Release Date: 5 August 2008
Song Count: 11
Duration: 29 minutes, 4 seconds
Rating: 6.6/10
Description:
Song Count: 11
Duration: 29 minutes, 4 seconds
Rating: 6.6/10
Description:
Hopping from one metal subgenre to another, here is an older pull from a band from Massachusetts by the name of Ligeia - named after the short story by Edgar Allan Poe. This four-man metalcore band was active throughout most of the 2000's and very early 2010's (with one hiatus in-between) before ceasing to make music on a large scale in 2011, and Bad News is the second of two full-length albums they released throughout this time, both under Ferret Records. What's left of the shorter lifespan of this rather niche band is music that embodies the spirit of alternative metal that was becoming increasingly popular at the time, both in terms of what it revolved around and its musical identity.
Singing about heartbreak, sexual intimacy, alcohol & drug abuse and all things entailing that sort of lifestyle with both screaming and clean vocals, the album is a representation of common earthly troubles that circled the narrative of many alternative metal acts and their music at the decade of its release. Both tracks that go all in on heavy guitars and maximum energy as well as those that take it more slowly - "Heroin Diaries" being the primary example - are put together into one package of short yet impactful length to convey their highly modern stories to their listener-base. There is furthermore a sense of pride taken in the slightly less refined production of the whole project, giving it a strong self-made, underground feeling effect and leaning into its exclusivity as a result of not being a highly popular work.
If criticisms have to be pointed out with Bad News, it could be argued that the lyrical contents potentially fall on the overly crude and sleazy end and that the pacing of some of the tracks lead to them feeling like they end too abruptly without reaching their natural conclusion. That is not to take away from the strengths and appeal of what is essentially a time capsule to 2000's metal music and a glimpse into what has formed the trajectory that later iterations and works of the subgenre have taken. A cheesy and perhaps less tasteful, yet still present enjoyment is to be drawn from the album, and this could certainly fall into the range of those missing times gone past in the world of extreme music. Maybe a Ligeia comeback of some sorts occurring soon could be a pleasant surprise, who knows.