''Life Screams'' is the debut solo studio album by the American singer

Lacey Sturm Lacey Nicole Sturm (née Mosley, previously Carder; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer and songwriter born in Homestead, Florida, but raised in Arlington, Texas. She is a co-founder and lead vocalist of the hard rock band Flyleaf. ...

. It was released on February 12, 2016 through Followspot Records. With the release of ''Life Screams'', Sturm became the first solo female to top the ''

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Hard Rock Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart. The album sold 9,000 copies in its first week in the United States.

Critical reception

The album has received four and a half star ratings from Michael Weaver at Jesus Freak Hideout, Mary Nikkel at New Release Today, and Abby Baracskai at Today's Christian Entertainment. Weaver states, "''Life Screams'' is chock-full of messages that, while at times come from a dark place, offer hope to a lost and dying world." Nikkel describes, "With Lacey Sturm's ''Life Screams'', the first major rock release of the year may also be the best. Deeply satisfying gritty guitar, chilling vocals and lyrics that speak hope into places of absolute desperation make ''Life Screams'' a vital addition to the rock genre, and to a world desperately needing to hear there is Life screaming in even the darkest places." Baracskai writes, "The transparent personality of Lacey Sturm and her life experiences have been artfully crafted and included throughout the entire ''LIFE SCREAMS'' album, which makes her music honest and real...These emotionally relatable songs sung with such heart-wrenching passion, accompanied by a variance of powerful guitar riffs, slamming drum beats, and light string melodies, complete with an emotional dialogue interlude, create one amazing first solo record from Lacey Sturm". Chad Bower, reviewing the album for Loudwire, says, "With ''Life Screams'', Sturm will satisfy Flyleaf fans with plenty of memorable, melodic hard rock, but her new band also helps expand and explore different musical paths." This album got a three-and-a-half star review by

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's Neil Z. Yeung, who wrote, "On Life Screams, Sturm has pulled back the black curtain to reveal hope and inspiration, a counterbalance to the negativity in the heavy rock genre." Joshua Andre of 365 Days of Inspiring Media's gave the album four stars, writing, "With Lacey continuing the hard rock genre, ''Life Screams'' is possibly one of the most personal, honest and emotional albums of the year thus far". It got a ten star review from Sylvie Lesas of Evigshed Magazine, where she states, "It is a gem."

Track listing

Personnel

- vocals * Drew Rodaniche - drums * Ben Hull - bass * Josh Sturm - guitar * Jordan Sarmiento - piano/keys * Joel Armstrong - drums on "Roxanne" * Evan Rodaniche - producer * JW Clarke - executive producer

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control 2016 debut albums Lacey Sturm albums