I think that The Living Fields are one of a kind. Not musically. To be exact musically they remind me of lots of bands. Also their looks and their personality are not unique either. All four members of the band are classic metalhead figures. The unique part for these four musicians is that they have never played all together as a band. And why is that? Well because the guitarist /orchestrator lives in Chicago, the singer lives in London, the drummer resides in Ottawa Canada and the second guitarist is Swedish!!! With the help of modern technology these musicians release the second album of the band entitled “Running Out of Daylight”
I don’t think that anyone can put a label on this release. Those who will hear it will understand what I mean. The bands that came to my mind when I heard the album were My Dying Bride, Therion, Pain of Salvation and on top of that there are some folk elements. In this album I think that anyone can find something that he will like. The thing is, that there are so many “things” that I don’t think that they can evolve in the tracks.
The record starts with the exceptional “Remnant”. The songs’ melody is really brain sticking. The vocals are a mix of growls and clean male vocals. The song moves in heavy/doom rhythms.
The songs do not progress with the help of the guitar riffs. On the contrary the orchestrations with other string organs move the songs forward. The guitars are in the background which makes the songs less “Heavy”. This is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time, because when the growls dominate the not so heavy guitar creates a balance but when the clean vocals arise things begin to sound kind of boring.
The record in its entirety is really good. The band has put lots of their influences in this album and that is a two edged knife. Every fan of music will find something he likes in this album. The thing is that there are so many influences that can’t evolve in the songs and this leads to a lack of coherence in the songs. With two words the album is intense and experimental.