Review Summary: A raw, chaotic and emotional masterpiece of modern post-hardcore
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I might be slightly hyperbolic or objectively "biased" in the case of this particular album,
Odd How People Shake by
Fear Before (former Fear Before the March of Flames for their first three albums) since I can credit this album as single-handedly introducing me to the genres of post-hardcore, screamo, metalcore, and mathcore and instilling a love for that entire spectrum of music that has lasted since I first heard this album sometime in the summer of 2003. I was introduced to the album by an older friend of mine who was 19 at the time who later went on to become the main guitarist and back-up vocalist for the popular Epitaph metalcore act Vanna, and I had never heard such raw and angry, cathartic emotion in music before. It was a volatile time for me as an adolescent, and something about the desperation in the vocals, the energy and anger in every raging guitar chord, breakdown, and progression and the punk-rock attitude of it all mixed with the punch-in-the-gut boldness of the best heavy metal spoke to me in a way that few bands before had ever been able to. To bring out an old fashioned cliche, it was as if they had read my mind and soul and made an album specifically for me.
It all starts with the staccato opening chords of the first track, "Fashion Tips Baby". Right from the get-go it's clear that these guys are pissed off and are damn sure going to let you know about it. The dueling screaming vocals, the crashing drum cymbals and shockingly melodic chorus of the song tie it all together into a perfect maelstrom of mathcore-influenced post-hardcore. Later on the second half of the album "On the Brightside She Could Choke", one of the group's more popular songs, smartly cools down a bit from the raw intensity of several of the earlier tracks in favor of a more calm and collective song of yearning, melodic hardcore at it's best, and it also supplies some of the best lyrics of the album.
This pattern continues through-out the album, with one faster and angrier number blending into softer, more melodic moments where the somewhat simple and emotional, poetic lyrics of the group really are able to shine through at their best:
"As he's dying in his dreams
i hope you're choking in your sleep
try and breathe
justice push this pillow down
just try and breathe
try and breathe"
The basic lyrical tone and subjects of heartbreak and despair that permeate the entire post-hardcore spectrum are alive and present here, but somehow they manage to make the words seem more poetic than they might appear to be on surface level. This sense of succinctness is another pillar of the album and the general work of this group in their early years, as they manage to stretch out melodic but chaotic, driving guitars while not over-doing it and falling into the pratfall of pseudo prog-rock that so many post-hardcore and mathcore groups often times fall victim to.
This is first and foremost a punk record however, in the truest sense of what that genre originally founded itself on. That sense of wild, reckless abandon and total angry chaos in the music is present all through-out this album, even when they throw in bits of metalcore, screamo, mathcore, and more general post-hardcore. Much like some of the best punk records, there is raw emotion to be found on this album in spades, around every corner lies one visceral, sad, angry, and defiant motif after another. Whether it's the back-and-forth exchanges of howling despair in the chorus of "Given to Dreams", the quiet sadness of the more melodic moments of "On the Brightside She Could Choke" and "Motelroom.Grandpiano", or the sheer rage and fury of the vocals in "The Lisbon Girls, Oh the Lisbon Girls" (a reference to the film/novel
The Virgin Suicides), this album is absolutely dripping with real, raw human emotion that anyone who's been through hard times, struggles, and bad relationships (so almost all of us) can easily relate to and perhaps even celebrate for the sake of art.
The album finishes with an inspired and moving piano ballad concealed as a hidden track after the song "What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas". In a way it's the perfect way to end the album, wrapping up all of the anger, emotion, and passion that can be found on every song on this album with a simple and moving melody on a piano, the quiet after the audible storm we have just been witness to. From here Fear Before continued to evolve and change their sound until the band that they are today sounds almost nothing like the band that made this record, but that doesn't change the quality of their debut or it's importance and impact on the emerging underground sound that was the early 2000's post-hardcore/metalcore/screamo boom. One of a very few albums that I would consider an unquestionable "5" in my canon of album ratings and reviews, and well worth looking into for anyone who's a fan of the genre.
