LEVELS – This Will Make You Feel Again
LEVELS – This Will Make You Feel Again
Sharptone Records
Release Date: 10/04/26
Review by Jon Deaux
8/10
I’ve stapled things to my own body for laughs. Started a fire on my own body. Ate something off a Tijuana barroom floor that I can hardly mention in print. But — hand on heart, bruised, slightly concussed — nothing has sucker-punched my nervous system quite like what four kids from Central Arkansas have engineered on this record.
I’m sure you’ve been to some concert or heard of some band that promises to be the next big thing. You know, that band that is so full of themselves that they are actually kind of cute. But what you’re not going to get from LEVELS is anything remotely close to that. These guys are like the equivalent of a punch to the gut.
They skip all that nonsense and go right for the jugular. ‘This Will Make You Feel Again’ is not only an album; it’s an experience. It’s like a sonic assault on your poor little ears. It’s like a fever dream that would make Hunter S. Thompson proud if he were dead. These guys aren’t here to sell you on music for your soul. They’re here to take you naked and emotionally bare and throw you right in the middle of a freaking storm.
Kolby Carignan (vocals), Jager Felice (guitar), Jacob Hubbard (bass), and Dalton Kennerly (drums) want you to leave their concerts or listening experience physically exhausted, emotionally shattered, and questioning your life choices. They want you to feel. They want you to experience something. Even if that something is throwing you into the fiery pits of existential crisis. Well, so be it.
The album kicks off with ‘Blue Heaven.’ Well, this isn’t really that kind of blue. It’s more like that bruise kind of blue. It’s like being stabbed with a knife by a bad girlfriend. And you can totally feel that heart attack coming on. It’s like your soul is being grabbed and held hostage. By someone screaming at you to wake up and feel something. By fist-pumping dancefloor-eviscerating chaos. It’s not really something that you listen to when making a sandwich.
And then, it really hits you. ‘Godlike’? If by “godlike” you mean a god who’s a little too enthusiastic about industrial breakdowns and vocal manipulation that will leave your brain twitching in places that didn’t even know they had a switch to flip, then yeah. Kolby’s vocals range from seductive whispers that will charm the devil himself, to guttural screams that will knock your teeth out. It’s like Marilyn Manson and Calvin Harris had a love child who was fed a steady diet of the good parts of Nine Inch Nails and Skrillex, and then thrown in a blender with a couple of gallons of bass and a half-dozen Red Bulls.
And just when you’re thinking that it’s all getting a little too crazy, Death Dance comes along and kicks in to ask you, “What’s your excuse for living now?” It’s dark, it’s sleazy, and it’s seductive in that “we just robbed a bank and are heading to the club” kind of way. It’s not subtle. In fact, this entire album isn’t subtle. Not even a little. If that’s what you’re looking for, then you’re going to have to go somewhere else. Maybe a spa? A nice little retreat in the woods? Where the most aggressive sound is a bird chirping? No? Then stay right here and wallow in angst-ridden bangers that LEVELS are serving up hot and heavy, all while daring you to stop headbanging long enough to think about your life choices.
‘Black Dove’ is precisely what you would expect if you were stuck in a lift with the ghost of David Bowie and a rather angry version of The Prodigy. Jager Felice’s guitar work isn’t just rocking; it’s actually warping the very fabric of space-time itself. The synths are dark, slightly creepy, and reassuringly familiar, like the score to a heist film that’s just a little too slick for its own good. But by the time you get to ‘Fume’, you’ll be doing one of two things: asking yourself “What in the world is going on?” or “I’ve never felt so alive!” or possibly both; probably both, actually; I mean, who knows? Anyway, the point is that LEVELS simply does not give a damn whether or not you’re ready for it; it’s going to give it to you just the same, with or without your consent.
‘Fragile’ drops you off a cliff emotionally, before throwing you back into the fire with a snarl. It’s a song that goes from gentle to descending rapidly into the abyss, where you’re just clinging on by your fingernails in a desperate attempt to stay afloat. But by the time you get to this point in the album, you’re just clinging on for dear life, gritting your teeth in anticipation of what comes next. I just hope it isn’t something that makes you want to toss your speakers out the window in exasperated fury.
And then ‘Feel’ comes along, trust me, it’s very much intentional. They really want you to feel something. It’s a wild rollercoaster ride of industrial rhythms, massive synthesizers, and bass that will literally vibrate your intestines. It’s a song that you can imagine yourself listening to in a dark room full of strangers who all agreed to just let loose and get weird. You can almost imagine yourself surfing through this crowd of people, throwing punches, wondering how in the world you ended up in this situation. But hey, it’s the LEVELS way. Nothing is ever simple. Nothing is ever easy.
By the time you get to ‘Strange Things,’ you’ve already learned that this is not just an album, this is a drug. It’s a twisted, futuristic mindfuck of a song that combines the gritty, grungy guitar riffs that make you want to throw something at the wall with the bouncy, glitchy electronic elements that will make you want to dance like you’ve completely forgotten the concept of time and space. It’s not like listening to a song anymore; it’s an experience. And by this time, if you’re not into it, you might as well just stop listening and give your copy of ‘This Will Make You Feel Again’ to someone else; someone who’s not a coward.
The album comes to a close with ‘The Grave,’ a fitting title since it is at once a funeral dirge and a war cry. There is a feeling of finality that pervades the song, as if LEVELS has put itself on a mountain of emotional rubble and dared the world to fight back against it. It’s the kind of song that would be expected in the final scene of a film in which the soul of the protagonist has been destroyed beyond recognition…and yet, somehow, there’s still a little fight left in the man.
Final Verdict? This WILL Make You Feel… Like you’ve been punched in the face by a band that just doesn’t care about your comfort zones in the least. It’s loud. It’s obnoxious. It’s messy. It’s just generally the kind of thing you’d expect from a band that’s really big on the idea that music is meant to make you feel things, even if it feels like you’ve just been thrown into a wall. So, if you’re looking for something that’s just a little bit more refined and not so likely to drive you insane? Maybe look somewhere else. But if you’re looking for something that’s going to make you feel things you never knew were possible? LEVELS has got you covered.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Blue Heaven
02. Godlike
03. Death Dance
04. Black Dove
05. Fume
06. Fragile
07. Feel.
08. Covert One
09. Strange Things
10. The Grave
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Jon Deaux and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
