'In This Life Or The Next' is Damnation A.D.'s attempt to make a dent in a scene that has changed quite a bit since they decided to call it a day. There's nothing inherently wrong with the song structure, or their delivery. Where the band fails is in their attempt to bring back the "crossover" style that was prevalent in the late 80's and early 90's as it sounds extremely dated, and even the production value is lacking.  

The difference between what crossover was, with the elements of 80's thrash, and hardcore versus the swedish melodic death metal meets metallic hardcore make up of modern day metalcore seems to be lost on Damnation A.D.

The attempt to bring back a style that has been lost on metalheads and hardcore kids for a number of years now is valiant, but more of a lost cause than anything. With the rise of more extreme styles of metal and hardcore (deathcore being one of them), less aggressive styles like this end up being easily overlooked, regardless of how much influence they might have had on a good portion of today's younger bands.

'In This Life Or The Next' may very well become a must have record for the bands that Damnation A.D. had an influence on. And while in some cases, that will bring along some of the more diehard fans of select bands, chances are this album won't do much more than serve as a reminder of a style that once was, and the bands that were a part of the scene.

This album is definitely only for diehard fans of Damnation A.D., the crossover genre overall, and diehard fans of the bands and their members that made guest appearances on this album. This isn't exactly a 'bad' album, in any sense of the word. There's just nothing new to hear.......