Your Life On Hold – Echoes From The Bardo (Album – Solar Lodge)
Genre/Influences: Gothic, Dark-Wave, Goth-Rock.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Belgian Your Life On Hold last year released its third full length album. The title of the album wants to be ‘a metaphor for the main idea behind Your Life On Hold. It’s the in-between world, that no-man’s-land between different stages in your life, between relationships, between darker days and better days. It’s the very core of what Your Life On Hold is all about’. Driven by the creative spirit of ‘John Wolf’ (aka Jan Dewulf), 2020 has been a real prolific year for this musician. Next to this work he also signed to Dependent where he’ll release a new Mildreda-album and he also composed the music for the newest Dive-album.
Content: This album moves on where “My Name Is Legion for We Are Many” stopped. You get a similar mix of powerful guitar playing mixed with Electronic arrangements and the deep, growling vocals of John Wolf, which once again reminds me of Wayne Hussey. Most of the songs have something melodic (let’s not forget Jan Dewulf was active for years with his Electro-Pop project Diskonnekted), but there’s still a part of rage emerging from this opus. The work also features a few softer cuts, the long-during “I Can Feel Every Part” being for sure the most noticeable one. Notice one of the songs is featuring vocals by Artaud Seth.
+ + + : Your Life On Hold doesn’t innovate, but simply seems to compose the music they like. It’s an entertaining work alternating powerful passages –and even true speed rhythms (cf. “Let’s Start A War”) together with softer, dark-dreamy songs. I prefer the hardest cuts, “Erase Me”, “Save Me From The Void” and “Anywhere Out There” being the most noticeable songs. I already mentioned “I Can Feel Every Part”, which is an interesting piece for the way it has been built up while featuring some Gregorian chants in the background. The last point I want to mention is the great lyrical writing from some songs.
– – – : This album is absolutely pleasant and entertaining and you can hear some passion emerging at the surface, but the main point that hurts is that the songs are somewhat predictable after a while. John Wolf is a great vocalist, but I sometimes miss a more spontaneous way of singing.
Conclusion: This work is a pleasant listening, but I’m convinced this artist can do better.
Best songs: “Erase Me”, “Save Me From The Void”, “Anywhere Out There”, “I Can Feel Every Part”, “Nowhere Train”.
Rate: (7).
Artist: www.yourlifeonhold.com / www.facebook.com/yourlifeonhold
Label: www.solarlodge.de / www.facebook.com/SolarLodgeRecords
About Your Life On Hold
Your Life On Hold is a Gothic rock project from Ostend, Belgium, started in 2017 as the solo vehicle of John Wolf, the stage name of Jan Dewulf, and later expanded into a full band. Dewulf is also known for the Electro-Pop project Diskonnekted. The project’s debut, “Burning For The Ancient Connection,” was followed by “My Name Is Legion For We Are Many,” and then by “Echoes From The Bardo” on Solar Lodge in 2020. During that year Dewulf was also active with Mildreda, signed to Dependent, and contributed music to a Dive album, making 2020 a prolific year across his projects. “Echoes From The Bardo” is the release reviewed here.
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