Retro-Review: ‘Life on the Ropes’ by Sick of it All

Sick of it All is one of those bands I’ve always known about but never really listened to.

You can blame that on a number of factors, but probably the main one is just the lack of availability in my area. You never saw their albums on the music store shelves, heard them on the radio or saw their videos on MTV. Aside from magazines, Sick of it All existed in a different universe for me.

That was life in rural Arkansas back in the early-to-mid 1990s though.

Years later, thanks to YouTube, I got to sit down and listen to one of their albums for a review. That album I’m looking at today is Life on the Ropes, released in 2003.

Sick of it All’s lineup for Life on the Ropes are brothers Lou Koller on vocals and Pete Koller on guitar. The Koller brothers have been part of Sick of it All from its beginning in 1986. Armand Majidi, who joined the band after its first demo, plays drums on the album. Rounding out things is bass guitar player Craig Setari, who joined the band in 1992. This lineup is still intact today.

The album

Life on the Ropes is pretty much what you can expect when it comes to New York City Hardcore: Shouted vocals, heavy guitars and punkish hooks.