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One of the first things to strike me with this album is the contrast of its title with that of the band’s previous album (“Show Me How To Live”, of 2011). Indeed the music sounds deceptively optimistic because bitterness and intransigence seem to be the prevalent emotions within the album’s lyrics. But now onto the music…..

 

“A Life To Die For” is a typical Royal Hunt album with music full of gorgeous keyboard-based melodies, upfront backing vocals and a sound with roots in Classic Rock. The first few tracks failed to ruffle my enthusiasm but when ‘One Minute Left To Live’ came on, things started taking a turn for the better. ‘Sign Of Yesterday’, for instance, has a great melancholic feel to it and the title-track is a brilliantly-written song – an instant Royal Hunt classic in fact. Once again DC Cooper’s voice seems to have an innate connection with this style of music. Not only that, but he really sounds in peak form…as is evident, for example, in the title-track where his singing is as powerful as it is technically remarkable. “A Life To Die For” also seems to have more pronounced guitar solos (courtesy of Jonas Larsen) which was something else I really liked.

 

So, despite a dubious start, “A Life To Die For” turns out to be an excellent release even though it doesn’t reach the heights of Royal Hunt’s preceding album. ‘Sign Of Yesterday’ opens with the lyric: “We’re looking for changes but what if there’s no more left to find”. In a way, this is an apt jibe about the album’s music: why change a winning formula?

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