Dakota Dufloth, bassist and vocalist David Knox, guitarist Brandon Banton, and drummer Joel Riley. I recently acquired their debut full-length for Rise Records, Only Forever. After listening to the entire album, I think the band has a lot of potential, but they didn’t quite show it off in this release.

 

In my opinion, the first song on an album is the equivalent to meeting someone for the first time: the first impression means everything. Unfortunately, the opening song, “Better Off,” did not impress me. Right off the bat, it sounds like a Sleeping With Sirens song. It’s got a great sound - fast paced, post-hardcore instrumentals paired with quality vocals - but there’s nothing too special about it. It does have a well-placed piano to accentuate the chorus, which has pretty catchy lyrics. Regardless, it didn’t pull me in.

 

A song from this album I did enjoy, though, is “Only Forever.” My favorite lyric from this album is actually from this song: “And you can bury me, but you’ll never bury my words.” The lead guitar during the verses is pretty good, too. Honestly though, the song is only good in the sense that it sounds like every other post-hardcore song I’ve ever heard. It’s alright to have influences, but a good band makes themselves stand out somehow. Alive Like Me doesn’t really do that.

 

Another song that stuck out was “Never Looking Back.” I’m a sucker for slow, motivational songs with chanted gang vocals, and this song gave me exactly that. This is one of the few songs on the album that impressed me with its lyrics, my favorite being “We stand together with strength and numbers/Side by side, we are storm they can’t control.” I do think the voice effects were a little overused, but besides that, it’s great for a singalong with your friends.

 

Overall, I enjoyed the album, but I feel like it could’ve been better. It was lacking in its originality, but I believe this band has the potential to make some game-changing music. I’ll definitely keep my ears out for them, though. If they can find a sound that distinguishes them from the rest of the post-hardcore sheep, they could be my next favorite band.