Review Summary: A Crusade For The Broken proves there is good metalcore. Here's to progression.
Call Us Forgotten has been around since May of 2007. After 2 years, countless member changes, and impossibly difficult monetary odds, A Crusade For The Broken was digitally released on May 2nd, 2010.
Call Us Forgotten is:
Josh Oliveri: Vocals (guitar/bass on the record)
Kory Thielen: Drums, Vocals
No bands in metalcore are trying anything new these days it seems. Band after band falls into the traps that plague their counterparts, from way too many breakdowns, to poor clean vocals, to poor musicianship, and basically everything else under the sun. As quickly as the genre came, it seems like it is fading away. August Burns Red, Misery Signals, and Call Us Forgotten are trying new things however (to name a few). The Calm, The Storm starts with soft piano playing along with the sound of waves and chimes. The intro is short, sweet (although not incredibly great) and sets the tone for the album. While definitely not a great intro, it gets the job done. A Crusade For The Broken breaks in with Josh belting out "so scream, from the top of your lungs, everything will be alright! just keep telling lies and avoid making eyes, they'll believe, keep your cover." The song is fast, hard-hitting, and has a pretty great chorus. The first real track shows all sides of CUF: it includes the best cleans on the record, melodic riffing, and some technical aspects as well. Forgotten continues this trend, having a distant but melodic intro, then breaking in with a drum fill and setting a new pace for the band. Forgotten is the fastest song on the record, and it doesn't disappoint. There is a soft, clean guitar break right before the song ends with a muted riff with choir-style singing. The end is extremely well executed and Forgotten is one of the record's strongest songs. The "breakneck speed to slow clean passage" transition is one not easily achieved, but CUF prove they know how it's done in Forgotten.
Found In Falling is different. It's not as fast, and it's more riff-oriented. The song is the only on the album to not feature singing, and it's the "heaviest" song on the EP (judge for yourselves). CUF's minimal usage of the breakdown (for metalcore) works to their advantage, as the breakdowns aren't overdrawn, are original, and are pretty heavy. Found In Falling features an almost cheesy pick-me-up section in the song, in vein of The Ghost Inside or Hundredth. Cold Water Casket is the weakest song on the album. The opening riff doesn't hit hard, and the only boring breakdown on the CD is drawn out way too long, tainting an otherwise very pleasant and melodic song. Let it be said though that the chorus and outro to Cold Water Casket are above average for any metalcore song.
The harsh vocals on this CD are a huge step up from most bands. The band is very rapid-fire vocal-wise, and they utilize 3 different screamers. Josh and Kory can both hit highs, mids, and very low-lows (listen to the line, "suffocation" in Found In Falling), and have good intensity. John's vocals (was in the band and did a few lines on the CD) are the weakest of the 3, but he rarely screams so it almost works to an advantage in a way. There are definitely some typical "I'm a victim/let's stick it to the man" lyrics on this, but for the most part the lyrics are great and are delivered even better. The clean singing is probably my only gripe about this though, The end of Forgotten is really the only "above average" singing part on the record. Overall though, this is an extremely promising debut EP from the band hailing from Portland, OR. This is actually worth a listen. Let's hope CUF continues the promising start they have set for themselves.
Pros:
Great vocal work, lyrics
Piano in some parts
Very melodic, but original riffing
Cons:
Too short
Cold Water Casket is weak
John's vocals
Recommended tracks:
A Crusade For The Broken
Forgotten
