The L.I.F.E. Project is a collaboration between Josh Rand, guitarist and songwriter of Stone Sour and Paralandra vocalist Casandra Carson. With Stone Sour on a hiatus with Corey Taylor off doing his solo stuff, Rand returned to the studio to do what comes naturally. With Carson he found another versatile lead and The Life Project was completed.
The band kicks things off with a hint of Nu Metal on the intro of opener ‘Ignite’ A track you get to hear Carson’s lung busting vocals that work so well with the heavy guitar work. The track rocks and you can’t help but be dragged along head bobbing along. With a scorching guitar solo the track is on fire.
A military drum beat and a planet starting riff on ‘Purgatory’ drop into an arena sized track with a huge riff to challenge Carson’s brutal Rock Goddess performance as she lays down dirty verses with floating majestic choruses. The production is second to none with the guitar sounding particularly awesome.
The bands first single ‘The Nothingness’ explodes straight off the staring blocks with a thunderous riff. Carson sounds fierce on this track as she belts out the chorus. A nod to the drumming on this track too with the blazing drum track thats laid down.
A slight change on ‘Worthwhile’ as Rand turns to piano and synths as the pace slows down and a smokey voiced Carson tackles a sweet love song. Verging on pop at times the drama and tension is held in the piano and drumming underneath the prowess of Carson’s truly epic vocals.
The metal is back with a rousing drum roll and frantic riffing on closing track ‘A World On Fire’. Rock Goddess is back to with the fast paced verses so slight refrain on the bridge before the vocals fly on the chorus. The track twists into a rock epic as piano backs a long drawn out middle section before Rand opens his guitar trick bag once again.
The EP is an interesting introduction to the Life Project. Their brand of female fronted hard rock sounds refreshing as its heavier than most and and all the elements fit together exceptionally well. The project doesn’t bring anything new but what it does bring is nothing short of exceptional.
Rands guitar work has many branches to it. From detuned nu-metal style riffing to futuristic soling on ‘Ignite’ to more traditional shredding on ‘Purgatory’. Where as ‘Worthwhile’ gives a glimpse into the bands songwriting ability showing that they are not all pedal to the metal hard rock. Rand also chose wisely with Carson. Her ability to sing is only half of it as it’s the way her vocals and style fit around the heavy guitar work of Rand really cements this band.
Check out the video for track Purgatory, below:
Find out more via the bands Website or Facebook
Purchase the EP here
