ONLY LIVING WITNESS — Prone Mortal Form (review)

ONLY LIVING WITNESS — Prone Mortal Form album cover Album · 1993 · Alternative Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Prone Mortal Form" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Boston based alternative rock/metal act Only Living Witness. The album was released through Century Media Records in May 1993. 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 "Innocents (1996)". The latter 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" is hard rocking alternative metal in the vein of Life of Agony and especially Alice in Chains. There´s a slight hardcore edge to their music when it´s most hard edged and raw, but that´s not a dominant element in their sound. Lead vocalist Jonah Jenkins has a rather distinct voice and his vocal melodies are often not instantly memorable. So although this is pretty regular vers/chorus based music, the choruses are not always sing along friendly from the get go. In other words the music requires a few spins to sink in, but in this case that´s a positive, as those melody lines have a longivity to them that you don´t often find.

The 10 tracks on the 35.57 minutes long album are for the most part heavy, hard rocking, sweaty and pumped with energy except for the two short instrumentals, "Silo" and "Darkly", which work as little atmospheric breathers on an otherwise busy album. To my ears both could have been developed into "real" tracks and as a consequence could have made "Prone Mortal Form" a more dynamic release. They still do a great job as breathers though.

So the songwriting could have been slightly more dynamic and the vocal melody lines maybe slightly more catchy, but other than that "Prone Mortal Form" is a very impressive debut album by Only Living Witness. The musicianship is top notch, the sound production is razor sharp and powerful, and overall it´s just an album that reeks class. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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