Dekadens

“Dekadens” is the fifth Lifelover recording out of six. Originally released in 2009 as their first and only EP, it features for the (again) first and only time a true drummer, Non, which is joined by Fix's bass, H.'s rhythm guitars, ( )'s vocals and B, performing vocals, piano and guitars.

"Dekadens", which - since it is an EP - is significantly shorter than the usual Lifelover full-lengths, is a true watershed in Lifelover's career, not only for the presence of Non on the drums, but even for the fact that Lifelover's sound gets heavier, less melodic and way more "compact", that is: no more sudden breaks between slow acoustic and fast, heavy electric parts, less piano tunes, no more "inserts" of samples of any kind: "Dekadens" is actually a "professional" recording, just as the follower "Sjukdom", which will be the last Lifelover album; even ( )'s vocals here are way more carefully studied than ever before.

The opener, Luguber Framtid, is a perfect example of the new Lifelover direction: a heavy, moderately fast melody starts along with ( )'s raw, low vocals and B's always brilliant solo tremolo picking melodies, but this pattern will accompany us until the end of the track, with no acoustic passages or breaks whatsoever; we have, though, a nice and simple guitar solo towards the end. Even Myspys follows the same pattern, and if ( )'s harsh vocals are good as ever the song itself sounds actually a mere repetition of the former one. Similarly boring is Major Fuck Off, which presents no guitar melodies at all, only power chords in the background and some high screams by ( ).

Fortunately, the second part of "Dekadens" is way more interesting, inspired and catchy than the first one: Lethargy presents, actually, an entirely new musical theme for Lifelover, a catchy rock track in which vocals are performed by mainman B, in an antirely clean way (and in English!), the same B who performs a nice, melancholic guitar solo matching the lyrics ("making pictures of stale emotions / uncontrolled dreams of exploding skies / bathing in waters of calm indifference"). Then, Lifelover explores yet another style in Androider, which has actually a "robotic" feeling (even if I do not find anything "gothic" on here, as many say), where the band chose to use their trademark solo guitar melodies, but focusing the attention another time onto H.'s rhythm guitars, a feature that you will not find on their first recordings.

While Visdomsord seems to me another filler, being slow and almost entirely acoustic apart from the presence of B's trademark electric guitar repeating some notes over and over, the last song of the lot, Destination: Ingenstans, manages to save and greatly close an overall enjoyable and nice EP; ( )'s vocals are desperate as ever, but they soon fade into long acoustic passages interspersed with some nearly-thrash metal riffs.

Lifelover's "Dekadens" is, probably, the worst Lifelover recording ever - if we do not take into account the unhearable "Promo" of 2005, but since Lifelover's discography is so amazingly great, innovative and inspired, even being the worst part of it transforms "Dekadens" into a good, well-written and pleasant EP. The new Lifelover direction will then fully realize into the following full-length, "Sjukdom", but already here we can hear a significant "metal" approach to the tracks, which are generally more compact and heavy, with less piano tunes, solo guitar melodies and abrupt changes of tempo and structure (i.e.: acoustic passages and clean vocals, exchanged for heavy guitars and harsh vocals and viceversa, as you can hear on Nackskott), in order to obtain a more professional and solid sound. I would recommend "Dekadens" only to those who want to complete their knowledge of Lifelover, being aware that here they won't find their unique style that created masterpieces such as M/S Salmonella or Mental Central Dialog; they will find instead some nice and, every now and then, catchy metal tracks, in which Lifelover's "spontaneous" vein has been "professionalized", but into a pleasant way.