Reviews

The second effort from Colorado-based Fear Before the March of Flames is a frantic frenzy of screams and time changes and breakdowns. Like their prior release, Odd How People Shake, all of the songs on this record progress without structure. Instead, they move through their songs linearly, just one verse to another, one riff into another, and while some of the riffs do repeat in the songs, there is no set structure to where they repeat. Every breakdown is usually a new riff or verse. Unlike the last release, this is really heavy all the way through, with nowhere near as many melodic breakdowns and some songs without any melodic part at all. They have two singers, one screaming and one the other kind of talking. Whenever the yelling/talking singer is in the song it is usually in a call and response form with the screaming singer and rarely on his own. The screaming has become more abrasive from the last record, probably just because its recorded better and comes through easier over the music. This tends to lend some of the songs, especially the ones with odd time changes and which stay screaming the entire time, a bit of a converge feel. I couldn't help but channel a little jane doe through this, but with a heavy dose of In on the Kill Taker thrown in.  Thats probably the best i can describe them, the unwanted child of converge and fugazi. The guitars stay mean and gritty and sound a lot more precise as they careen through the semi-random song anti-structure and play off each other really well, mimicking the call and response the singers are often performing. I really like this record overall.  it stays interesting throughout, although because there arent really any pacing songs interspersed it can start to get tediously heavy towards the end.  there is one short instrumental track that sets up the last song really well though. I got it a month or so ago and i still listen to it constantly and have to recommend it, especially to hardcore fans looking for something a little different.