Thursday, September 17, 2009

Oh, man. Y'all are gonna kill me...

Emmure
Felony
Victory




Let's go ahead and get the negatives out of the way. Yes, Emmure is THE band to hate in metal and hardcore right now. Yes, many a high school linebacker is getting fired up for the game on Friday by listening to Felony. Yes, Emmure engages in ridiculousness like this and this. However, a good album is a good album. If I deviate from my criteria of judging music, then I'm being intellectually dishonest and I'm doing you a disservice. Felony is a good record.

First off, this is not a deathcore album. Maybe Emmure's older material is, I'm not familar with those records, but Felony is not. This is the evolution of doomy nu-metal with some early 2000s metalcore mixed in for good measure. Emmure plays a modern take on the classic Korn sound with an obvious Bury Your Dead influence but also with shades of bands like Sinai Beach and even Burnt by the Sun. Before I get death threats, let me say that I would be shocked if the similarity of Felony to the S/T Burnt by the Sun EP is anything other than a coincidence or an accident; but here we are.

Anyway, this record has no blastbeats. There are no songs that are particularly fast and all of the songs are stuffed to the gills with mosh/slam riffs. If Suicide Silence is the standard bearer of deathcore, then Felony doesn't fall into the category.

I can't say that I'm down with Emmure's gangsta/wigger posturing or the borderline sexism in the lyrics. Musically speaking though, Felony is a superb listening experience. Of all these young kids and new bands exploring the nu-metal sound and making it their own, Emmure has impressed me the most.




Emmure - Felony




\m/

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