A Life Once Lost is prepared to rock harder than you at the Odeon.

Credit: Ben Breier

 

As I Lay Dying with A Life Once Lost, Norma Jean and Madball Where? The Odeon, Cleveland When? Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. How much? $15 in advance, $17 at the door

“I can promise you one thing; I will haunt you till you die/I can promise you one thing; I will hunt you till you die.”

This is the chorus to the A Life Once Lost song “Vulture.”

Bob Meadows, vocalist for the heavy metal band, said his lyrics are about relationships and life.

“I try to stick to what I know,” he said.

The live show is insane, Meadows said. It is visual, and musically they do things slightly different than what is on the album.

The album, Hunter, is the band’s first release on Ferret Records, and the first release with the current lineup.

“Being able to put out our first CD,” Meadows said, “It’s pretty surreal; it’s dream-like. You don’t understand it until it happens to you.”

Hunter has stronger song structures than the band’s previous releases, he said, and it flows well from beginning to end.

A song comes together after one band member brings in a guitar riff. The rest of the members add their own parts into the song, making it more technical.

If putting out its first album is the best thing to happen to the band since it first started, what is the worst thing?

Losing members, Meadows said, but they had different paths in life – different dreams. He dislikes having blow-outs between current members and former members, letting pride get in the way, but the experiences make good stories.

“You just gotta’ keep truckin’,” Meadows said.

Playing on tour is fun, he said. There are 25 to 30 minutes of playing time, and 23 hours and 30 minutes of driving.

It is hard and grueling, Meadows said, but band members get to see things others only dream of .

It is a strain, he added, but they are starting to reap the rewards of touring.

Meadows doesn’t have a favorite band to tour with – just being on the road and meeting everyone is amazing, he said.

One band A Life Once Lost didn’t get to tour with is Pantera, which is one of Meadows’ big influences.

“I think it’d be pretty cool,” he said. “I think we share a similar take on life.”

Other influences include Black Sabbath, Meshuggah and Tool.

A Life Once Lost sounds like those bands as well as more hardcore bands such as As I Lay Dying.

“I would rather be doing this than anything else, so I’ll do it as long as it lets me,” Meadows said.

Contact ALL correspondent Gabe Gott at [email protected].