AGNOSTIC FRONT
My Life My Way
Nuclear Blast
8 / 10 Track listing:
01. City Street
02. More Than a Memory
03. Us Against the World
04. My Life My Way
05. That's Life
06. Self Pride
07. Until the Day I Die
08. Now and Forever
09. The Sacrifice
10. A Mi Manera
11. Your Worst Enemy
12. Empty Dreams
13. Time Has Come
When vocalist Roger Miret is singing about fighting, struggling, and surviving on "these city streets" during the opening track to "My Life My Way", you can bet your ass that it's the truth and nothing but the truth. That authenticity of street toughness and steely resolve is what has made every AGNOSTIC FRONT album since that ancient decade of the '80s so authentic. Well, that and some awfully damn catchy anthems of hardcore aggression, a pairing of qualities that has taken on a renewed energy and consistent delivery during AGNOSTIC FRONT's continuing run on Nuclear Blast. The only place from which it has ever come is straight from Miret's gut and right out of Vinnie Stigma's amplifier. It is as apparent as ever on "My Life My Way".
Perhaps an even more consistent effort than 2007's "Warriors" (it's a tossup at this point),"My Life My Way" is little more than what you'd come to expect from a 21st Century AGNOSTIC FRONT album. That's great news for fans since — much like SICK OF IT ALL — the NYHC legends have ably retained a hardcore approach with just enough metallic sprinkles and songwriting variety to keep each album fresh, relevant, and reliably spirited. The highlights are many, but there is something about the frantic HC fury of "That's Life", which is packed into one minute and nineteen seconds, that in many ways defines the AF madness method; the pacing, the lyrics, the brief breakdown, and Miret's classic shout of "Stigma!" is collectively as pure as it is powerful.
While the front half of an AF album tends to offer the grand slams ("City Street", "Us Against the World", "More Than A Memory", the title track, etc.),"My Life My Way" never wears itself out from the kind of redundancy that can plague a typical hardcore release. For example, the Spanish-sung "A Mi Manera" is a nice change of vocal pace and, as Miret offers, "is our title track to the Latin hardcore scene," while "Empty Dreams" is definitive AF for its rubbed-raw view into Miret's thing called life.
In other words, "My Life My Way" keeps right on moving through 14 tracks of seamless flow, memorable choruses (gang shouts and all),and lyrics to which you'll actually pay attention. It is an all-cards-on-the-table to approach to NYHC that is 100 percent AGNOSTIC FRONT.
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