Emery – While Broken Hearts Prevail
Record Label: Tooth & Nail Records
Release Date: October 28, 2008
I’m going to criminally indict myself to prove a point.
With a renewed hope, I downloaded While Broken Hearts Prevail. Emery obviously realized I’m Only A Man was terrible, and this new EP was to be their peace offering. Hoorah! I assuaged my guilty conscience by promising to buy the disc upon its release. Because, in my mind, there was no way this album would suck. Well conscience, f**k you. While Broken Hearts Prevail doesn’t stop Emery’s fatal bleeding. It’s just more boo-hooing over chicks and “Look! We scream!” breakdowns. In the interest of legality, here’s my disclaimer: Downloads should be used for research purposes only. If an album reeks of regurgitation and boring ballads, delete immediately.
You know, I feel a little misled. “The Smile, The Face” and “Edge of the World” open the EP with our favorite Emery characteristics: an even mixture of screaming and singing, guitars that smash as often as they weave, drums that feign at hardcore repetition only to mess around with intricate cymbals and tempo shifts. Dudes, they’re back! High five me! Wanna make out? And make out we did, for approximately 6 minutes. Then “Say The Things (You Want)” begins and my musical libido disappears again. It’s a fast-moving track and despite begging to be relevant like rockers on The Question, the chorus and stutter-step guitars only serve as a thinly veiled dichotomy to the slow-down-get-serious-twankle-twankle bridge. This “mature” section is easily foreseeable, as are the lyrics: “You’ve dug my heart out of me / I thought you loved me / But you don’t.” Those words are a perfect example of the themes throughout While Broken Hearts Prevail. Shocking, I know.
“Ten Talents” moves slow and features a scream oddly reminiscent of the aliens in Independence Day. Other than the distorted screams and a back-and-forth between 80’s hair metal guitars and uplifting singing (“Love is all we need!”), this song is completely forgettable. “It Always Depends” has lots of synthesizers, but hell, I’m tired of taking a crap on these songs.
This is hard; Emery were one of those bands for me. And I know, forget history. But I don’t even believe Emery have lost their way completely (I point again to the first two songs), they have just chosen to stifle the best parts of their sound. Dynamics and an interesting angle on regular scene topics were what made Emery recognizable in the first place. Now we have albums without flair and EP’s that feel ridiculously repetitive. There’s no easy way out of this ditch. And it would be unfair to simply say, “Do what you did back then.” Don’t misunderstand: I’m never a fan of “Part II” albums. However, Emery have plenty of defining factors that can be twisted, shaped and molded into more good songs. Hopefully they will begin using their formidable skills for good and not for acoustic-trash like “Do The Things (You Want).”
Recommended If You Like: As Cities Burn, A Thorn for Every Heart, checking Tyrone's myspace as soon as you get out of jail, The Classic Crime, peeing in front of strangers
Recommended If You Like: As Cities Burn, A Thorn for Every Heart, checking Tyrone's myspace as soon as you get out of jail, The Classic Crime, peeing in front of strangers
Recommended If You Like: As Cities Burn, A Thorn for Every Heart, checking Tyrone's myspace as soon as you get out of jail, The Classic Crime, peeing in front of strangers
Whoa, I was not expecting such a low score for this one. :/
Me neither, I fell asleep listening to the record and the score was recorded. I heard the door shut just as I awoke and saw a little person with a shamrock in his hat. He was driving a segway and he scared the shit out of me.
Recommended If You Like: As Cities Burn, A Thorn for Every Heart, checking Tyrone's myspace as soon as you get out of jail, The Classic Crime, peeing in front of strangers
I was kind of anxious to hear this. The wind's been taken out of my sails a little because I thought this might be redemption. Oh well, I'll listen anyway and make up my own mind.
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