Your Life On Hold - Burning for the ancient connection (Solar Lodge)

English:CD-review
  Erik Vandamme    3 januari 2018

I know Jan Dewulf aka John Wolf for some years, noticed him for the first time playing with Mildreda and interviewed him right after his performance. After that I got hooked and never stopped following him. He also started Diskonnekted and went into a more electronic way. With Your Life on Hold he enters a new world: a darker, melancholic and more Gothic rock one.


I know that had some personal troubles and worked hard to survive them. Het literally put his life on hold to reboot his entire life and got the help of none less but Artaud Seth and Solar Lodge. I totally admire him for what he did, as I survived something similar ages ago and with this new musical path a new life opens for us all …

Tormented as he was he wrote down nothing but melancholic gothic rock pearls! Rising like a phoenix from the flames with Phoenix. In the past we had a few good Gothic rock bands and now we finally get a fresh and good one filling a gap! Just listen to the guitar play and the vocals: it sounds so good! It’s hard to believe this is just the first album! Damn, what have we missed all those years! Listening to it gives you goosebumps and a live feeling! I simply can’t wait to hear the songs on stage and see if the audience loves it as much as I do! Simply incredible!

Attawapiskat is a strange title, but it’s a great Gothic rocker with an hypnotic sound and the perfect vocals. It’s yet another pearl! Exorcism starts in a very mysterious way, slowly growing and getting a richer sound. One again the guitar is marvellous, whilst the vocals reminds me a bit of Mildreda. It turns into a rocker with a dangerous edge. Already Lost goes a bit faster and also steals my heart with its drive and guitar play. Rome, An Old Man’s Song, Falling: they all rock on and appeal a good taste. Hope is For Dreamers is a slower song, but the lyrics grabs you where it hurts the most. It’s a rude, but real song: a real story. I feel like reliving my own personal hell, from years ago when I had to survive the same episode.

It’s a hard but real story, the music grabs you, touches you deeply and is for me already simply the album of 2017 and the perfect album to put my life with snoozecontrol.be on hold for a while as real life is always there. It was a real pleasure and maybe I’ll return (like a Phoenix), but for now it’s My Life on Hold!

writer: Filip Van Muylem