REVIEW: This Wild Life's "Never Fade"

During the anticipation period of a record promotion is almost everything. Sure, there’s also the expectation of your old sound, but in the case of This Wild Life you know you’re getting emo-tinged acoustic rock so we have to really rely on the promotion there. In the case of their sixth record, Never Fade, This Wild Life really emphasized that there were features on this record. Yea, that’s what they promised, features. The features were all left in obscurity but were advertised as, *sigh*, the “emo Avengers” which were “assembled” to create this record. Pretty much all of these features are bands that are hot in their own scene right now and offer far more draw than This Wild Life, which is fine, but you would think you would have some sort of unknown in there.

I also will, ahead of time, warn you that I’m going to go in on this band here. Not only for my complete middle of the road feelings toward their last record, Ever Blossom, but also for their vocalist Kevin Jordan. Two years ago Kevin was on a Lead Singer Syndrome episode and said to podcast host Shane Told, who also ran a review show at the time, that he felt music critics and reviews were completely “useless” in the modern era, citing that he could listen to a record in the time it would take him to digest the “gum flapping” that the writer in question had to offer. I just think that his feelings on this are important to keep in mind when you consider that his band has sounded generally the same in their over ten year career.

Seeing as the main draw on Never Fade was the fact that there’s other musicians on it, let's actually start there. Essentially all of these tracks sacrifice any sort of substance or true meaning just to have a song with said artist on it. For example on “Proximity” Kevin sings about a missed love, or broken up relationship, or something that he can’t quite well represent with lyrics relating people to magnets repelling each other in a way that does absolutely nothing to enhance its subject matter. However, don’t worry, Rory Rodriguez of Dayseeker, who you’ve heard on everyone else’s recent record, shows up to sing exactly two lines. Essentially all of the songs on here boil down to an acoustic track less imaginative than something at an open mic night or red cup party where someone busts out a guitar except here another guy walks on stage for ten seconds per song. The only feature I was really looking forward to was Brian Butcher of The Home Team on the closing track “Dead to Me.” Brian does a good job with the final chorus and even closes the record out, but that’s all he sings, a final chorus, and he’s the feature with the most air time.

Even when weighing what the highlight tracks are I only feel so strongly about them because there’s nothing differentiating any of these songs; some are just of a better writing quality. I will, however, give some roses to the cover of blink-182’s “I Miss You,” but mainly because it calls celebration to the early days of this band where they broke out by covering Bring Me the Horizon. But even then, nothing’s really progressed beyond that point all these years later and even at its worth it isn’t a particularly great cover and Oliver Baxxter is really over performing here.

I think what makes me the most upset about this record is that, yes, I didn’t feel too strongly about the last one but at least I felt like there was some emotion, some sort of feeling involved. Songs about a child whose parent walked out on them and the effects of that growing up meant something. These songs don’t mean anything, they have the artistic equivalency of a comic movie throwing in a cameo of an actor from a previous iteration of the series except there’s not enough of a fun time around that split second scene to justify it and this is under a half an hour. But hey Kev, that’s what you wanted right? “Emo Avengers?” I came to appreciate comics this year but I think you sort of missed the mark. Hope my review isn't too long for you.

Our rating - 4/10

Favorite songs

1. No More Waiting [feat. Brian Burkheiser of I Prevail]
2. Proximity [feat. Rory Rodriguez of Dayseeker]
3. Silver and Gold [feat. William Ryan Key of Yellowcard]
4. How'd You Forget Us? [feat. Joshua Roberts of Magnolia Park]
5. Knife Fight [feat. Aaron Marsh of Copeland]
6. Fall Out of Love Again [feat. Andrew Wade]
7. I Miss You [blink-182 cover, feat. Oliver Baxxter of Broadside]
8. Dead to Me [feat. Brian Butcher of The Home Team]

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