Monday, April 23, 2012

Emmure - Slave To The Game (2012)




1. "Insert Coin"   0:30
2. "Protoman"  3:17
3. "She Gave Her Heart To Deadpool"  2:47
4. "I Am Onslaught"  3:01
5. "Bison Diaries"  2:44
6. "Poltergeist"  0:57
7. "Crossover Attack"  3:14
8. "Umar Dumps Dormammu"  2:48
9. "Blackheart Reigns”  2:59
10. "MDMA"  3:27
11. "War Begins With You"  2:53
12. "A.I."  3:19
(Genre –Hardcore/Deathcore)
(Label – Victory Records)



     
FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/emmure



  Say what you want about Emmure, you probably wont say anything I haven't already said so. The binary code guitar tabs, the nonexistent lyrical depth, Palmeri's obsession with his ex girlfriends and no matter if you hate Emmure or not, those jokes are there for a reason. BUT Emmure have built up a huge fanbase over the years that is consistent and supportive. This fanbase is also there a for a reason. They have put out some pretty solid albums on their early discography. Therefore Emmure has ended up being one of the most controversial bands in their scene. And this album doesn't help clearing the situation up at all if you ask me.

  My expectations after the previous album were not high. I was disappointed by the lack of consistency they showed on Speaker Of The Dead. Most songs were 1-2 minutes long and they were boring and uninteresting, so I expected the same shit here. Lets see If Slave To The Game proved me wrong.

  So after the "Insert Coin" intro that is pretty self explanatory, Protoman kicks In. OK, if you are a Fear Factory fan, you all had the same reaction as me, lets face it. BUT, if you can get out of you mind that you're listening to Shock's groovy rip off, it is a pretty solid track and a great album opener. so automatically and spontaneously, without you ever realizing it, your expectations are restored.
In this album Emmure give you what they always did so far. Groove, chug breakdowns then more groove and more chug breakdowns. Mark Castillo's addition (ex-Bury Your Dead, Between The Buried and Me) helped a lot in the endeavor of making that recipe successful once again, but that wasn't enough. Most of the songs are generic and shallow (although shallow is a word usually connected with Emmure's lyrics) and downtuning the guitars even more wasn't the brightest move because the riffs now sound muddy compared to all the previous albums and it really didn't give massiveness to the guitars or anything. Lets talk about the chug breakdowns. They do use them a lot. And I mean, A LOT. I know this is Emmure and that's to be expected from them, but you can't bypass the fact it gets really frustrating cause there are songs in this album that had potential such as "Crossover Attack"  and "War Begins With You" but those fuckin chug breakdowns keep popping up to the point it becomes annoying. Seriously, if I had to take a tequila shot each time I wrote down the word "Chug" and "Breakdown" In the notes I kept for that review, I would be wasted by track #7. Also, the pitch shift pedal on guitars (check Pantera's  "Becoming" to get a hint on what that is) is also used alot . Boy do they love that one. As a guitarist, I love that effect too, but Emmure fucking squeezes the shit out of it on this album. Now that's not necessarily bad, but I think it tends to become a bit overused with each album they put out. The vocals are typical Palmeri vocals whatever that means. Personally I like 'em. They don't display the amount of emotion they used to but they are still pretty solid. The drumming is as good as it gets in an Emmure record. All I can say is that Mark Castillo proves his reputation once more. They lyrics are pretty ummm "basic" but definitely improved.
Despite the overall genericness this album features, there are some pretty bright moments like "I am Onslaught" which is amazing, and "MDMA" which had me shouting "YES, FUCKIN FINALLY". The reason was it reminds me of good ol' Emmure's moledic songs like "Chicago's Finest" "Don't Be One" "Sleeping Princess In Devil's Castle" etc. This song Is an oasis in this record which had Frankie finally put some emotion in his vocals.

  Overall this album has no terrible songs like the previous one had, but most of them lie in mediocrity, excluding the ones I mentioned earlier. And unfortunately It did not prove me wrong. I love to hate Emmure, but I just can't. I want them to put out albums like the first two again because I enjoyed those. With Slave To The Game, they go even further from sounding like the fist albums and they seem to begin coming short on ideas. This album had potential. Unfortunately that potential never really tapped. Hopefully these guys will get back on track and shut some trash-talking mouths, including mine.
Notable Songs : Protoman, I Am Onslaught, MDMA   
 

6/10





2 comments:

  1. Im excited to hear Castillo in emmure he was the reason i got into BYD's cover your tracks. And the material on btbams silent circus is still some of my favourite. Good review, I am now gonna check this one out....with adjusted expectations

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