A Life Once Lost

A Life Once Lost makes it look easy. The Philadelphia band effortlessly creates contorted melodies, taps out tumultuous beats, and skips from one credible label to another -- or so it seems. First, the band nabbed the eye of Jake Bannan of Converge, one of A Life Once Lost's key influences. He signed the emerging hardcore metal act to his Deathwish, Inc. imprint and released the ferocious A Great Artist. Once the band was ready for a change, Nora front man Carl Severson came knocking -- along with a contract. Sure enough, after getting pointers from Bannan, the band released its disc Hunters on Severson's Ferret Music. With Hunters, the band continued to build on its spastic sound, which is often likened to Dillinger Escape Plan, filled with nonstop guitar shredding. Turns out, though, that none of this came easily. A Life Once Lost just figured out how to catch the attention of the hardcore nobility: hard work.