So often music defines our lives. We hear a song at a moment in our lives that no matter where we are from then on, we immediately recall the memory of when we first heard it each time it reaches our ears. We use songs and their meanings to help evoke how we are feeling when we might be unable to express them ourselves. We use music to document crowning achievements in our lives. People even name their children after musicians. The influence of music on our lives is never-ending. Even after a band has run its course their music will live on forever.
No Past No Present No Future is an all-encompassing collection of the recordings from Last Lights, whose vocalist Dominic Mallary passed away tragically late last year. Contained here are the band's demo recording, material from their seven-inch releases, and one instrumental song. These songs serve as the perfect documentation of art in musical form.
The recordings from the demo lead off the record: three songs that are unrelenting in their intensity, but also their beauty. The heartfelt lyrical writings of Mallary are perhaps what allowed this band to stand out from the get-go and grow into a force that so many instantly felt a connection with - read along just amplifies the impact on the music. Jesse Menard and Andrew Nordstrom serve up a caustic fury of frenzied and jagged guitars with a punk-based rhythm section of Rich Davis and Jesse Conway providing the backbone. Promises of great things to come were hinted at on these songs.
The four songs from their self-titled 7" follow and continue with an energy that is hard to match. The band continued to evolve their volatile hardcore sound by incorporating more rhythm-based riffs into their structure. In addition they also were reverting to an early 80's hardcore approach at times with a simplification of structure and sound. It's ironic that they could grow by incorporating what many to consider dated hardcore measures into their songwriting. But they did, and it worked perfectly.
Last Lights' continued development is showcased on the three songs from their split recording with Bad Habit. These three songs also feature new drummer Patrick Murphy. "Love + Rent" is a noisy dirge of hardcore that moves at a droning pace while Mallary vents on the mic. "Bourgeois Blues" boasts a nice grove, reminiscent of The Hope Conspiracy thanks to rock-influenced riff that drives the song. "Destroy What Destroys You" could be the best song Last Lights ever wrote. It's combination of hardcore punk and rock and roll fury rivals the best output of American Nightmare; and that's no easy feat.
The four-minute instrumental "Sink" closes No Past No Present No Future out. It is an ominous and haunting piece that showcases the band's talents as songwriters. So often with music (of any genre) the vocals become the focus - not that there is anything wrong with that - never giving the instrumentals the spotlight they deserve. And while you listen to "Sink" you appreciate what the rest of Last Lights has written
but you also try and place Mallary's vocals over the top, wondering what it might have sounded like
The lyrics that Mallary penned are amongst the most sincere and honest that I've read in years. As the music played and you read along, you could actually hear the feeling in every word uttered. In "The Bourgeois Blues" he belts out:
We grew up in the decline / Cursed to the core / Massachusetts is a coffin / I was born in a corpse / Let the cold rain drown the cold crowd downtown / I've got the bourgeois blues / Spread the news around / I'm not fucking around / We're not fucking around.
No Past No Present No Future is a spectacular release that compiles together all the recordings from Last Lights for those that might not have had a chance to collect them the first time around. It's unfortunate that these will be the only recordings from Last Lights as there was so much potential within the group. But I feel that if we listen to these songs and they have any sport of impact on our lives - not matter how large or small - then the members of Last Lights will have accomplished more than they ever thought when they originally formed this band.
