Idle Heirs – Life Is Violence (Review)

This is the debut album from US post-metal band Idle Heirs.

Featuring the singer of Coalesce, Life Is Violence brings us a 51-minute journey into absorbing post-metallic worldbuilding. It’s well-written, professionally executed, and passionately delivered.

Life Is Violence provides the listener with a beguiling mix of fragile vulnerability and soaring devastation. The music is expressive and nuanced, as are the vocals, and the two conspire to craft songs that make a mark.

Despite the album title, Life Is Violence is made up of multiple different components, not just aggressive ones. The songs are soundscapes of post-metal expression, with evocative highs and immersive lows. There is delicacy and subtlety, heaviness and aggression, and frequently a world of overlap and blending of the two.

Both dark and uplifting, the music is affecting and textured. There are a variety of sounds and feelings explored, all carefully tied up with a signature post-metal sound that allows Idle Heirs the freedom to do what they wish. When they want to go all introspective and post-rock, they do so with graceful intricacy. When they want to explode into crushing doom heaviness, they do so without holding back. This is enriched in places with electronics and other instruments that add layers of interest and depth. Top this off with a mix of vocals and vocal styles, and you have a very strong record overall.

Heavily atmospheric, but also gratifyingly heavy, Life Is Violence is a well-rounded album. The record takes me back to a couple of decades ago, to when there was an abundance of now-classic post-metal albums unleashed on the world. It has a timeless feel, that’s concurrently of the past and the present. Idle Heirs are very much a contemporary creation, yet they have learned well from the genre greats and fused this knowledge into nine tracks that speak with a coherent, characterful voice. It’s only Idle Heirs’ first album, but they have a well-developed personality already.

If you’re a fan of bands such as Amenra, Beneath a Steel Sky, Bossk, Cult of Luna, Fall of Efrafa, Isis, Light Bearer, Moanaa, Obscure Sphinx, The Ocean, etc. then this is one not to miss.

Essentia listening.