Most of the materials I get in for review usually goes on at least one bus ride with me. It's the perfect time for me to take a more in depth listen without being interrupted by work, phone calls, roommates, Josh IMing me about Fastbreak lyrics, or any other hinderances that deviate from the task of giving a CD a truly listened to review.
When We Fall's debut EP was no different, I needed to go take the twenty-three minute trip to go cash in my check and I figured A Cry in Despair would fill up some of that time perfectly as I trekked my way to downtown Saint Paul. The first couple of songs on the EP slither by me in an uninteresting manner. I am instantly reminded of the riff heavy thickly metallic sound of Comeback Kid being fronted by the nearly in tears vocal shredding antics by the singer of Killing the Dream. It's nothing horrible, alas though, nothing remarkable either.
By the time "Bishops Yard" and "You Made Me Wrong" roll around things tend to get a bit attention grabbing. I hear more melody being plugged in via some nice catchy riffs. There are also a couple of acoustic sightings, and the vocals tend to get a bit weepier as I venture farther into the five songs presented on the disc. Then the title track comes into the open and that's when everything fell apart. I don't mind acoustic parts to start a song or even used to bridge a song. I'd rather do without them as a whole but they don't annoy me as much as other musical faux pas would. However, when you end a song with a guitar player plucking at the heartstrings unplugged and the singer weeping about a father he never had it tends to turn my stomach sour. This type of over emotional overload output was used a lot during the mid 90's by bands that enclosed their shoddily recorded 7"s into paper bags and christened it "emo" and it hasn't aged well. Hearing it done again in 2007 just makes me want to take A Cry in Despair out my Discman jab it ninja style into the throat of the idiot next to me talking too loud into his Blue Tooth.
Granted not one part of one song ruins a whole release, but When We Fall doesn't exactly bring anything new to the table either. There were parts on A Cry in Despair I just heard on that In the Face of War disc I just reviewed. Once again, this EP isn't bad by any means. Actually at times I find myself being fond of a fast part here, a hook here, a mosh part there. However, the thing I remember the most on A Cry in Despair is the big ole emo part at the end and that just turned me off to When We Fall. Maybe I'm just a cold-hearted. Maybe my soul has turned black. Whatever it is, A Cry in Despair won't be accompanying me on any bus rides in the near future.
