Review Summary: Partly a hit, but mainly a miss.
To be blunt, teenage emotion is fickle. One minute you're angry, the next you're thrilled, the next you're just apathetic. One minute you love the girl/guy, one minute you hate them, one minute you could care less. The list goes on and on and on. Strangely, young emotion has been applied to multiple music genres, one of them being post-hardcore. Pensive, angst-ridden teens/young adults run to their guitars and notebooks, and pen down sometimes thought-provoking, most always cheesy statements of their position of life. With one listen to
A Flair For The Dramatic, Pierce The Veil will reveal themselves to be one of those bands. While some moments are overdone and have way too much going on, PTV manages to perfectly execute some of its best features on this record.
Vocalist Victor Fuentes performs in a style that does lean towards more of the same (Kellin Quinn, Matty Mullins), but his tenor-range does fit quite well and occasionally manages to emit some true emotion ("Chemical Kids and Mechanical Brides" and "Yeah Boy and Doll Face", for example). As for his screams, he doesn't rely on them, but they sound very much like Craig Owens' high-pitched yelp. Instrumentally, AFFTD carries nothing special . Though they do manage to occasionally craft some nice riffs and leads, both guitarist stick to the safe formula, often with the lead guitarist playing octaves and the rhythm guitarist playing power chords underneath. Expect the same from the rest of the band, as the drums just back up the guitar, and the bass just disappears under the drums. As for the record itself, it's extremely dramatic, and the group's pretensions for being highly emotional sometimes ruin what could be strong moments of the album ("I'd Rather Die Than Be Famous", "Yeah Boy and Doll Face", "Currents Convulsive").
Truly, AFFTD is at it's best when the band keeps things simple. Yes, this simplicity annoy some, but the linear feel of "Chemical Kids and Mechanical Brides" may just make that the best track on the album. It pulsates with a strong energy, without throwing too much at the listener at once. Similarly, the guitar and drum duel attack contained upon "Diamonds And Why Men Buy Them" allow the listen to become fully immersed, without throwing in another distracting element every five seconds. However, a song like "Current Convulsive", "Yeah Boy," or "I'd Rather Die" throw in way too much at once, change tempo a startling amount of time, and try much too hard to be diverse. At times, I found myself very involved in the album, only to be dragged out by random acoustic guitar or spoken word. The ballad "Falling Asleep On A Stranger" is very well done, and again, much of this is due to its simplicity.
PTV had much to learn on AFFTD, and that's apparent. Everything performed on the album feels done and done better by the likes of early Chiodos, and I was honestly waiting for Craig Owens half the time. In addition, the usage of things like classical guitar and strings at totally inopportune moments come off as pretentious and awkward, not creative. Lyrically, the band isn't much better.
Lost love is pretty much the theme of the whole album, so don't expect much else. Sadly, it lacks the creative, almost-poetic tone of
All's Well That Ends Well, and instead comes off much as the instrumental section of the band. Well, don't go into AFFTD with much expectation. It's not bad, but it sure isn't too good. Partly a hit, but mainly a miss.
