Fear before the March of Flames - Art Damage
Rupert - guitar, vocals
Brandon - drums
Dave - screams
Mike - bass
Click here for a biography. [url]http://www.equalvision.com/evr/bands.php?band_id=47[/url]
FBTMOF have gone in a different direction after their first album “Odd How People Shake”. Instead of following the majority of bands within the genre, and going poppier while adding more melodic singing, FBTMOF have gone in a heavier direction. The first things you notice when comparing it to their debut, it that the riffs are heavier, the singer’s voice has lowered and there are less back up vocals from the guitarist. Brandon’s drumming has improved greatly and fits in almost perfectly with all the songs. The bass sounds great the few times you hear it.
“Art Damage” starts off with
Hey Kid, I’m A Computer. Stop All The Downloading . The guitar makes some strange noise and soon the drums, bass and screams kick in. 45 Seconds into the song the guitarist and screaming sing together, which then turns into a dual vocals part. Quite well done. The third chorus is accompanied by some nice ‘Oooh’s which also adds to the song.
Should Have Stayed In The Shallows smacks you straight in the face with the metal riffs. More of the same screaming from Dave, with Rupert singing the “
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ”. One of my favorite parts of the album starts then, “
The shark that got her was an efficient killer ” Where Dave screams most of it but his voice turns into a singing voice towards the end. Then starts
Consequenses David, You’ll Meet Your Fate In The Styx , you can finally hear bass! The screaming and guitars then come in. After 1:30 the song slows down and I think it’s the only time you actually hear Dave sing on this album, sounds very cool with the echo on the guitar.
Whiskey Is Alright In Its Place, But Its Place Is In Hell starts off immediately. Dave’s screams go to an almost death metal-like growl in this song.
The Story Of Curious Oysters has some quite catchy guitaring in the intro and some more death metal-like vocals. Drumming stands out in this song.
Absolutely Fabulous And Me , and
The Long Road To The Middle seem quite boring compared to the past few songs, but the album gets better again, a lot better actually.
The State Of Texas VS Fear Before is a song that could easily have been written by Every Time I Die. This song is similar to “On The Bright Side, She Could Choke” as it is easily the catchiest song from Art Damage. Very fast song with chaotic vocals. Rupert’s backing vocals don’t get much better than this.
Law Of Averages starts off heavy, but then turns into a poppier riff. I love it how they often go from very heavy to poppy even though you don’t notice much of the poppyness on this album. The song ends very suddenly and this album gives you a break right when you need it.
A Tyrant Meets His Maker is a great instrumental interlude. Quite a beautiful piece of music, too bad it only lasts for about a minute.
The God Awful Truth starts off very heavy, with slow drumming. Then the song speeds up and the screaming comes in. Back to the intro and then the screamer comes in, backed by the guitarist. Then the intro slowly fades out.
Recommended songs:
The State Of Texas VS Fear Before is quite the essential track. (you can hear it on [url]www.purevolume.com/fearbeforethemarchofflames[/url])
Hey Kid , and
Should Have Stayed In The Shallows are very good tracks too.
Pros
- Excellent drumming
- Good backing vocals
- Gone in a heavier direction
- Good lyrics
Cons
- Songs all sound very similar
- Lyrics are repeated a lot
- Very short (less than 30 minutes in total)
EDIT:
Rating: 3.8/5
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