be okay.
And I made a promise to you, death has to be so easy because this
life is too hard. I'm not mentally strong enough to heal your scars...”

However, it will be hard to give up a mention in a couple of months of “What's Left Of Me” from the list of albums of this 2014.