So for about a month now, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around Modern Life Is War’s highly-anticipated third full-length Midnight In America. Needless to say, Witness was a landmark album, not only for the band but for modern hardcore. It was a lightning bolt to a scene overrun by complacency. With so many other bands, the next act is always a difficult transition.

Modern Life Is War is yet another great band going through this difficult process. I would by no means call Midnight In America a failure. It’s just a bit, well, tepid. The album is the sound of a band in neutral, unaware of where to take it next. The adventure is a bit frustrating with their third full-length. The album starts off so strong with the blistering “Useless Generation, ” but the track could be a total representation of the album. Halfway through, the song takes a post-John Joseph Cro-Mags-esque direction that sounds very strained and forced.Midnight In America has good parts, simply said. Unfortunely though, the parts do not pick up the slack for the weaker moments that hold the album back. For the incendiary tracks like “Fuck The Sex Pistols” and “Screaming At The Moon,” there’s the directionless numbers like “Stagger Lee” and “These Mad Dogs Of Glory.”The urgency, not the aggression, seems to have taken a breather with the band’s third full-length.

Tags: Album Review, Modern Life Is War //