Open Your Mouth For the Speechless by A Life Once Lost (CD, Apr-2005, Robotic Empire Records)

Having personally watched this band grow over the years, I couldn't be more proud to write this review. The long out-of-print debut full-length CD from Philadelphia's A Life Once Lost is finally available once again, all remastered with bonus tracks and new artwork. Open Your Mouth For The Speechless... was ALOL's groundbreaking first step towards becoming one of the most respected names in the metallic hardcore community. This album has been reissued as an excellent way to document the band's evolution, debuting here with a dominating speed/grind and mosh oriented approach to their infectious and intimidating blend of metal and hardcore. This original lineup (including Vadim of This Day Forward on guitar) showcases an innovative young band, and it's highly impressive that this album was created by a bunch of kids fresh out of high-school. To add icing to the cake, two sick demos of classic tracks from The Fourth Plague: Flies EP have been added to the disc, along with a recently recorded live track in the band's hometown of Philly, PA. With a slick new mastering job by Pig Destroyer's Scott Hull at Visceral Sound (Nile, Crowpath, Dying Fetus) and all new artwork by Adam Wentworth (The Black Dahlia Murder, The Red Chord, etc.), this reissue finally does the early incarnation of ALOL some justice and allows the world to hear how these pioneers of technical metallic hardcore started.