genres: metalcore
Ever come across a band after they’ve seemingly finished their career, and wonder what if they’d release just one more album? It felt like they were on the verge of doing something truly special, but just couldn’t quite break through? There’s probably over a hundred bands like that for me, until recently including My Eyes Fall Victim. Their 2014 release Sometime Come the Mother. Sometime the Wolf. is an incredible release for where metalcore was at the time, marrying the riffy goodness of Killswitch Engage or Still Remains with subtle atmospherics and electronics and dotted with moments of then unusually brutality. It also was relatively unpolished, in spite of the advanced songwriting on display.
Now, seven years later, they’ve finally returned! It’s not the ambitious and revolutionary follow up that seemed likely back then, but the genre, listeners, and presumably the band have all changed a lot since. Instead we get a delightfully nostalgic release brimming with energy and maturity. It’s a lighter and brighter album, switching much more frequently between cleans and screams, and abandoning most of the heaviest notions. There’s still more than enough riffs, but more of a punk influence slips into both the guitars and drums much of the time, counterpointed by frequent piano lines in place of more generic atmospheric touches. “Do Not Go Gentle” kicks things off with an almost a melodic hardcore groove, finally contrasted by “Mothertongue” which brings the best elements of early 2000s post-hardcore (think the best of Silverstein) into the modern decade. The band can’t resist challenging themselves for the entire record, however. Penultimate track “Dirge / A Death Before Death” is a nine minute epic that blends a few touches of doom metal into the formula, showing that the band is more than capable of surprises when warrented.
This is far from the most ambitious album of the year, but it’s among the most fun, especially for those with fond memories of past eras of metalcore. It’s perfectly nostalgic, neither denying progress or fully blending into the present. The lyrics serve to highlight this theme as well, often focused on moving through life and confronting aging in a manner that’s neither trite or self-aggrandizing, and never neglects hope. Everything about this album, from it’s existence to how the band has matured, is pure delightful surprise.
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