Review Summary: The Austin Carlile Five fall short of the expectations set by many.
Of Mice & Men (at the time of recording) is:
Austin Carlile - Lead Vocals
Jaxin Hall - Bass/Backing Vocals
Shayley Bourget - Rhythm Guitar/Clean Vocals
Phil Manansala - Lead Guitar
Valentino Arteaga - Drums
As soon as Austin Carlile left Attack Attack! and started Of Mice & Men with Jaxin Hall, there was much talk regarding the duo and their demo (especially the Lady Gaga "Poker Face" cover) nearly imediately. Carlile and Hall's new duo was signed to Rise Records days after the demo went online, featuring two new songs "Seven Thousand Miles for What?" and "No Really, It's Fine". In essence, the following OM&M had going into this album was massive. The expectations that magazines, and critics alike had for this album was unmeasurable. Of Mice & Men was expected to be one of the next biggest hardcore acts. Having said that, OM&M went into the studio with producer Joey Sturgis (who has worked with The Devil Wears Prada, Emarosa, We Came as Romans, Mychildren Mybride - to name a few) to throw down some new material. This is what they put out:
The album seems to me, like a combination of three elements recycled and repeated over and over again.
Number one being, the use of Shayley Bourget's clean vocals in every chorus. Don't get me wrong, Shayley's voice is exceptional. Except, for the overuse and underlying lack of creativity that I feel his parts had. I'm not trying to put his voice down at all, in fact I'd go as far as to say that Shayley's voice saved the album from being a complete train wreck. Shayley's vocal parts in "This One's for You", and "Westbound & Down" seem to be the only differentiated ones of the album.
Number Two - This album was The Austin Carlile Show (or we could even go with Attack Attack 2.0). Austin Carlile is a good hardcore vocalist. By no stretch of the imagination is he the greatest, or the best at what he does. That's not a stab at Austin. He is definately a solid vocalist and his highs are definately sought after at some level in the hardcore scene. But, nonetheless, to some degree, Austin Carlile's vocals just become annoying. After about track six, I was tired of Austin. I wanted more Shayley and less Austin at some points. Austin's delivery is mediocre at best, throughout this whole album, to the point where I honestly didn't know three or four of the songs apart, due to the constant repitition of Austin's delivery and the simple musicianship displayed on each and every song.
Number Three - Breakdowns. Breakdowns. Breakdowns. That's all I heard throughout this whole album. It's almost as if each and every song was written with two or three breakdowns in mind. The Of Mice & Men thought regarding breakdowns is the idea that they are neccesary and quintessential to each and every song. The Bible of Hardcore/Metalcore nowhere states that breakdowns are absolutely neccesary to be a great band. But, like other musical techniques, Of Mice & Men abused the breakdown and threw in recycled rhythms used throughout each and every song on the album and layered them into breakdowns.
In all honesty, those were the first three things I noticed while listening to this album. But there are definately things that OM&M did that definately grabbed my attention and made me replay it a couple times. This album does have a lot of replay value contained in it. A second play might just do this album justice for a few people. Reused and recycled riffs are used throughout this album just about as much as breakdowns, but there are some exceptional riffs which I love, when they were thrown behind Austin's vocals.
"The Ballad of Tommy Clayton and the Rawdawg Millionaire" definately gets my vote for the catchiest riff at the beginning of the song when Carlile's vocals come in. Catchy catchy catchy. The chorus to "Westbound & Down" is a close runner up. The gang chant in "They Don't Call it the South for Nothing" instantly adds it to the live set list for OM&M.
Also noteworthy, Valentino Arteaga's drumming is extremely well done in the album, and adds a little bit of a flare to most of the songs. Arteaga's tight drumming kept most of these tracks from sinking, along with Shayley Bourget's clean vocal lines (as previously mentioned).
Pros:
- Westbound & Down
- Tommy Clayton & The Rawdawg Millionaire
- Shayley Bourget
Cons:
- Too many breakdowns.
- Too much Austin Carlile.
- Not enough Jaxin Hall.
The buzz about Of Mice & Men was enough to keep many people, like myself, waiting until the day when this album was revealed. But it didn't quite make it to my list. Maybe next time, boys.
