CLAWFINGER – Life Will Kill You

Clawfinger is a Rap Metal band from Sweden. The band is known for an aggressive, but also very melodic sound and anti-racist lyrics. The band started out way back in 1989. Their first demo release gained them a whole lot of attention and Clawfinger got their record deal (MGV), and their first record Deaf Dumb Blind was released in 1993 and sold 600.000 copies worldwide. Clawfinger went out on tour, supporting great bands such as Anthrax and Alice In Chains, and since then they have released six more successful albums.

The new album Life Will Kill You is a very strong and powerful release. This record features energetic and quite heavy music as well as melodic and moody music.

The title track “Life Will Kill You” is good indeed. It’s very rigid and heavy. The guitar riff is very cool. Sometimes during the verse it sounds very Industrial-inspired. A rough vocal dominates the song, especially during the verse where it’s only drums and vocals.

“Prisoners” is another energetic and heavy song. The guitar riff blows the roof of and the foundation in drums/bass is made of stone. The refrain is more melodic and the vocalist sings instead of the yelling kind of way to sing

“None The Wiser” is an outstanding song. The riff is just delightful listening. Really heavy, you can’t avoid feeling the beat all the way into your heart. The vocals are chimerical on this one as well, full of energy and intensity, and the guitars are powerful and raw! Towards the end, this track becomes more obstinate. It’s just awesome!

The next track is a very nice song. It starts out very beautifully with a more mysterious keyboard intro. After a while, a distant choir and drums come in. The male vocals sound a little weird at times, but all in all he does a fine job.

“Little Baby” features a female singer as well, and her voice is beautiful. A cello joins in after a while; quite excitingly so, actually. At last the band comes in with heavy guitars and pounding drums. It’s a bit Symphonic and so intense and heavy. “Little Baby” is indeed without doubt one of the highlights on this record.

The music does never get boring during any of the 11 songs because the tunes have the habit of staying dissimilar. Actually, there are no weak moments on this album. Clawfinger is one of those Rap Metal bands that really make an interesting variation in their music. The production of this record is also very good. Not overproduced, but they give the songs the rough and heavy expression they deserve, as well as a melodic sound. This album should definitely be good listening for those that are particularly into Rap Metal or Nu-Metal. Even those that are fond of Melodic Metal shouldn’t deny giving this one a chance. “An awesome album” is the right characterization of this record.