genres: pop + post-hardcore
There’s something wonderful and fresh that often comes from a single talented musician making EXACTLY the music they want to make. No genre tropes for the sake of fitting in, no streamlining to make it more appealing to broad audiences, just art for its own sake or personal satisfaction. An Investigation Into Perceived Heaviness is exactly this sort of album. It’s hard to really describe what LIONFIGHT sounds. Compositionally, it’s pop. Good, catchy pop. There’s also some heaviness at points, either guitars or harsh vocals, but it’s neither the tones or writing that would normally accompany post-hardcore. It’s very reminiscent of Solence, or Blind Channel minus the rap, with punch – but minimally distorted – guitars and the occasional flashy highlight.
Even the rock-ier tracks like “Neverend” or “Heaviness” are still delightfully smooth. There’s a wonderful sense of exactly how much to put into each track. Blending disparate and unexplored sounds into consistently coherent tracks takes major skill, and it’s accomplished nearly flawlessly. Just check out album closer “Home” to see how seamlessly harsh sections flow into straight up modern pop. While I’m personally a massive fan of the vocal approach taken here, some might find it takes some getting used to. They rival anything in the scene, but a conscious decision has been made to not over polish them, to keep more of the emotion in tact (again Solence comes to mind). This complements the lyricism quite nicely, which deserves to be highlighted as well. It’s a very personal album, tackling personal, emotional, and spiritual battles with honesty, but never sacrificing wit (the line “I brought a poem to a knife fight” off “Neverend” is one of my favorites of the year). Lack of consistent lyrical focus is a major complaint of mine with similar bands, who often seem to rush songs out as soon as the music is perfected, so it’s nice to see attention payed to both sides.
If you like Solence or Blind Channel, or even larger groups like Our Last Night or current era Asking Alexandria, LIONFIGHT is worth an attentive listen, expecially this early in their career.
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