An Underground Oddity: The Oval Portrait, Life in Death

SCORE: 90/100

Fans of My Chemical Romance are sure to love this post-hardcore project featuring Gerard Way - with The Oval Portrait being a hugely mysterious and somewhat cryptic band due to the huge lack of information on them. 


The fast paced, loud punk sound of this album is hugely unexpected and delightfully inviting - with short-form tracks (apart from a handful of standard length tracks scattered throughout alongside the two minute tracks) and skillful instrumentation, 'Life in Death' manages to be one of the most immersive punk projects I have heard recently despite it being such a massive oddity; sometimes the best things come from bands no one has ever really heard much about. 


'Life in Death' hugely utilizes stellar transitioning between songs and a cohesive sound that makes the entire album flow together in a stunning manner. The songs have enough variety to make them stick out in a lonesome context, but the album comes together so well it's almost impossible to not want to hear the entire thing in one go. The heavier songs like 'Miser of the Human Condition' are the ones that hooked me even more, and the overall sound of the album manages to feel so coherent for a debut that it's hard not to marvel at the quality presented within the album's entirety. 


There's a sense of grit within this album that makes it feel almost like something you would hear at a grimy underground gig, something that very few albums or artists can pull off - especially like this. There's something so hugely original and refreshing about this album that I haven't heard from a project in quite a long time, and it's memorable enough to really sick; which makes it that much more striking that this band has little to no traction despite being around for over two decades (well, this album... not sure where the band went after this album).


The amount of experimentation present within this album is deeply impressive as well, with there even being some straight instrumental work that helps to break up the album into evenly divided segments that make it that much more captivating and cohesive to listen to - the coherency and ability to recognize runtime to keep the album fresh and continuously interesting is something deeply interesting and highly skillful that few bands can pull off properly; but when it's done like it was done here, it's always a treat. 


It's that much more surprising that something with not one, but two songs with Gerard Way featured on them is THIS unknown - seeing how Way is one of the most prominent figures in the emo genre even now. This album manages to feel like an absolute must for any fans of My Chemical Romance - but even fans of full-fledged punk could find many things to love within the entire runtime of this album. It keeps things short and polished while still keeping a very rough edge, something that adds an undeniable and instantaneous level of charm to the album that you can't get anywhere else, and it's a shame that The Oval Portrait didn't stick around for a longer run. 

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