It’s always great when a CD from a new band drops through the letterbox and it’s even better when you get one that is by a band that is a pure joy to listen to and Thesis Lives is one of those bands with their new album Tree of Life. This 5 piece Progressive Metal band from the North East of England are certainly a band that is a talented bunch in their genre and you can hear their multitude of influences from all genres of music in the ten tracks on this new album.

Thesis Lives lineup is Angus Craddock – Guitar/Vox/Production, Gary Husband – Bass, Matty Armstrong – Vox/Guitar, Richard Mason – Drums and Stephen Traut – Guitar, the guys quote their influences from the likes of Killswitch Engage, Rush, Coheed and Cambria, Incubus and Dream Theater, you can certainly hear some of those influences in the various styles of the eight-track album, which since receiving I’ve played over and over again.

Make Them See

The opening track for the album is something that doesn’t set you up for the powerhouse of tracks that will follow, but then again, maybe it does, this instrumental track sort of sets you on your journey of Tree of Life, it’s a haunting track that starts with what could be described as similar to a heartbeat and moving seamlessly on to a gorgeous guitar which is just a pure joy to listen to, the 3:13 track is a perfect length to set you on the path. Beautifully performed and mixed to entice the eardrums and the chill the mind.

Chasing The Day

Kicking in with the progressive metal, this track instantly kicks in with the drums and vocals, taking you as far as possible away from Make Them See, but again this track is nicely put together with great vocals that fit in with the power chord that flows through the track accompanied by the percussion. The track breaks to a luscious guitar solo halfway through that just want’s to make you start to air-guitar along with it (I know, but that’s me).

Moxie

Third track in and yet another sound to the repertoire of Thesis Lives, what more could you ask for awesome sounding guitars, drums and vocals, Moxie is fast beat track that has all those elements that I love in this genre, great lyrics and music, a track that I defy anyone not to air-guitar to (not saying I was doing that during this review!).

Leaps and Bounds

The first of the “long” tracks on the album and the listening appeal four tracks is still there, this is a track that has some amazing vocal moments that just pull you into the music and the lyrics, add in the guitar work that works passionately with the drum work and you have another track that running at 7:19 has you loving every moment from start to the rather dramatic end.

Home

Staring with a more soothing feel that Leaps and Bounds and very much like the opening track of the album, Home starts with a gorgeous guitar solo and keyboards before the dreamy vocals come in at around 1:15, then at just over 2 mins we get a blast from the sweetest sounding guitar and drum work that, yet again on this album, work tirelessly together to produce a truly immense and powerful feel to the track, add to this the vocals that give Home it’s commanding feel.

Preapollo

Certainly, a track that has that heavy feeling in several sections, but then again it throws in the curveball with the softer moments, but it is nicely produced, especially at around the 3-minute mark when the track drops down to a change in the speed and feel of the overall track, then Preapollo kick in again to end the track on a high note ready for Every Little Notion.

Every Little Notion

Kicking in with a rough and heavy sounding guitar, leading into drums, then o the vocals, this is another track that is a sheer delight to listen to, it’s not too heavy and not too soft, about the right balance to bring the tracks lyrics to life, the seventh track on the album certainly let up on the musical prowess of Tree of Life.

Leviathan

I have to say that I think this is my favourite track on the Tree of Life album, it has that “post-punk” feel to the guitar work at the start and kind of reminded me of my buddies the Straight Jacket Legends before breaking down to a wonderful mellow section at around 3:18 giving the track a dream like feel before upping the tempo again for the last half of the track, this is certainly a track that flies by with it’s 7:09 running time, superbly written lyrics that pulled me in to the track from start to finish.

Corner Piece

This track beautifully fades in from the subdued ending of Leviathan and builds to a crescendo of wonder, again this is a track that is definitely not an album filler, this is another track that builds of the powerful performances of Tree of Life, so far the album has been one that begs me to listen again and again, but wait there’s one more track left!

Once More

It’s the icing on the cake, Once More is a powerful track that is the perfect way to finish the album, the 8:40 track is what we’ve been building up to through the earlier nine tracks, Thesis Lives have shown what they can do and with this track they show that they are raring to give us more, the almost nine-minute track rises and falls with the sheer power, breaking down at just over 5 minutes to give a taste of things to come from the band.

Thesis Lives new album Tree of Life – Progressive Metal with Style

There aren’t many albums out there that don’t have fillers, but Tree of Life is one that doesn’t even have a glimmer of a filler, all 10 tracks on the album. Thesis Lives have produced one hell of an album and I know that I’ll be spinning the heck out of the CD for a while yet.

Find out more about Thesis Lives on Facebook and Bandcamp, Tree of Life is available from Amazon,

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