Lack Of Interest - Never Back Down (Take Another Step)

Name: Lack of Interest
Album: Never Back Down (Take Another Step)
Year: 2004
Style: Hardcore, Punk
Similar Bands: non-melodic Life of Agony sections.
"One Word" Review: Power Violence
Based Out Of: Southern California
Label: Deep Six

Never Back Down: Cover & Lyrics
Never Back Down: Back & Record

Lack of Interest (2004)

1. Never Back Down 0:42
2. Unintended 1:07
3. Obstructed View 0:38
4. Not Deserved 0:16
5. Remember Us 0:37
6. Two Parts... 1:01
7. Nan Desuka 0:16
8. Dedicated 0:34
9. Conscience 0:24
10. Mentor 1:13/
11. Deprived 0:51
12. Forgotten Youth 0:47
13. Another Step 0:43
14. Empty Words 0:32
15. Deceit 0:38
16. Glutton 0:48
17. No Values 0:54
18. What's Right 0:29
19. American Psycho 1:30

Album Rating (1-10): 5.0

Members & Other Bands:
Mike R - Vocals
Rick - Vocals

Isaac - Guitar
Chris - Bass

Bob - Drums
Case - Artwork

Unknown-ness: I’ve never heard of this band. From the angry looking drawing on the front, to the eyeball drawing on the back, I honestly can’t tell what to expect. The only conclusion is that all the songs must be very short (19 tracks, and the record is at 45 rpm speed) so it is probably some kind of thrash-punk stuff, maybe like Die Kreuzen. There is no year on it, so I don’t know how to judge it by influential time period. If it is quick hardcore songs like I am guessing it might be, then I will not have much to compare it to, as that is not a genre I know much about.

Album Review: This is an album of songs that are seconds long, so I cannot really write a song per song real time recap. I will write as I listen to it, and describe the whole feel of the records, and pick out the song titles with stand out traits.

Fuzzed guitars start the album, then which change into start/stopping guitars and drums to match the urgency. The vocals remind me of the non-Keith Caputo vocals from LoA. They are deep, angry, and barely there at the same time, buried down slightly below the volume of the instruments. In fact, a lot of the combined sound reminds me of the less melodic Life of Agony sections. And that is nearly the limit of my comparison ability. At some points the pulsing, piercing onslaught will simmer down to a stomp. I guess those are the welcomed breaks in the pit. “Mentor” has a little more driving melodic-ness than the rest of the stop start anger.The second side picks up as if nothing has happened. The songs feel like they are unfinished middles of songs to my uninformed-hard-core ears. The songs definitely know how to harness that inner turmoil and frustration (even creating it where it is not) and bring it out in musical form. The urgency and mental release that these songs bring/create are definitely an art form that can tap into a conflicted teenager’s soul. “Glutton” has a very heavy melodic start that it gives up on only to revisit at the end, like a set of bookends. The last and longest song has what feels like a long instrumental section that is repetitive and as always, heavy on the personal burden.

I can truly see value in this music, but that is not to say that I would pick it up to listen to. It would get me pumped before some kind of sporting contest, and I would have even thought about applying this before a first date. But it does nothing special or ear catching for me, and I would not be able to pick this band out of a line-up of similar bands. So it comes across as average to my untrained ear.

Stand Out Track: "Glutton"

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