Review Summary: Heaviest band in the world, bro.
Emmure, just the sheer mention of the band’s name will either turn you away, or draw you in like a fat kid to a cupcake. Despite being one of those bands that really turn nothing into something, first not even knowing each other prior to forming, every single lyric being inspired by breakup or harlots in general and just layering a breakdown on top of another breakdown, but they managed to make it work on Goodbye to the Gallows (which I’am a self admitted fan of the album). While there were tons of breakdowns, it justified the intensity, and the band even toyed with slight experimentation (“Princess in the Devil’s Castle”….clean singing on a deathcore album?). However the band hit the shitter when “The Respect Issue” seemed to dish out, which can be described in 1 simple word….breakdown. The group tossed aside all forms of experimentation in favor of just mindless compulsive breakdowns. When I heard the next record was going to “involve more experimentation”, I was intrigued, but didn’t hold my breath.
The band has simply invited nu-metal into their breakdown heavy brand of deathcore, the irony being that these two genres are loathed by many critics and fans of metal. Frankie’s spoken word lyrics are transected into uninspired rap lines which resemble Fred Durst half the time (tell me that didn’t just send a shiver up your spine). The guitars while simple, and hardcore sounding on previous albums, seem to be more down-tuned and again resemble that of Coal Chamber at times. The lyrics…let me just put it at this, my friend is a huge Emmure fan (cannot stress that enough) and he told me “the lyric content is weak”….I rest my case. However this is also a good nod in several places, Frankie has seemed to pick up more singing, which actually is a nice touch in certain places, and the guitars actually carry a nice groove every once in a while.
The album opens with “Sunday Bacon” which admitted sounded nice at the beginning with the bass and drums, but Frankie’s rap-laden vocals pretty much ruin it for me, which the song really blows over by the end of it all. “I Thought You Met Telly and Turned Me into Casper” is more eerie and an obvious display of the band’s newfound affection for nu-metal. Frankie’s sung vocals even take cue from Jonathan Davis of Korn, however this would all be nice if the lyrics didn’t consist of
”I want you cumming inside me” , but if you can look past these dumb lyrics, you’ll find the song can be pretty enjoyable. “Felony” sounds a lot like ITYMT&TMIC but displays more of the spoken-rap vocals similar too Sunday Bacon, but it just seems to work without getting overly annoying, and “You Sunk My Battleship” has to be one of the most cringe-worthy song in recent memory. “R2Deepthroat” is a sample-heavy attack on The Acacia Strain, but all if not most of the clever lines were ripped off from the aforementioned band, and Nine Inch Nails, in fact the only line that the group came up with was “tell your girlfriend how good my dick tastes”. “Lesson from Nichole” is ironically one of the best songs the group have ever written, it displays a more Alt. Metal style, and the bass rampages and explodes throughout. “Don’t Be One” is another shocking song, as Frankie opens up with a very nice Chino Moreno impression, and that actually helps the song in a lot of ways.
Basically how you love this album is how much you love Emmure, if you loved the hardcore Emmure you’ll love some songs, and loathe the rest. If you loved the deathcore Emmure, you’ll probably enjoy the utter hell out of this. If you never enjoyed Emmure at all though….there’s no reason to listen. The band tries too many new things to them, and only 1 or 2 of them seem to work.
Reccomended songs-
Bars in Astoria
Lesson from Nichole
Don't Be One
