Review Summary: A masterpiece that manages to stay consistent throughout its entire duration.
The term "emo" in the context of music used to mean something completely different. Nowadays (well, actually not so much anymore, but in the early-to-mid 2000s), the genre is known for its melodramatic lyrics and lack of talent across the board.
Hawthorne Heights and
Jimmy Eat World come to mind. However, before the mainstream emo fad took place, bands called "emo" included
Fugazi and
Hot Water Music. If you compare "emo" music from the 90s with the genre's 2000s offerings, it's not hard to tell how times have changed.
Fuel For The Hate Game is a great example of what emo music was before the genre was hijacked. The band, especially this album, displays a unique sound. A notable aspect of the band's sound is the two-vocalist system in which both singers use the same style, as opposed to other bands that employ a "clean" vocalist and a "screamer." All instruments are played well--the guitars are pleasantly noisy, the drumming is solid, but my personal favorite thing about this band is that you can actually
hear the bassist. Although the aforementioned musical elements are found on most, if not all, of the band's releases, this particular album showcases the very best each member can offer.
The album opener,
220 Years, is a good choice for a first song on the album. It's very conventional (which isn't a bad thing) until the bridge. At that point, the band shows the listener why he or she should continue listening to the album. The song builds up to a powerful final chorus, which leaves the listener confident about what the next 35 minutes will entail.
Turnstile is the next song, and it's one of the more memorable songs off the album. The energy is at full blast for the first two verses and choruses. After that, the band goes off into an amazing instrumental jam with two distinct sections, the latter having especially good drumming.
The next track is
Blackjaw. It's in 3/4, and is the first song on the album to really show how great of a bassist Jason Black is. Like the previous track, this song also evolves into a nice instrumental section that makes the song seem longer than it actually is--in this case, this is a very good thing.
As soon as I heard the beginning of
Trademark, I knew this song was special. The song starts off with a fast bass riff, and then the other instruments come in and craft an amazing intro to an amazing song. At this point in the album, you begin to notice a pattern: songs end with long instrumental sections. This song is no exception.
Freightliner is probably one of the band's most popular songs because it was on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. This song probably has the best guitar work on the entire album, and the best vocals as well.
If this album has any weak point, it would be tracks 6 through 10. It's a big "if", though, because I don't think there
is a real weak stretch in this album--just a slightly-lesser degree of awesome from the rest of the album.
The Sleeping Fan has a different tone than the first five tracks, but it's great in its own way.
Facing and Backing doesn't really stand out for anything, but it has great riffs and is very solid overall.
Rock Singer is probably the key reason for this album flowing as well as it does. The two songs before it aren't quite as exciting as the rest of the album, so it is a needed infusion of energy at this point, the chorus being particularly energizing. It splits any possible boredom from the last two tracks, as well as the next two:
North and About is probably my least favorite song on the entire album, but it still has some cool guitar work and instrumental sections.
Difference Engine, like Facing and Backing, is very good but doesn't stand out.
Any slack from the second half of the album is picked up in the closer,
Drunken Third. It never gets close to boring, mostly because of how strong the chorus is. The album ends on a pretty loud section.
The key to enjoying this album as much as possible is giving the "boring" songs a few more listens, because they really are good. Overall, though, these are the best songs:
Turnstile
Trademark
Freightliner
Rock Singer
If the rest of the album is given enough of a chance to sink in, though, the result is 41 minutes of amazing 90s post-hardcore. The album's biggest strength lies in how consistent it is--there's not a single "bad song." For this reason, I give it a 5.0 "classic" rating.
