In Fear and Faith - Your World on Fire
Record Label: Rise Records
Release Date: January 6, 2009
Rise Records has a way with surprising me with their early January releases. While the whole metalcore scene doesn't exactly coincide with my usual musical preferences, I try to give everything a fair shot, and early last year I was rewarded with For the Fallen Dreams' Changes and the now-defunct Here I Come Falling's Oh Grave, Where Is Thy Victory. The former's skill at intertwining atmospheric guitar lines with thundering riffs and the latter's knack with a hook made them both a cut above what I would have expected. Just about a year later, enter In Fear and Faith with their debut full-length Your World on Fire, the follow-up to their late-2007 EP Voyage. Make no mistake about it, Your World on Fire is not a scene-changing record. In Fear and Faith are far from the first band to pit soaring hooks in a head-to-head battle against brutal breakdowns, but they're good enough at it that they're sure to make some serious waves.
Two songs reappear from Voyage in similar form: "The Taste of Regret" and "Live Love Die." Both tracks retain their hauntingly eerie piano passages, but benefit from much improved clean vocals and a slightly fuller sound, courtesy of Andrew Wade (A Day to Remember, There for Tomorrow), than found on the self-produced EP. Throw out the ominous minute-long "Intro" that opens the album and that leaves only seven new tracks on this set, which may be disappointing to fans. Still, what shows up here is, for the most part, enjoyable and adeptly performed.
"Pirates... The Sequel" comes crashing out of the gate following the opening intro and musically, it's pretty much garden-variety metalcore with some light string accents, which add some fitting atmosphere. It also displays the band's fairly balanced sing-and-scream approach, with the high-flying vocals recalling Secret and Whisper while the hardcore screams are most reminiscent of Oh, Sleeper, though so many bands are very similar-sounding on that front. The title track carries on in a similar fashion, though slightly more breakdown-heavy, evolving into an almost creepy soundscape. Unfortunately, the vocals at the end of the track are unnervingly over-the-top, putting somewhat of a damper on an otherwise strong performance.
Despite being relatively new kids on the block, In Fear and Faith draw some high profile guest appearances in the form of Craig Owens (Chiodos) and Jeremy McKinnon (A Day to Remember). I can't say I'm a real fan of either frontman or their bands, but both make valuable contributions. "The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions" is one of the strongest tracks, due in part to Owens' delivery. In addition to having a Chiodos-like title, the song features some twinkling piano that wouldn't have sounded out-of-place on Bone Palace Ballet and perhaps the best use of melody on the record.
For the band who drew their name from a much-beloved track from Juturna (a better choice than "The Glorious Nosebleed," I must say), this is a worthy effort in a oversaturated genre. While there are countless bands falling under the general rubric of metalcore who can bring the breakdowns and vocal vitriol, fewer do melody quite so skillfully, while incorporating some captivating piano sections as well. Go in with the right expectations andYour World on Fire is an enjoyable release that will likely satisfy the palate of anyone looking for an aural pummeling with some catchy hooks on the side.
They did swipe their name from Juturna. They said in one of their blogs once haha.
Good review. I'm enjoying this album quite a lot actually. Nothing particularly special or new but still good for the genre.
Their new singer has a pretty decent voice. Less whiney than the old one.
Thanks for that note. I never really followed the band, but I was pleasantly surprised by the record and thought I would write about it. I changed the last paragraph to reflect that the Circa song is, in fact, the source of their name. It reads better like this anyway.
solid review, i agree with some of it. while i do think it is better than a lot of metalcore, i actually liked the vocals on the EP better. I really wish they would have retained their old sound a little better. the song with craig owens is fantastic.
solid review, i agree with some of it. while i do think it is better than a lot of metalcore, i actually liked the vocals on the EP better. I really wish they would have retained their old sound a little better. the song with craig owens is fantastic.
Now that he has his own band to front, maybe he'll stick with one. The kid has some talent, but he can't keep bouncing around like that.
for sure. honestly the word alive imo was by far the best band that craig mabbit was ever a part of....and now he is with that bunch of nastiness also known as escape the fate...ick.
for sure. honestly the word alive imo was by far the best band that craig mabbit was ever a part of....and now he is with that bunch of nastiness also known as escape the fate...ick.
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