Album Review: Emmure - Hindsight
Reviewed by Carl Black
My only previous run in with Emmure was when I stumbled on a video uploaded to You Tube titled “Why are Emmure the most hated band in metal”.
There is nothing to get upset about. You may not like them but “the most hated"? It seems that Emmure are the American equivalent of Bring Me the Horizon, they are a heavy band, but with some heavy bands fans like to bash them at every turn. Some people listen to Radio One, others to Radio Two. It's just personal preference.
They borrow heavily from the nu-metal era, especially early Korn. So much so that singer, Frankie Palmeri goes into a Jonathan Davies frenzy on the song 'Thunder Mouth'. Palmeri does drift off occasionally into the ridiculous, as far as lyrics are concerned. Check the questionable content on 'Trash Folder'. I’m almost sure this is done with tongue firmly in cheek.
The music is dripping in heaviness. The hard as hell riffs of guitarists Joshua Travi fall on you from a big height and smash all that came before it. What came before were the quieter parts that twist the song and set you up for the riff deluge. The heavier end is complemented by Palmeri’s full tilt, lung bursting, throat shredding vocals. No one could deny the 100% effort put into each and every song. As the album played out, I was drawn in. It was like Car Bomb, but instead of using a gazillion riffs in one song, they decided to use a couple of riffs and make an album out of it. It works. It’s as simple as that.
Place your hate else where people. Find another, more deserving punch bag. It’s a fairly straight forward, heavy in parts album with heavy as hell vocals. You like that? You’ll like this. You may even love it. You don’t like that? It will pass you by. They are just a heavy band transmitting on a slightly different frequency, and some people can’t / won’t tune in.
