What is it about mewithoutyou that makes everyone on Sputnikmusic all flock and go on and on about how great they are? What separates I Never Said That I Was Brave from the likes of Brother, Sister or Catch For Us The Foxes. After listening to every single one of mewithoutyou’s releases (cd’s and ep’s) I’ve come to conclusion. My conclusion is that it’s not just the lyrics. It’s the way that Aaron Weiss delivers them. I Never Said That I Was Brave includes some of Aaron’s best lyrics to date. So what makes it not as great as the others? It’s in the delivery. Sure the words are still dripping with emotion but screaming the entire time just doesn’t seem like mewithoutyou. I Never Said That I Was Brave was the first ever release from the relatively unknown post-hardcore band mewithoutyou from Philly. It came out in 2001 and it subsequently lead to the band signing to Tooth and Nail Records
This EP opens out with the title track and one of the highlights of the entire release. It starts off with a band and it really never slows down. Aaron Weiss is again in the forefront of the music like he is usually but it a way that you are not accustomed to. Like I mentioned before Aaron never goes into his talk/shout voice but instead maintains a solid scream throughout. The instruments do exactly what you would expect for a cd in this particular genre of music. They’re not overly flashy but provide a great backbone to the songs. The guitar has the distortion up high and the drums keep on pounding and pounding. To be entirely honest I’m not quite sure that the only reason that anyone has heard of this is because it has the name mewithoutyou attached to it. The ep continues with Flamethrower another short track. Actually only one of the songs reaches over 3 minutes and it only is 3 minutes and 4 seconds. As the songs go on it’s pretty hard to differentiate one song from another. It’s like every song could just be one song.
But not everything on this ep is bad. It actually has a few highlights. The tempo change form the intro of Dying Is Strange And Hard to the verse is actually pretty good to listen to. The guitars keep on chugging along (Yes chugging) until a spoken word part is laid over top of the song and it, for a few glorious seconds you can see the potential that mewithoutyou had back then. That they could be something special if they would just hone their sound. There are many different tempo changes throughout the ep and different time signatures shifting back and forth. This is most evident on the track We Know Who Our Enemies Are. The song is a song that they do recreate for their first full release and rightfully so. It is indeed a highlight of the entire ep.
Overall the entire delivery just seems too raw. Maybe I’ve come to this conclusion because I’ve heard the songs that mwY has made and this is nowhere near there potential. If they would have kept on going down this road we would certainly not have gotten such gems as Brother, Sister. This by no means is a masterpiece but it is a stepping-stone for one of the better bands of this decade.
Quote:
it's the end of the morning
what have i done?
it's finally getting warmer
oh God what have i done?
prayers for your soul while hoping mine
would leave this awful place sometime
somewhere better with no more pain
you won't love him you'll love me again
The review is a bit difficult to read in places; you could definitely combine a few of the sentences to start. Otherwise, I get the gist so that is commendable. I need this being the avid mewithoutYou fan I am.
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