Lost to Life is a hardcore band from Dublin, Ireland that I first came across while updating the No Echo 2021 Hardcore Releases playlist on Spotify via their Better Days demo. Last month, the group got added to this year's installment of the playlist thanks to their 2-song Mental Misery release.
"The group was started by ex-members of the band Done Wrong, which disbanded here in Dublin two years ago," vocalist Evan Murphy told me through email a few days ago. "Lost to Life was formed by Nate Kwin (drummer) and Kalem Clarke (guitarist) , who later took me on as their vocalist."
You know I asked Evan who Lost to Life's musical inspiration came from: "As a band, we take a lot of influence from bands such as Merauder, Cold As Life, Bad Seed, All Out War, and Everybody Gets Hurt. Fat riffs, fat breakdowns, and plenty of two steps. And of course a heavy influence from the OGs in Irish hardcore, Frustration."
"Mental Misery speaks about the pain and suffering alot of young men have faced here in Ireland due to mental illness and lack of access to services. The title track has a vocal feature from Ciaran Nolan (ex-Hollow Truth and Flashpoint vocalist). In the vocal feature, he speaks about his experience losing a mate to suicide. An experience a lot of young people here in Ireland have faced."
What's crackin' in and around Lost to Life's homebase of Dublin? "Our local scene has excelled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bitter Pill put out a demo followed by their ridiculously heavy debut EP, Predator Emulating Prey, which led to a weekender for them in UK hitting London and Leeds.
"Goon DHC put out their demo, which is some good fast-paced hardcore with loads of two steps, again showing worship to the OGs Frustration with the inclusion of some heavy mosh parts. Members of Goon then formed Arrogant to satisfy their needs to put out some ignorant beatdowns into the Irish scene. All of the mentioned releases are on all streaming platforms and Bandcamp, too."
Evan is proud of what he and his family in the Irish hardcore community have been able to do despite the lockdowns:
"The Irish scene has really shown that it deserves to be noticed, after releasing such heavy hitters throughout the pandemic...In a time of lock downs and struggle, we all still managed to group together and use hardcore to get us through it, and we have something beautiful to show because of that."
Both Lost to Life releases are streaming everywhere, including Bandcamp.
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Tagged: lost to life
