Extra Life – Made Flesh (2010)

Man can will nothing unless he has first understood that he must count on no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth.



The idea of a conscious being, arisen from nothing but a chance gathering of a sperm and an egg, gathering matter and molecules that prolong your eternal alteration into the being that you are today, is a strange one. It’s the last venture that religion and the supernatural hold over scientific endeavour, for me anyway. The ability for self-reflection and empathy with other human beings, the plethora of emotional dispositions we enjoy, how come we are anything at all? What makes us different from a rock save subatomic gatherings and vibrations? Its not a surprise science is struggling to give us the answer to this, it’s the last secret of philosophy of mind, explaining subjectivity through an attempted objective science. It is an attempt to explain and understand the very thing that we use to take in, explain and understand the world with. All perception, thought, belief, concepts of truth and scientific objectivity, all stem from our conscious mind. To put it bl
untly, the fact that we are conscious at all, is so insanely peculiar I fail to see how it can ever be explained.

Well, philosophical crap aside, Extra Life’s new ‘sophomore’ (I hate that word, but that’s what they’re plugging it as – why couldn’t they just say matured?) opus, Made Flesh, explores the concepts of birth, life, consciousness and the journey from the cradle to the grave, and throughout the duration of the album, through both a combination of the lyrical content and musical output, I found myself feeling distinctly more and more unsure about myself.
Perhaps this is more a reflection on my education and degree studies, but it has reached a peak where I feel so completely amazed by my position in the world as a conscious being, reflecting on another conscious being’s aural compositions, writing my subjective musings on a publicly available internet blog where other conscious individuals can read and reflect on the same subject matter, that I’ve realised THIS BAND ARE INCREDIBLE. My ramblings and awe at the human condition were a direct result of the sublime beauty this release exudes.

The album is solid, more mournful, delicious guitars and violin work, with the occasional section from some jazz inspired horn work that fits really well against the backdrop of heavy bass and the sudden thuds from the drums. The instrumentation is greatly stepped up, lyrical content is more obvious but Charlie retains his trademark vocal style that I just fucking love. If you enjoyed their first album (posted here), then this will blow your mind. I struggle to adapt Extra Life’s style into any cohesive analysis that I can present to you, but I can’t begin to recommend this enough – go and support.


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Extra Life Official Site

You'll find me in the vast wilderness of British Columbia, talking metal at LURKER, or working in publishing and front-end web/eBook development.

4 Comments

  • Reply February 6, 2010

    excellentsword

    Nice 😀

    But word of warning, they have been taking this off blogs!

  • Reply February 6, 2010

    n.

    a) thanks for all the great music here.

    b) doesn't a 'sophomore' album just mean it's the band's second album?

  • Reply February 7, 2010

    Bile

    Yeah, I think it is used to describe the second album. I just really hate the word, too Americanised for my tastes 😛

  • Reply February 7, 2010

    n.

    hahaha.

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