Review Summary: An album that holds true to its title.
Not too long ago, Memphis May Fire was at the top of the Christian metalcore scene.
Challenger and
The Hollow were rather well-received records among the scene with songs like “Miles Away” and “The Sinner” gathering great acclaim. However, in recent years, the band has nose-dived, falling into the trap of alternative metal with a little bit of edge to it. Their somewhat respectable reputation was slowly declining, reaching a new low with
Broken. Suddenly, “Blood and Water” ignited a spark three years later with their long forgotten metalcore tinge. This was it. This was the time. Memphis May Fire was finally back!
Well… not quite.
To preface, Memphis May Fire was never
that great. Sure, it was fun music, but there wasn’t anything entirely unique to them. In retrospect, despite their early reputation, the band was no more than just another Christian metalcore band. With
Remade in Misery, the same remains. It might be comforting for some to know that Matty Mullins is back to screaming and that the guitar work actually has some technicality again, but to most, it’s just another one of those projects in the monstrous sea of genericore. Admittedly, there is a lot of fun to be had with this album. The bouncy riffs of “Bleed Me Dry” and “Death Inside” mixed with the catchy choruses of “Make Believe” and “Your Turn” and the infectious breakdowns like “The American Dream” make for some rather amusing moments. But that’s all there is to it. It’s a relatively fun record, nothing more, nothing less.
You see, while
Remade In Misery can at times be fun, it fails to show any inspiration and lacks all depth. While it is quite cliche to describe something as formulaic and generic, this album supports these claims. Don’t believe me? Here’s the formula to every song on the album:
intro riff/verse/pre-chorus/chorus/verse 2/pre-chorus (maybe even a small breakdown)/chorus/build-up/breakdown that is cut far too short/chorus/chorus 2/breakdown or intro riff part 2. Now, I’m not saying that patterns are bad because at the end of the day all music has some form of pattern to it. But what Memphis May Fire fails to do here is make it diverse and interesting. Everything sort of bleeds together as each song meanders along, creating a jumbled mess of copy-pasted tracks. On top of that, nothing really stands out as unique, leaving
Remade In Misery an underwhelming collection of songs going through the motions.
Not only is the songwriting lackluster, but the lyrics push it even further in the wrong direction. Much like the instrumentation, the lyrics rehash the same themes over and over again.
Remade In Misery plays with the topic of how there’s no one left in the world to fully trust and everything feels fake, full of questions like “
Am I alive or am I just breathing?”and remarks like “
I don’t know who I can trust anymore/I need a ‘he said’ ‘she said’ reset/Give me truth give me something to believe in.” Not only that, but the whole record also feels like an existential crisis with “Make Believe” keying into the theme of everything being fake and describing life as a
simulation. The lyricism lacks any depth and toys around with the same concept continuously, leaving all meaning at surface level and rejecting any sort of lyrical ingenuity.
Alright, enough with being semi-objective, time to be fully subjective. What was this album release strategy? Memphis May Fire released single after single accompanied by the same style music video for 9 songs. Let me reiterate, NINE songs. By the time
Remade In Misery came out, there were only 2 new songs. This strategy entirely negates the actual premise of an album. Instead, this is more of a compilation of tracks that they decided to tack under a collective title. Not only does this leave little to be desired once the anticipated release date arrives, it removes a majority of impact from the previously released songs as they have already been worn out by previous releases. While it may be a productive marketing strategy at the end of the day, it removes the meaning and importance of the record as a whole.
Yes, one could classify
Remade In Misery as Memphis May Fire’s “comeback” album, but there are far too many flaws to actually gain such a title. The little fun found within the record is outweighed by the never-ending errors, from the uninspired writing to the tedious and overbearing release strategy. While many would appreciate a group’s return to their better former self, Memphis May Fire misses the mark and fails to reach the heights of what they once were.
