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Review Summary: You’ll be asking them to stay for a while. Newcomers to the scene of post-hardcore/metalcore can be expected to be told either one of two things by respected critics: take a hike, you cookie-cutter scene kids or please stay, you’ve got potential and could end up being a genre innovator. While you won’t consider I Prevail the next best thing to happen to the genre, you’ll be asking them to stay for a while. Their brand of passionate metalcore is highly enjoyable and isn’t simply a stale outing that you only enjoy once like a piece of sugar-coated candy.
For what it’s worth, the entire project bleeds of both passion and energy, essential qualities for a successful record. Whether it be the gruff, trauma-inducing screams from harsh vocalist Eric, or the successful blend between calming ambience and crushing breakdowns, I Prevail show that they are more interested in making music than useless noise. They’re not trying to be the heaviest band out there, nor are they infusing their sound with poppy gimmicks (ahem…Palisades). And, this makes them appeal to both older metalheads and post-hardcore kids, since they blend melody with brutality quite well.
The self-titled track best demonstrates the band’s ability to blend in poppier elements without sounding gimmicky. While there are dubstep/electronica flourishes, they are actually fitting instead of painfully out of place. The chorus is catchy and melodic, without sounding overproduced and bubblegum. “Crossroads” is a longer song that’s spearheaded by octave guitar riffs and mini-solos, as well as a blend of screaming and singing, primarily screaming. What’s nice is that the template isn’t screamed verses, sung choruses: instead, the band aims to put singing where it fits and screaming where it fits. This works much better and gives an unpredictable edge. “Love, Lust and Liars” is the poppiest heavy song all record: there’s a string arrangement throughout, as well as being predominantly composed of clean vocals. As for length, though it isn’t actually that long of a song, a negative is that it feels like it drags on forever. “My Heart I Surrender” is an acoustic-guitar dominated ballad with an emotional vocal performance that sounds strangely similar to Jeremy McKinnon. As for the acoustic guitar playing, it isn’t actually that bad, and this is one of those moments when the guitarists prove their versatility. “Face Your Demons” is the record’s heaviest strong, with no synth and an intense breakdown. The screamer really emits emotion on this track, convincing the listener that he could rip the throat out of whomever he’s angry at. However, it does boast another catchy, sing-along chorus, demonstrating the appeal for both the melodic and the heavy listener. The band’s songs do all follow standard structure, but their varied sound prevents them from becoming boring or tedious to the listener.
Both vocalists take much more of a unique approach to the genre than normal: Eric has a deeper scream than most, while clean vocalist Brian intersperses much more grit than polish. Though both guitarists occasionally veer far too much into chugging, some of their riffs and clean playing show that they are capable of much more. The drummer is superb, accomplishing more than carrying the music through double-bass pedaling. There isn’t actually a credited bassist, but as it’s barely audible anyways, this isn’t surprising. Though there’s a slight bit of filler towards the middle, with a song or two sounding similar to “Love, Lust and Liars”, this is actually one of the only complaints. The record could be much longer, clocking in at only seven tracks.
Lyrically, IP are more soul-searching than angry, for the most part, they come off much more thought-provoking than condescending. Songs like “Heart vs. Mind”, “Crossroads”, and “Deceivers” deal primarily with topics like inner demons and encouraging those who aren’t confident in themselves. However, a song like “Love, Lust and Liars” that discusses a breakup could’ve been thought out more. Still, they are stronger in the lyrical department than other groups of the genre.
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Album Rating: 4.0
Shoutout and many thanks to ghost for editing this for me. I know that third paragraph is a little long, sorry about that.
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Good review. Pos'd
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
These guys have been blowing the fuck up lately. Good on 'em. This and their Blank Space cover are pretty solid. I feel like they're doomed to always play that cover though because that's where most of the attention is coming from.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Toomuch, thanks for the pos. Also, yeah erizen, I know, they've gotten a lot of attention. I would agree though, most of said attention is going to that blank space cover.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
It's sad because I feel like these guys are capable of doing some really good things.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Exactly! The cover isn't bad, but they have so much more potential in them.
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Solid review. It looks like you got pretty close to going track by track in the body paragraphs though which is a no no. I'd be a bit more careful of that. This is only an ep though so it isn't so big of a deal
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Yeah game, it was a little tough to avoid a track by track just because the record's only seven songs long. Thanks for the pos!
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I'll probably go ahead and give this a try since it's only an EP(so not time consuming) and this review reminded me of them. I liked the T Swift cover and one of the singles. Thought the harsh vocalist would be better with a fuller growl though. He sounds a little thin sometimes.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
I would recommend giving this a try, it's actually pretty good. Yeah the harsh vocalist does sound a little weak sometimes, but this is one of the stronger works I've heard of the genre in quite a while.
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The T-Swizzle cover isn't even on here.
I didn't hate it, but it seemed like generic Punk-Goes-Pop filler.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
It did have a strong punk-goes-pop vibe,now that you mention it.
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That's pretty much what it was, but well done regardless
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Solid review, man. Thumbs up from me. A couple of pointers though, like Gameofmetal was saying, try to avoid going track-by-track, it's very easy to slip away as a reader when following a review that goes through each and every song step-by-step. Also, your third paragraph is a bit too long, maybe shift some things around on your next review if you find that happens again, sometimes I find myself writing a paragraph that's just as big and I have to delete a bunch of stuff that, in the end, makes the review as a whole a lot more compact and precise.
Finally, you wrote: "“Love, Lust and Liars” is the poppiest song all record (besides the ballad)". For next time, if you're going to say that a certain song is whatever, make sure you don't follow it up with besides so-and-so, as it basically just cancels out what you said in the first-place. Little nitpicks like that aside, this is still a very good review, man, just keep these pointers in my mind for next time and you'll only get better and better. Cheers, metalhead.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Good quality new metalcore. These guys have the potential to go places.
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Stuck in Your Head is a banger
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
good review but jeez the lyrics and production on this are bad
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