This European metal band started in 1995 after Marc Kieffer's band, Bloodshed, broke up, and he decided to create Lifeless, a solo project, wherein he writes and plays all of the music. More information on the band's history can be found at the Lifeless home page.
Describing a band's sound by referencing other bands should generally be avoided (I am personally wary of its misuse), but in some cases it can be very helpful. In the case of Lifeless, what you hear could be described, in a broad, general sense, as a cross between the technical math metal of Watchtower or Confessor, and the industrial-tinged death metal of Inner Thought, with heavy jazz influences similar to Cynic. Lifeless does not copy these bands, but if you mix their styles in your mind, you can get an idea of what Lifeless is like.
The music is highly technical with a lot of interesting, drum machine generated beats and technical riffs. Lifeless also makes good use of keyboards and a lot of jazzy bass lines, while rarely entering into a full "jazz break." Vocals are of the growling death metal variety, and sound similar to those on Inner Thought's first album Worldly Separation. Generally, death style vocals accompany death metal, but that is not necessarily the case here. The music has its heavy moments, yet never really dives into the down-tuned chaotic madness of that genre. Though it is an underground release, it is very professionally done. The production is high quality and the mixing is well balanced.
On the downside, this album actually suffers from its highly technical nature, at the expense of good musical songs that touch the emotions. This specific characteristic can also be noted in bands like Watchtower and Confessor. The songs on Forward to Suffering never really go anywhere. They don't take off. They start cool sets of riffs or melodies, and then sacrifice them to the mathematical time changes; one of the things that make these bands so highly technical. Marc Kieffer has some great ideas, and has not forgotten the musical aspect altogether, but the main musical theme here is the creation of complex song structures. Some listeners into this style will not see this as a downside at all.
The lyrics deal with, among other things, humanity's disregard for the Creator and the created, living and dealing with the pain of life, looking within ourselves to find peace and happiness, and the quest for the unknown "missing element" in everyone's life:
The unknown is what we are waiting for,
For each one different, but for each one the same.
The unknown is what we'll find.
The requested something, the expected feeling.
We are all longing for the missing element.
We are all in quest of the missing element.
(from "The Missing Element")
Since the general description of The Phantom Tollbooth is "music from a Christian perspective", I feel that I should mention that this is not a "Christian band." Besides what can be extracted from the lyrics, Marc Kieffer's beliefs are unclear.
While this is not an album that draws me in, it is well played and will be a great addition to many people's metal collections.
3.5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 1998Reviewed by Josh SpencerForward to Suffering is Lifeless's second album and provides a serving of dark music for the thinking man, in the form of mathematical, progressive death metal. Instead of the groove-fests and de-tuned grinding that characterize typical death metal, lighter harmonic rhythms and haunting, almost industrial-sounding keyboards create a work of technical musicianship and dark atmospherics.…Similar sounding releases
1997LamentTears of a Leper
1991TourniquetPsycho Surgery
1995MortificationPrimitive Rhythm Machine
1997Theocracy A.D.Welcome to our Island
1996EraseMental Overload
1998NecromanicideHate Regime
