Southern California post-hardcore outfit Spark of Life first burst onto the scene about 25 years ago with their lineup always in flux but always centered around singer Steve Jennings and guitarist Nicholas Piscitello. At the time they found themselves to be too melodic to fit in with the hardcore crowd and too heavy for the melodic punk crowd, making them a unique niche outlier for just the right fans. But after their 2003 debut LP Promises Made Promises Kept, the band slowly disappeared, never officially breaking up but slowly getting caught up in other things.
It wasn’t until fall of 2018, when the band members reformed to open for Rise Against at a surprise show at a skate park, that Spark of Life came roaring into the present with a new incarnation. After the release of their 2023 EP Song of Hope—which featured popular drummer and SNL alumni Fred Armisen on drums—and their 2024 EP I Am the Arsonist, they’re now gearing up for the release of their sophomore LP Plagued by the Human Condition, due out in early 2025 on New Age Records.
Today, Spark of Life is debuting the video for their new single “No One Hates Me More Than Me,” which is off the upcoming album and will be available on streaming tomorrow. With a raging post-hardcore energy and an Ian MacKaye-esque powerhouse vocal performance, this is a melodic hardcore banger that demonstrates why Spark of Life still maintains a cult status after such a long absence. With a video centering around a single ballet dancer, it finds ways to tie into an art form more tied to classical music than melodic hardcore and, oddly, it works.
“This song, much like the record, is about loss, regret, and the pain it inevitably causes in its wake,” explains Jennings. “But it is also about finding hope in that loss and coming out the other side with a positive and grateful perspective.”
Check out the video below.
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Photo courtesy of Spark of Life
