Albums are a truly interesting facet of music. They are essentially a collection of songs that create a statement when listened to in whole. Albums can express moods of happiness and pure joy, or of sadness and even anger. They focus on connecting songs by repeating common lyrical and musical themes, and they can bring an exciting quality to life. Albums can be a very powerful part of a person's life, and this is clearly shown with Have a Nice Life's 2008 debut "Deathconsciousness."
To start with, the vocals and lyrics of "Deathconsciousness" show the immense power of the album in numerous ways. The vocals are mixed in a low-pitched, indecipherable way where the listener will not be able to fully understand what is being sung in a particular song. The vocals meld into the instrumentation and melodies to create an unclear, out-of-body experience that adds a beautiful, almost holy mood to the album. The lyrics of "Deathconsciousness" are of an extremely depressing and hopeless mood, and they communicate images of unrelenting despair. The lyrics paint an aural picture of tragic, discomforting scenes that are bleak in their insistence and gloominess.
Next, "Deathconsciousness" also has extremely fascinating instrumentation. Much of the album has a huge, murky sound that combines the instruments into a hollow, but overpowering force that commands the listener. "Deathconsciousness" can be gentle and tame one minute, and it can be harsh and fuzzy the next minute. The drums are loud, plodding beats that are repetitive and oddly hypnotic, and the album turns into an aural diary of a strange, alien world that takes the listener into cavernous territory.
Additionally,"Deathconsciousness" is lengthy and extremely ambitious. Much of the album has slow, lengthy songs with drawn-out instrumental sections that take a long time to develop. More than half of "Deathconsciousness"'s songs cross the five or six minute mark, and the album has an 80+ minute runtime. Songs such as "Bloodhail", "I Don't Love" and "Earthmover" are massive tour-de-forces that are emotionally taxing and full of details for the listener to lose themselves in. "Deathconsciousness" is a massive undertaking that shows the considerable breadth of talent that Have a Nice Life possesses, and it also demonstrates how rock music can be a gigantic, overwhelming force of nature.
In conclusion, "Deathconsciousness" shows how albums can be powerful in their own right. The vocals are ethereal and difficult to decipher, and the sad, often despairing lyrics communicate feelings of misery and darkness. The instrumentation turns the album into a foggy adventure that is cinematic in nature, and "Deathconsciousness" is extended and far-reaching in its goals. In general, "Deathconsciousness" is a difficult, but highly intriguing album that requires many listens to decipher its interesting musical world. "Deathconsciousness" is an impressive debut from Have a Nice Life, and it is a stand-out release from the 2000s.
