Music Review: Between Here And Lost By Love And Death. Christian Metal Band Fronted By Brian Head Welch Former Korn Lead Guitarist

The debut album cover for Between Here and Lost by Love And Death.

Previously the expert guitarist made his writing, composing, lead vocalist and solo debut under his solo “Head” moniker, a band known as “Save Me From Myself” (same title as his autobiographical book), where he released a solo Christian metal project that was extremely well received.

Head’s solo debut album cover wallpaper.

Songs from Head’s Save Me From Myself album included hits like Flush, Money, Die Religion Die, L.O.V.E., Adonai and (my personal favorite), Washed By Blood. Every song was a powerful statement of a man who had lost it all while making it big; having all his dreams come true, only to lose his very soul in the process. However that man would be reborn after finding Jesus Christ and the love of God, which surpasses all human understanding and healed him of his drug abuse.

From left Bassis Michael Valentine, Vocalist/Guitarist Brian Head Welch, Drummer Dan Johnson, Lead Guitarist JR Bareis.

Now Brian is back, joining many of his bandmates from his solo project, who have formed a new Christian metal band called “Love & Death”, signed to Tooth & Nail Records (arguably the greatest Christian label ever, a perfect home for Head). This band returns Brian to the sound he established in Korn and Save Me From Myself, while offering a full-length album of 11 songs.

The album is a great one, although fans of Head may be a bit disappointed that many of the songs will be very well familiar to those who have been listening to Brian since Save Me From Myself and have thus already heard no less than four of these songs via youtube (Chemicals, Paralyzed, Whip It and The Abondoning). Which brings the total down to 7 new tunes *sigh*. It’s a great album however, if you’re a fan of Brian or especially if you’ve never heard his stuff before, then definitely BUY THE ALBUM!

Absolutely awesome.

Here is my song-by-song breakdown:

1. The Abondoning – Right off the bat Love & Death grip you with this POWERFUL, emotional song. The lyrics are written from the vantage point of someone who has given up on themselves, but is looking for God to save them. “Master Master Save Me” This song is a fantastic song, it’s both heavy and extremely melodic. And starts off the album on a high note. I had already heard this song before reviewing the album however, so it definitely lost a bit of it’s impact that this powerful song will have on those who are hearing it for the first time. For them this will surely be a masterpiece, although I must say the latter portion of the song is a bit weaker with no real substance to it. Even still this is a great song.

Here is the official lyric video for The Abondoning:

2. Whip It (featuring Matt Baird of Spoken, Devo Cover) – This song is absolutely awesome. It really shows off how heavy Love & Death can be and how amazing Brian Head Welch’s deep vocals are. His “Now Whip it, WHIP IT GOOD” has an extreme forcefullness that really brings this song to life. Another winner. This song made its debut on Love & Death’s “Chemicals EP”, a 4-song disc that preceded the full-length Between Here & Lost LP album’s release.

Here is the Chemicals Love & Death EP Whip It Song Video.

3. Watching the Bottom Fall – The first new song for me from this album that I hadn’t heard before. This is another heavy song that starts off really strong. I enjoy the lyrics and the way they are played in this song (with two opposing viewpoints speaking to each other). This song gets really heavy after the first two verses but has a nice pacing to it; and I love the title phrase “Watching the Bottom Fall” which just sounds awesome. Another great song.

4. By the Way – A really cool beat starts this sound off, and it’ll definitely remind fans of Brian and his old Korn material. This song is definitely the strongest yet, the lyrics are powerful and the music is fantastic. Brian also stretches his vocals into new territory on this song and sings in more varied ways.

5. Meltdown – I wasn’t sure if I liked this song or not, but there is an amazing, touching, beautiful section near the end of the song that completely 100% redeems it. From chaos to the light…. Amazing. I’ll have to give this one a few more listens before I judge it. It also ends on an extremely awesome note that’s straight-up bad ass metal.

6. My Disaster – Absolutely AWESOME. The music in this song is freakin’ crazy. This song is probably my favorite so far. This song just has awesome music straight through.

7. I W8 4 U (feat. Mattie Montgomery of For Today)- Did I say the last song had crazy music? The intro for this song is insane. I absolutely love the heavy chorus for this song. Once again Brian’s vocals are awesome, although I don’t like his slow, kind of whispery voice sections on this song. That’s the only downside though. Once the “Fed Up” part comes in, the song goes absolutely bonkers and I love it. The drumbeat at that section is really cool. “Burning, bleeding, dying I WAIIIIIITTTTT!!!!!!!!” So awesome.

8. Fading Away – The music is really cool in this song but par for the course. This song didn’t do anything for me.

9. Paralyzed – Absolutely love this song. I had already heard it a ton though so I can’t judge it. It’s great however and Brian rocks out like no other. This was the song that proved to the world that Brian Head Welch was BACK. The music is absolutely rockin and the lyrics are great. The growl that erupts out of Brian at the bridge is absolutely EPIC with a capital E. “Death. Before. I. Give. Dis. Honor. Death. Before. I. Dis. Obey. DISOBEYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Here is the official Paralyzed Love & Death HD Music Video.

10. Chemicals - This song is great as well, the music from the opening absolutely kills. And the lyrics are some of the best on the album. I absolutely love the lyrics at the end, “I’m not a criminal / I HATE THE CHEMICALS!” The lyrics overall are amazing and the mixing is excellent. If you haven’t seen the music video definitely check it out. This song was old hat to me as well so it’s hard to judge it. It is awesome however and I actually prefer the sound of the studio song to the music video, as it sounds a bit different with the way its mixed with some parts having more impact and less stops.

Here is the official Love & Death Chemicals Music Video.

11. Bruises – A masterpiece. Worth the price of admission alone. This song has so many different varying vocal styles and pacing, from really light and whispery to heavy and in between. An absolutely fantastic end to a great album, you could consider this the only “slow song” or ballad on the album. Don’t miss it!

Overall it’s a great album. It’s not a masterpiece by any stretch, but it’s got some awesome music. I definitely recommend you go out and buy it! :)

Thanks to Tooth & Nail Records for providing me with a review copy of this awesome album.

Previous Album Reviews:
8. I AM By Becoming the Archetype (Posted: September 14th 2012)
7. Find Your Worth Come Home By To Speak of Wolves (Posted: May 25, 2012)
6. Celestial Progression (Remix Album) By Becoming the Archetype (Posted: May 21, 2012)
5 Return to Life By War of Ages (Posted: April 28, 2012)
4. The End Is Where We Begin By Thousand Foot Krutch (Posted: April 20, 2012)
3. Dangerous by KJ-52 (Posted: April 16, 2012)
2. Fighter By Manafest (Posted: April 15, 2012)
1. True Defiance By Demon Hunter (Posted: April 10, 2012)