Originally written by Jeremy Garner
Somehow I doubt I’m alone in this regard, but I consider Light This City to be easily one of the more entertaining American metal acts out there today, eclipsing the competition presented from like minded media darlings Darkest Hour or label mates Through the Eyes of the Dead. In fact, ever since The Black Dahlia Murder dropped the ball on Miasma, underrated bands like Light This City and The Funeral Pyre have wasted no time in proving themselves to be dominating forces within an otherwise mundane and mediocre genre.
Light This City plays a ravenous version of melodic bay area thrash and Gothenburg death fusion with plenty of two steps and rollicking, head banging groove to incite an immediate pit wherever their material is played. They’ve always had this uncanny ability to understand and convincingly apply a large quantity of melody to elevate tracks like “The Unwelcome Savior” to a truly furious level of intensity. But it’s not the melody that really helps them stand out, “Exile” and the like perfectly display the band’s keen ability to intelligibly create a sort of catchy and infectious form of metal that can still pack a healthy punch while not going completely overboard. Facing the Thousand makes short work of forty-five minutes of high quality, heart pounding material easily eclipsing most of their peers.
Whereas their last effort, Remains of the Gods, found its primary strength in the consistency of quality songs, Facing the Thousand is different in the fact that most material is by far a step in the right direction and an obvious progression for the band, there’s more of a fluctuation in quality as some songs just really don’t pack nearly as much of a punch as the other standout tracks like album namesake “Facing The Thousand”. Most of the material towards the end of the album, “The Eagle” and “Fear of Heights” while decent songs in their own right, seem to do little more than slow down the intensity and fill in space till the next standout track.
My only substantial gripe about Light This City is that I can’t properly call them an original band or quite make the call that they manage to meaningfully recreate the style and put their own spin on things. As long as you don’t mind hearing another band that owes their musical identity to Carcass and At the Gates, Facing the Thousand is a substantially enjoyable album that’ll get your adrenaline pumping and your blood running. If you already dig label mates Himsa and All that Remains and you don’t already own this or their previous record you should be absolutely ashamed of yourself. I’m pretty sure this is one the metalcore and death metal fans out there will be able to agree on.
