UMUR
"Innocents" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, Boston based alternative rock/metal act Only Living Witness. The album was released through Century Media Records in December 1996. Only Living Witness was a rather shortlived act (formed in 1989) and only released two albums in the nineties (and a couple of demos prior to that) before disbanding (This one and "Prone Mortal Form (1993)". "Innocents" was released after the band had split up). They were actually relatively successful while they existed, and generally received positive criticism from reviewers back then.
The music on "Prone Mortal Form (1993)", was a heavy and energy pumped alternative rock/metal style in the vein of Life of Agony and especially the heavier parts of Alice in Chains. On "Innocents" I still think the Life of Agony reference is valid, but not so much the Alice in Chains reference. Instead I hear a lot of references to an act like Stone Temple Pilots. So "Innocents" is not quite as heavy or energetic as "Prone Mortal Form (1993)".
The musicianship is still excellent and lead vocalist Jonah Jenkins is still a force to be reckoned with, so all is well in that department. The sound production is not as powerful and genereally a bit more polished that the sound production on the predecessor, but it´s still a professional and well sounding production. Overall "Innocents" is another quality release by Only Living Witness, but compared to "Prone Mortal Form (1993)" I´d say it´s slightly less interesting. Maybe I miss the raw power of the debut album and find the more dynamic songwriting on "Innocents" too "mature". A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.