is LOVE alive ? – Second to none

is Love Alive
Second To None
September 18,2020
50:16

They were for me one of the great new discoveries of last year. “Is LOVE alive?” from the Ruhr area. At the time I rated the outstanding debut “Final Journey” with nine points. One year later, the German doomers released the follow-up “Second to none”. The quartet has meanwhile become a quintet. Homecomer Felix Kramer plays lead guitar and piano. Denny Gabriel recorded and mixed the album in the Werner Wiese Studio in Werne. The songs were then given the finishing touches in Los Angeles by Mike Wells. On my dissecting table, the band now have to prove that they were able to maintain the high level of their predecessor.

Sacred sounds as an intro (“Principium”) before the album really starts with “Follow The Smoke”. The riffs bang out of the speakers, the pace is high. A song like Epic Doom. The guitars are tuned lower, the drums are booming, but sometimes sound a bit tinny. And I already liked the voice of Anne Brandenburg on the debut. Thanks to the rhythm and melody changes, there is also a slightly proggy touch. A great guitar solo rounds everything off at the end. The transition to melancholy “Social Jetlag” is seamless. Dark riffs determine the sound. And even the singer seems to have tuned her voice a little lower. Amazing. This is followed by the wonderful piano ballad “Untouchable”. Anne varies her singing here again. Her voice sounds almost fragile. Unfortunately, this song is a bit short, only 02:18 min. Bass and rhythm guitar then lead “Cooptation” before the melodically catchy vocals begin. Later there is a veritable firework of guitar solos. The two guitarists literally throw the balls to each other. The drums bang and the bass thunders. At the end the musicians almost swing into high-speed metal realms. Is “Narcissistic Illusion” still Doom? Just as the band is rocking out here, you can let you can headbang on this song. Especially with the Speed Metal middle section, again characterized by the twin guitars. On this album, too, is LOVE alive ? can’t resist an instrumental interlude. But “Autumn’s Rise”, dominated by acoustic guitars, fits better into the overall concept of the album than “Purple Starship Blues” at the time. As with its predecessor, the band is sailing again in the Black Sabbath fairway with “Third Eye”. Hard riff walls, booming drums are reminiscent of the pioneers of Doom Metal. Here, too, the band varies the rhythm and melody. At the very end, the musicians cut out a truly monumental work. “Narcotic Sleep” has more than nine minutes of playing time. After the soothing spherical sounds at the beginning, the guitars and drums set in no less calmly. But shortly afterwards the pace goes on, Epic Doom can be heard. And the band has an ace up its sleeve, the use of the flute, a mixture of Ian Anderson (everyone known from Jethro Tull) and Bernd Aust (certainly less known from the GDR band electra).

I have to admit, my expectations of the second is LOVE alive? were very high. But it has managed to keep the band the level loose, so to put even gained a lot. The musicians are not willing to commit themselves to one trend in this genre. So with “Second to none” they present us an album that covers (almost) the entire spectrum of Doom Metal. A real gem.

Lineup:

Thomas Pieper – Guitars
Sascha Sievers – Bass
Felix Kramer – Guitars
Falko Bröggelwirth – Drums
Anne Brandenburg – Vocals

Track list:

• Principium
• Follow The Smoke
• Social Jetlag
• Untouchable
• Cooptation
• Narcissistic Illusion
• Autumn´s Rise
• Third Eye
• Narcotic Sleep