Sick City is a Canadian five-piece band making music in the genre of melodic hardcore. The bands drummer is the brother of Comeback Kid front man Andrew Neufeld; clearly the Neufeld family is incredibly musical as both Sick City and Comeback Kid also are absolutely excellent bands. The music created with this ‘Nightlife’ album always is fresh and uplifting; the vocals are simply magnificent and the instrumental side of things also is supremely strong here. The tracks are well constructed, the music is mightily melodious and never does the sound created here by Sick City fail to make me smile.
This is a band with a keen ear for a good melody, right from the offset with opening track ‘Antoinette’ the melodic nature of music hits you and never do the tracks fail to come complete with an absolutely exceptional chorus. Contained within this album is a grand total of thirteen tracks, all of them are fantastic to sing along to and as you listen to ‘Nightlife’ you can’t help but do so. The music possesses a greatly beauteous quality; the guitars and vocals are most impressively constructed in the sound and the drumbeats also are incredibly well worked and powerfully put across.
As the band progresses its way through this album the music never fails to impress, every track here is incredibly well written and the lyrical content of the tracks always is strong. Tracks such as ‘Killing Ourselves to Feel’ and ‘Moving, Not Moving Forward’ do I feel show the bands music at its very best; the music reminds me a little of Armor For Sleep, the music of Sick City packs more of a punch than that of Armor For Sleep but certainly there are some similarities. It’s melodic hardcore and the vocals are extremely softly spoken, the guitar work is greatly powerful however and the cracking guitar riffs do I feel add energy and excitement to the album. Some melodic hardcore bands can be a little too gentle in instrumental approach, this is certainly not the case with Sick City however and always with this album the band is forthcoming in putting forward its hard hitting instrumental sound.
Fans of Paramore will appreciate ‘City Lights’ from this album I feel, throughout the track a second vocal tone can be heard on numerous occasions provided by Karly Simon and the secondary vocals here sound incredibly similar to those of Paramore’s Hayley Williams. ‘City Lights’ is another of the finest tracks from this album, the melodious nature of the music is here highly impressive and the chorus to this one is I feel the best that this ‘Nightlife’ album has to offer. Every track on this album has a brilliant chorus, somehow here the band manages to provide one that is better than ever however and this track therefore stands out strongly on this album.
If you like a good bit of melodic hardcore then you’ll love this ‘Nightlife’ album from Sick City; it’s one of the best albums of its genre I’ve heard in a long while and the album is I feel absolutely flawless. I fail to see how the band could possibly improve upon this release; it will certainly be a test of character in attempting to do so. I’d definitely recommend this album to all, the music is truly beautiful and regardless of your personal musical preference you’ll surely find plenty of enjoyment and delight in this ‘Nightlife’ album. The guitar work is powerful, the vocals are beautiful, and the drumbeats also are hugely hard hitting; in every area this album is excellent and never does the music disappoint here in the slightest. Sick City is most definitely a band to watch out for in the future, the bands music truly is incredible and in the next few years I can see Sick City becoming the new favourite band of many.
Label: Trustkill Records
Release Date: November 19th 2007
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
