Witness is the second album released by Iowa hardcore quintet Modern Life Is War, released in 2005 via Deathwish Inc. This is the last M.L.I.W. album to feature Chris Honeck on bass and Matt Hoffman on guitar, as both members would leave the band after the album's release. The album cover was created by Converge singer J. Bannon, and features an image of Main Street, Marshalltown - the city in Iowa where the band members are from - taken in 1896. Building on the success and hype of M.L.I.W.'s previous album, 2003's My Love. My Way., Witness became a watershed record for the band, selling well in hardcore circles and achieving acclaim from numerous music publications and website reviews. It is normally considered the band's finest release. The song "Martin Atchet" is based on Peter Milligan's graphic novel Skin, which revolves around the story of a young skinhead, Martin Atchitson, who grew up in 1970's London with thalidomide-related birth defects. To commemorate its 10th anniversary, Modern Life is War reissued a remastered version of the album with updated packaging and liner notes on June 2, 2015 followed by a nine-date North American tour.
Witness is a good hardcore album. Outstanding tracks are "The Outsiders (AKA Hell Is for Heroes Part I)" and "D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S.". I sometimes find the vocals a bit bleak and unconvincing, but the great instrumental part surely makes up for it.
DEAD RAMONES
I wasn’t expecting much going in since hardcore isn’t usually my genre, but this floored me. Witness avoids the standard breakdown clichés and instead goes for something slower, heavier, and more melodic. That restraint makes the brutality hit harder. The vocals can be a grind and I can see how they’d put people off, but I got used to them quickly. What matters is how much emotion they carry. The lyrics add another dimension. Songs like Marshalltown capture small-town frustration, anger, and restraint in a way that feels raw but thoughtful. It's personal and political. D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S. is more upbeat and immediate, showing they could step outside the gloom without losing power. At 27 minutes it’s the perfect runtime: intense, emotional, and over before the weight of it wears off. I ended up loving this far more than I expected. 4,5*
Awww the boy with the microphone needs a cuddle.
Yawwwwn.....really? Can they not employ their talents to something other than this tired rehashed genre. Without a vestige of originality or skill.
It's hardcore, but a bit more wall of sound in the music-part of it
Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Dead Ramones, Young man blues
Screamy emo punk. I consider myself to be a fan of that kind of music, but this was just kinda alright. Better stuff out there.
An interesting yet quick album. Overall this was okay!
Short and sweet. I'm not much of a metalhead, but the music was good. Couldn't catch much of the lyrics.
That's definitely some more hardcore. I don't know. Like punk, I think it is fundamentally anachronistic past a certain point, and that point for hardcore is, you know, the Eighties. Thrash thrash, shout shout. Within these constraints this is very solid, and as a bonus very succinct.
Solid bit of hardcore punk
This is decent hardcore. Although I'm not a huge hardcore punk fan I liked it. Perhaps wouldn't have gotten much further if it wasn't relatively short though. 3.
Add one more to my list of I enjoyed this. Thought it was a good record but I’d love to hear from the person who put this on the list the why behind adding it. Other than being a good record what pushed it over the top to be 1000 to hear record. Because I thought it was good. I enjoyed it. But I feel I’m missing something that others have seen.
This kind of reminded me of something good (Rise Against) but it wasn't that.
Lots of passion, but not something I enjoy much.
Midwest hardcore from the 2000s. This was about what I was expecting it would be. It was fine.
Hardcore punk, melodic hardcore. Demasiados gritos... Un 2.
Just a bit angry for my Monday morning commute
thrash metal bs.
Why put shite like this on the list??