We Gave It Hell is one of the best tracks on 36 Crazyfists’ new album. It has a nice passage in the middle of the song where things get slow and heavy. Presumably this is the famous metalcore ‘breakdown’. It doesn’t last long of course before the song gallops off again, then it goes a bit chuggy for a few seconds, then it hits the heartrending melodic chorus, then another throaty bit…
A few years ago, metalcore seemed like the antidote to the then dominant sportswear and seven string toting nu metal. Come back Fred Durst and bring your red baseball cap - all is forgiven. At least we could laugh at the luridly ridiculous Limp Bizkit and they had Wes Borland, whom even the most hardened Slayer fan held in grudging respect. There seems to be an overwhelming tide of metalcore bands that far outnumber their turntable endorsing forebears and today’s Kerrang favourites are actually far more interchangeable.
If you happen to like this kind of music, you can save a lot of money by only buying one album (this one perhaps) because they really are all the same. Chugging guitars: check; melodic Iron Maiden aping guitars: check; anthemic melodic chorus that is actually melodically inept and poorly sung: check; fiddly drums with lots of lightweight doublekick: check; veganism - we don’t have it in writing, but it can be safely assumed; the list goes on.
One of the primary characteristics of metalcore is adolescent bleeding heart on black sleeve, weeping sincerity - feel their pain. We come back to nu metal - that was also concerned with how empty some tough guy felt inside, but it somehow achieved a comedic effect. Metalcore leans more towards ‘my girl friend has dumped me’ but the effect is the same, unleavened by a tune like ‘Break Stuff’ and the opportunity to laugh at the absurdity of it all. If you want to listen to some kid shouting at you about how sad he is, please buy this album tomorrow.
To be fair to 36 Crazyfists, The Tide And Its Takers is an expertly written, played and produced album, but all metalcore albums are. ‘The Back Harlow Road’ and ‘Only A Year Or So…’ feature some nice ideas with more interesting grooves than the listener has a right to expect. It is a good example of its genre. Whether you think this is a good thing or not depends on your credulity and tolerance for ideas that have been reheated far too many times now.
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