{"id":809588,"date":"2026-10-21T20:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T20:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/809588\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T20:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T20:16:10","slug":"livewire-steel-surpasses-flesh-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/809588\/","title":{"rendered":"LiveWire – Steel Surpasses Flesh Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"When Sydney, Australia\u2019s LiveWire dropped debut Under Attack!<\/a> four years ago, they earned a glowing write-up from the Paragon of Porifera and even landed atop our resident Thrashhound\u2019s top ten<\/a>. Sophomore outing Steel Surpasses Flesh picks up where Under Attack! left off, and on it, LiveWire galvanizes listeners with full-throttle bangers that drill deep into your brain batter and ossify into permanent residents. Discharging unrelenting hooks at voracious speeds, LiveWire earns their name through eleven riveting tracks that won\u2019t allow you to let go of their electrifying charm. Does Steel Surpasses Flesh top the high water mark of Under Attack!? The results may shock you.<\/p>\n

Finger-flaying leads and gluey melodies secure LiveWire\u2019s firm hold on what made their debut so damn powerful, and their consummate collision of melodic genres excites and delights with wild-eyed enthusiasm. Speed metal\u2019s belligerent paces run rampant across Steel Surpasses Flesh, channeling the likes of Exciter<\/a> and Agent Steel as they whip arrangements into tightly-wound ragers. Unlike classic speed metal, though, LiveWire dodges raw aesthetics in favor of a crisper production that suggests retro vibes while cutting the fuzz to allow the instrumentation to gleam. Classic heavy metal also rears it head with Riot<\/a>\u2019s Thundersteel<\/a>ed aggression anchoring cuts like \u201cPathway to Ruin\u201d and \u201cSteel Surpasses Flesh\u201d while \u201cFast Mean Killing Machine\u201d struts with the West Coast sleaze of M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce united with Van Halen-tinged virtuosity as LiveWire looses lyrics that blur lines between fast cars and faster women. The rest of Steel Surpasses Flesh mostly operates with reckless momentum that careens and caroms between speed, thrash, and power metal. Rather than sounding scattershot or unfocused, though, LiveWire welds these backdrops with \u201cSurgical Precision\u201d and elicits finely forged, genre-fused bliss.<\/p>\n

Like Under Attack!, Steel Surpasses Flesh inundates listeners with gigawatt riffage and anthemic refrains. \u201cEpinephrine Attack\u201d crackles with slickety licks from the moment you hit play, shining a dazzling spotlight on guitarists Anthony Ierardo and Chris Puglia. Their theatrics scorch fretboards and sear pickguards as the master shredders go \u201cLightspeed Crazy\u201d in an \u201cAll Consuming Nightmare\u201d of turbocharged audio adrenaline. The track names give away exactly the type of high-velocity hijinks that LiveWire deals, and marshaling those forces is singer\/bassist Nick Wilks. Where his vocals took a backseat to the guitars and drums on Under Attack!\u2019s mix, Wilks races to the fore on Steel Surpasses Flesh and delivers a confident performance that spends more time in falsetto reaches (\u201cDemon Witch\u201d), occasionally recalling Gama Bomb<\/a>\u2019s Philly Byrne (\u201cLightspeed Crazy,\u201d \u201cPathway to Ruin\u201d). I can understand why this might not work for some listeners, but he\u2019s got great pipes and uses them while proving a deft bass player to boot. Lastly, George Delinicolis\u2019s kitwork might feel unobtrusive compared to the stringed onslaught, yet he keeps the mot\u00f6r running and still finds opportunities to pour gasoline on LiveWire\u2019s fire with savvy fills and rumbling double bass thunder.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Steel Surpasses Flesh revels in rampant fun, but don\u2019t let its carefree attitude fool you into thinking LiveWire\u2019s tunes lack substance. The compositions remain as sharp as before, and where Under Attack! hinged its success almost entirely on the almighty riff, Steel Surpasses Flesh hones the vocal arrangements to maximize fist-pumping rapture without sacrificing six-stringed ecstasy. I also appreciate the greater emphasis on Wilks\u2019 voice in the mix, and though the vocals intermittently sound over-processed and glossy, I notice this less with each listen. Even so, the gang vocal echoes on \u201cEpinephrine Attack\u201d and \u201cLightspeed Crazy\u201d are as irrepressibly exquisite as the surrounding instrumentation, and the production does a fine job balancing audibility and punch. With a band this talented it would be easy to succumb to excess, but these Aussies demonstrate a keen understanding of the tightrope walk between exuberance and restraint.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve gone back and forth on which LiveWire album I prefer, and although Steel Surpasses Flesh edges out Under Attack!, I\u2019m thrilled to have both. Excluding bonus tracks, Steel Surpasses Flesh runs about twelve minutes longer, but the only opportunity to cut bloat lives on \u201cSpeed Kills,\u201d and one minute out of forty-two hardly merits consideration. Steel Surpasses Flesh has quickly become my de facto companion when I can\u2019t decide what to listen to, and it\u2019s only picked up steam since I got the opportunity to write about it. If you need a jolt of energy as the year winds to a close, don\u2019t be afraid to pick up this LiveWire and let its juice flow through you.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

Rating: Great!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Release
Websites: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: September 30th, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:\n<\/p>\n