The Hammer of Thor

Emery - We Do What We Want

Album: We Do What We Want
Band: Emery
Label: Tooth & Nail/SolidState

Review:

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried in the slightest when Seattle-based post-hardcore outfit Emery announced that their two-headed vocal monster was being pared down following the departure of former lead singer/guitarist/bassist Devin Shelton.  If I’m honest, it put me at great unease.  One of the things that originally drew me to Emery (and The Receiving End of Sirens for that matter) was the lead-singer-by-committee approach.  As far as I’m concerned, if a band has vocal depth two or three members deep, they should utilize it, and Emery and TREOS always had.  But then TREOS broke up and broke my heart.  And now word had it Devin was leaving Emery on an “indefinite hiatus.”  My heart sunk.  I didn’t know what would happen.  Toby Morelle has always been a very competent vocalist, but his raw passion and edge were always wonderfully balanced out by Devin’s velvety vocals, and I wasn’t sure how their music would be affected.

I’ve been a huge fan of Emery for a good seven years, since their explosive debut The Weak’s End.  Heck, my band, The Poor and the Prevalent, is named after an Emery song.  I watched Emery transition with minor lineup changes into something a little more mainstream friendly when they debuted 2006′s The Question, which was a little more traditional in song structure and a generally more approachable album, yet remained Emery through and through.  I listened as they transitioned toward something a little more rock-and-roll with their third release I’m Only A Man, which I thoroughly enjoyed although most Emery fans consider it the band’s weakest album.  In 2008 and 2009 I witnessed them take a witch’s brew of all the best parts of each of their first three CDs and forge it into what I consider their strongest EP/CD duo to date, When Broken Hearts Prevail and …In Shallow Seas We Sail. If you’ve read my blog in the past you might remember the dazzling review I gave ISSWS.  Then this year, news came about their recording a new album and how it was going to be their “heaviest album yet” and I smiled with excitement.  They revealed the above album art, which I’m sure will upturn a few eyebrows.  They said the art as a dual meaning: they, as a band, do what they want musically (I assume they’re talking about the heavier turn), and secondly, how we do what we want in life; we become the gods of our worlds, which is scary.  Midway through advertising the release, they announced they had signed on with Tooth & Nail’s sister label, metalcore/hardcore heavy SolidState, and would release the album through both labels, reaching a greater audience.  They didn’t announce Devin’s departure until the album was already done recording, so no one really knew if he’d be on the new album.  I hoped and prayed he was.  Sadly, he wasn’t…

And then they unveiled “The Cheval Glass”…

When the song started, I almost did a double take.  This is EMERY?  It had been awhile since I had heard Toby scream this much.  And then partway through the intro he screams the words “REPETITION!” in what could be an homage to Zao.  The scalding screams caught me by surprise, and through the intro I hoped the band wasn’t slipping into the hardcore abyss that is so oversaturated with recycled drivel these days.  My fears were soon put to rest when the verse came in and it was traditional Emery again.  Sure, they were significantly heavier than they used to be, but it was definitely still Emery.

The second track on the album, entitled “Scissors,” kicks off in a flurry of double pedal kick, dissonant guitars, and more screams from Morelle.  The verse kicks in and again it’s back to good old Emery, albeit with a heavier undertone and intermittent breakdowns.  Guitarist Matt Carter shows off some fine technical playing after Morelle warns “and here comes the breakdown…”  The guitar work throughout the song is superb and sets the mood.  What really amazed me is how much of The Weak’s End I could hear in the guitars and synths, a pattern surprisingly evident in the rest of the album.  The outro of the song reminds me of the band’s cover of “I Need A Hero” from the Punk Goes ’80s compilation album.

“The Anchors” kicks off as the third track and gets shifty with the beat as the band switches back and forth between a 4/4 and 6/8 feel.  The most evident thing missing from old Emery is simultaneous dual vocal lines which occasionally show up when Toby overdubs himself.  It does the trick, but I miss Shelton’s contrasting voice.  The breakdown comes a little before halfway through the song, laden with double-pedal and an interesting amount of attention to the bell of the ride cymbal, which I found unique and entertaining.  The bridge hits and breaks it down in a way that feels very Weak’s End, before Toby’s vocoded vocals come in and hypnotize the listener.  The song reverts back to the chorus and ends tastefully.

The fourth track, “The Curse of Perfect Days,” I have written about before.  But that edition was a radio-ready version (i.e. no screaming).  The album version starts out quietly before jumping back into the fracas.  The screaming brings more edge and energy to the song than was evident before.  I find something about the mood of this song to be profoundly sad, and at a recent concert I attended, Morelle shared that he wrote this song after having recurring dreams about the death of his wife.  It’s amazing, Emery’s ability to fuse what sounds like such upbeat music with such a somber feel.  I’d almost say it’s one of the saddest happy songs I’ve heard… or happiest sad songs.  It’s something they’ve done in the past that they have a knack for: coupling biting or maudlin lyrics with peppy, major, upbeat music.

“You Wanted It” is far and away my favorite song on the album.  When they played it live, I was taken aback at the start of the song.  It was almost vicious!  That level of energy isn’t quite captured on the album, as expected, but the beginning certainly packs a punch.  The singing that starts after the screams is quintessential Emery again, and I can hear it being even better if it had been Devin trading the call-and-response with Toby.  The music cuts out into a compressed drum and bass section with reverbed vocals leading into a short breakdown that could have been lifted right out of I’m Only A Man. The chorus has, in my opinion, the catchiest melody on the album, paired with an infectiously addictive synth line that sticks stubbornly in my head all day.  More IOAM influence comes at the end of the second verse, when we hear Toby let loose on the vocals, passionately crying “you’re hurt because it wasn’t about you” that seethes with frustration and exasperation.  The song almost feels like a surrender, giving someone what they insist of having, even though you know it’s bad for them, and it’s somehow evident not only in the lyrics, but in the music itself.  The instruments carry such sorrow while masquerading as being uplifting.  The waltz in the bridge is one of the few sections that feature the dual-vocal parts and does it exceptionally well.  The bass and the vocals help build the tension which yields to Toby yelling, in very I’m Only A Man fashion, “I was washed in the blood, I was born of a spirit, but I drowned…” which explodes in a searing breakdown that leads to the final chorus and the song ends strong.

The sixth track, “I’m Not Here For Rage, I’m Here For Revenge (Not Your Hook Up)” [that's a mouthful] portrays a wonderful dichotomy between heavy and light.  The intro is as heavy a moment as you’ll find on the album, but it abruptly fades into airy guitar, and another dual-vocal part is built on synchronized guitar/double kick pedal that is as tightly produced as can be.  Speaking of produced, guitarist Matt Carter did most of the producing on this album, and I must say it sounds like he’s going to be a big name in the industry very soon.  The rest of the song carries on in familiar fashion, quite reminiscent to ISSWS paired with TWE.  The bridge comes in and it sounds quite different from a lot of the stuff Emery’s done in the past.  The outro features a fantastic guitar solo by Carter, who flexes some chops in harmonized parts.

“Daddy’s Little Peach” is a peculiar track.  It’s very different from the rest of the album.  Borrowing a drumbeat from The Classic Crime’s latest album, and mixing it with scratchy electric piano and meandering vocals, the track is fairly minimalistic until the chorus.  When it hits, heated guitars mix with sawtoothed synths and the band flip-flops between heavy and soft as Morelle complains “when will I be old enough to do as I please?”  The lyrics of the song are very pointed and biting, calling out a girl who’s using all the tricks and living dangerously.  The bridge section reminds me of I’m Only A Man again.  The song almost seems to be mocking, as Morelle sings “and all of it just to sit with some wannabes and counterfeits, how respectable… how respectable…”  He then suggests “let’s turn the lights on” and reveal her for what she really is, reacting with a vicious scream, which gets the point across rather well.

“Addicted to Bad Decisions” has a feel reminiscent of “The Terrible Secret” from The Question mixed with a When Broken Hearts Prevail… influence.  It’s very uptempo, with rapidly sung lyrics.  The song never really slows down, although the band uses switches to 6/8 to give the feel of it drawing out.  The song keeps jumping from one part to the next; there’s very little downtime.  The song has a frantic, desperate feel to it and never really lets up until the abrupt conclusion.

The last two tracks are so starkly different from the thunderous first eight in that they’re acoustic, reflective tracks.  ”I Never Got to See the West Coast” tells the story of a kid contemplating suicide.  It’s hauntingly sorrowful, diligently honest, and more clever than it might sound at first listen.  Anyone who has struggled with depression or suicidal thoughts will probably be affected by this track and be able to relate on a deep level.  There is redemption near the end of the song as Morelle sings relating to the individual: “but it’s the life I dreamed I’d have, the love I’d find in my grasp, the words I could share with someone… those thoughts keep the breath in my lungs, that tomorrow my hope will become fulfilled by Your love that can’t be undone, and save a wretch like me…” and shares that he feels the same way at times, but that one day they should go see the west coast.  It’s a pretty uplifting ending to a melancholy track.

“Fix Me” closes the album as what could almost be a worship song.  Morelle cries out for Jesus to “fix me, can you fix me?  I’ve been waiting so long to feel this heartbeat…”  The song is clever in contrast to the other tracks that felt so upbeat but were actually quite somber, because it feels so sad but has this uplifting, positive hope in it.  It’s a good note to end the album on.

Overall, the album is as advertised: it is definitely Emery’s heaviest release to date.  But it does not suffer from this, as some would think.  It uses the heavy-light dichotomy deftly and maintains the Emery pedigree, even though one half of the vocal-monster is missing.  The album is laced with passion, blunt and honest lyrics, infectious melodies, and blazing breakdowns.  I do feel like it would have been made even better with Devin still a part of the band, but I don’t feel like his absence hurt the band at all.  What I mean is that there wasn’t any real drop-off with Devin leaving, but I think the album would have been the best they’ve done had Devin still been in the lineup.  That isn’t to say I don’t love the album.  I truly do.  I’m extremely impressed with what they’ve pulled off, gradually going from a sextet to a quartet, while losing one of their lead vocalists and writers, and maintaining their sound’s integrity.  It isn’t an easy feat and they deserve recognition for it.  For now, I still think …In Shallow Seas We Sail is the best album Emery has done (heck I have it 6 out of 5 stars…), but We Do What We Want is certainly one of the band’s stronger releases, and I believe it deserves each star I’ve awarded it.

Verdict:
5 out of 5 stars

Buy it when it comes out this Tuesday, March 29th.  I’ll be anxiously awaiting my pre-order bundle in the mail.  Check out the band’s website, Facebook, and MySpace pages for more!

EDIT: I just downloaded the bonus track “Crumbling” from the deluxe edition of We Do What We Want.  It still has Devin on it, and it absolutely blows my mind.  Makes me more than a little sad that he isn’t on the rest of the album, because it is just that good!