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Yet it’s an endearing particularity of hardcore that such familiarity is literally the lifeforce of hardcore fans, who will most likely find everything they need in this par-for-the-course effort. That being said, the band’s adherence to the strict conciseness of traditional hardcore makes it a rather swift, and yes often repetitive, journey. Some of the tracks are resoundingly more muscular on ‘Lost In Life’, ‘Under Your Spell’ has hints of thrash, and there are a couple of rather meaty, and ruthlessly efficient, breakdowns to be enjoyed. The truth is a lot of what comes after represents minor variations on the same basic formula. On the other hand, ‘Wash Away’ is an altogether more convincing beast, as the band transition from groove-heavy intro riffs to more conventional snare-genocide fare with conviction and righteous fury (and some weird-ass, punctual dual vocal work that works great). That particular song is perhaps one of the better examples of how diluted and uninspiring hardcore can get. Nobody likes conformism, but if May ‘68 taught us anything, it’s that revolution should be more thoughtful than a couple of catchy slogans repeated endlessly until they, ironically, breed their own kind of conformity. In fact it’s all fun and games with opener ‘Their Rules’, a mid-tempo cycle of riffs and adolescent slogans. New York outfit Backtrack wander dangerously close to the cusp of being the another nth flavourless hardcore band on ‘Lost In Life’, were it not for some reasonable variety (let’s not kid ourselves, nobody’s claiming to be revolutionizing hardcore) and some genuine fun times. This often leaves a non negligible space for mediocrity to thrive and be celebrated. There seems to be a tacit agreement amongst fans and artists alike that if you can prove your worth working hard on the road and that you can consistently channel a combination of high-intensity energy and riotious anger, you’re more than welcome to bro-down to your heart’s content. And that’s no easy task these days.Hardcore punk is a simple game. Simply put, their sophomore LP is a great achievement for its ability to showcase a hardcore sound that we’ve all heard before without at all sounding rehashed or imitative. Rather, it is Backtrack’s offering of what makes them who they are: smart, ambitious, angry and knowledgeable hardcore kids. Lost in Life is not a young band’s experimentation with new sounds or desire to expand their audience necessarily. Vitalo dispenses with the need to oversaturate the band’s songs with too many vocal lines and wordiness, opting for a sensible pattern that makes for more memorable choruses and, of course, better sing-alongs. The record’s strongest track, “Wash Away,” suggests a brevity of vocal patterns that is present throughout the entire LP. Again, Backtrack does not aim to overstep their hardcore stylings here rather, they simply seem to be polishing a sound that they began cultivating on their previous LP. Similarly, "Still Searching" reinforces a sense of growth and progression making use of those staccato riffs and well-layered guitar tracks, as vocalist James Vitalo carries the song throughout with smart vocal arrangements. However, the sixth track, “Tortured,” reveals the aforementioned musical progression with a mature attention to staccato guitar riffs coupled against a sharply played bass intro. The opening track, “Their Rules,” sets the pace for a record that finds Backtrack honing a hybrid sound of thrash-laden hardcore music largely culled in the late-eighties New York hardcore underground and revived in the early millennium, not-so-coincidentally by earlier Bridge 9 releases. Lost in Life merely packs 12 antagonistic hardcore songs into just about thirty minutes of playing time.

There is no stark departure in either sound or lyrical content, or packaging artwork for that matter. What Lost in Life does is essentially twofold: it at once picks up right where Darker Half left off while also showcasing a logical and tenable progression musically. Those of you who picked up Darker Half - the band’s first LP on Reaper Records - are thusly familiar with the band’s thrashy hardcore stylings. In fact, what they aren’t is more a compliment and affirmation of what they are: one of the best hardcore bands around.

But that’s not meant to detract anything from the boys in Backtrack. And they certainly are not of the underground avant-garde. They are not a band alone in their sound or genre.