Review Summary: Austin Carlile's screams have taken more virginities than glam rock
"Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?"
-Georger W. Bush
Austin Carlile is obviously getting kicked in the nads as the sounds he makes on this album aren't possible to squeeze out without some kind of force. Maybe he deserves it. This idiot has been kicked out of two bands, including this one. Luckily, Jerry Roush is even bigger of a douche bag than Austin so they let him back in the band, along with his boyfriend, Alan Ashby on rhythm guitar. Then that weird oriental guy got kicked out and they moved the guy on cleans over to bass and made him cut his ugly scene hair. This new line-up delivers one ass-kicking, in your acne covered face, generic post hardcore album. It will have you bouncing of the walls of your house doing classic scene hardcore dance moves such as the raging bull, the windmill, and the bi curious make out session with some guy in tight pants. Am I maybe enjoying this album more because I got to see Lebron crying on my 48 inch tv? *** no. This rules. Lets breakdown this ***. lol get it. Breakdown.
From the first song, you can tell you might die while listening to this. But it would be worth it because the album is awesome man. This is music to rape to on steroids. In your face music for teenagers with anger issues. m/ Something many people will enjoy about this is the fact that there are less breakdowns on this than their debut. And even when there are breakdowns, there will usually be a gorgeous melodic lead being played over it. If not, you'll be treated to some of Carlile's deadly screams. And you can even hear the bass at times. On the song "Repeating Apologies", you can clearly here some pretty sexy Cliff Burton influenced bass riffage that just makes you want to take your clothes off.
Everyone knows the best part of this band is the cleans. "My Understandings" is the best example of just how good the cleans can get. That song has ZERO breakdowns. That's unheard of for a Rise band. I find it ironic that this is also the best song they have ever made. Breakdowns are kinda stupid I guess. But this band makes them work. Anyways, the cleans don't always work. Shayley's singing on songs like "Ohioisonfire" doesn't quite work and makes you want to pull the butcher knife away from your cat's throat. The lyrics are pretty stupid but you can't understand them, so why does it matter? For awhile I thought Carlile was screaming the same thing in every single song. It didn't make it any more or less enjoyable. Obviously he never realized that taking vocal lessons from Jacob Bannon would make it completely unnecessary to write actual lyrics.
Somehow, this band manages to set itself apart from the other bands in the genre. Perhaps their melodious riffs are just much better than all other bands of the genre. And the way they structure their songs can't be beaten. The breakdowns this band uses work because they know where to put them in the song. That damn kfc gave me heartburn.
Of Mice & Men is the leading band in the over populated scenecore pack, and with good reason. They don't let mean ugly virgin indie worshipping hipster trash keep them from doing what they do best: Writing testicle bursting generic post hardcore. Sure, music like this probably won't last 15-20 years, but right now, it's damn good. Rock on. Metal.
Music, Rock and Roll music especially, is such a generational thing. Each generation must have their own music, I had my own in my generation, you have yours, everyone I know has their own generation.
-Ronnie James Dio
