Of Mice & Men – The Flood
Release Date: June 14, 2011
Record Label: Rise
With all the drama that emerged with each news post throughout the past year, it'd be easy to think of Of Mice & Men as more of a bad reality show than an actual band. After playing musical chairs with their lineup, original lead man Austin Carlile was back with a new friend, guitarist Alan Ashby (he was previously collaborating on Carlile's then solo adventure). Armed with familiar faces and new outlook on their friendship and music, Of Mice & Men hope that, instead of lengthy twitter and tumblr rants, their second album, The Flood, does the majority of talking in 2011.
On first listen, you can sense that Carlile and company are re-energized and hellbent on proving their haters wrong. Really, The Flood can be described as a “re-imagining” of their debut album. The quintet took the best parts of that album and either made them more aggressive or more melodic to cover up any monotony.
Did I mention that this record was aggressive? The first two tracks on The Flood, “O.G. Loko” and “Ben Threw” feature some furious guitar work from Ashby and Phil Manansala, while Carlile's well-known howl leaves its mark. Bassist Shayley Bourget continues as the band's clean vocalist, and his voice is the highpoint of the catchy “Let Live.” The dynamic chemistry between Carlile's screams and Bourget's cleans is what separates The Flood from the majority of their peers.
The band loses some steam in the middle of The Flood, as they fall victim to generic-core with the by-the-numbers formula of “Still YDG'n,” while “My Understandings” and “Purified” sound like they should be on the new Bullet For My Valentine album. I commend the band for shooting for something outside of their comfort zone, but they are much better when they amp up the energy, such as on the vicious “Ohioisonfire” and the quick yet devastating closer “I'm A Monster.”
Once again, Joey Sturgis was behind the boards for The Flood, so expect some familiar tones and tempos throughout the record (“Product of a Murderer” and “Repeating Apologies” could fundamentally be the same song). But let's be honest, no one is listening to Of Mice & Men for mastery musicianship or deep lyrics; they're listening because Carlile has one hell of a scream and Shayley Bourget sounds like the poor man's Anthony Green. Because the band took the songs from Carlile's solo sessions and integrated them with the songs the band wrote during the front man's absence, The Flood's final product lacks some cohesiveness. Maybe a drama-free 2011 will help the band become more of an unit and we hear their full potential on their third full-length.
Shayley did the cleans on the self-titled, too, this isn't his debut.
Solid review although I don't think Shayley is a "poor man's Anthony Green" at all. They sound a little bit alike but Shayley has a lot more force behind his voice and I think he's one of the best singers in this genre.
Shayley did the cleans on the self-titled, too, this isn't his debut.
Solid review although I don't think Shayley is a "poor man's Anthony Green" at all. They sound a little bit alike but Shayley has a lot more force behind his voice and I think he's one of the best singers in this genre.
you're right, for some reason I thought Jaxin was the cleans on the debut. fixed it.
he's a great producer when he's not being rushed by labels or forced to do stupid shit by the bands.
Exactly! I usually cannot stand his work, but when he puts his effort in (see The Color Morale stuff) it actually sounds good! It is the over produced robotronic/mechanical sound (see uh... basically most of his albums) that I cannot stand.
Shayley has an amazing voice, but I don't hear anything similar to Anthony Green in him. Shayley sounds more soulful, while Anthony just has an amazing voice. Also, did not like the vocal production on Shayley's voice so much in this record, but Austin's screams made me forget how big of a douchebag he can be for a minute.
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