Monday, February 10, 2014

Of Mice & Men Release Best Album

Of Mice & Men haven't always been the best band. Their music on their past albums was generic metalcore and had a few great songs but nothing too amazing. Then last month the band released their third record Restoring Force.
This album combines in a nu-metal sound. While nu-metal isn't usually good (Limb Bizkit, Korn) it can sometimes be great (Otep, older Kittie) and bands like Suicide Silence have had nu-metal influences on their recent records.
The band have finally found what makes them great. The band's vocals don't really vary that much from the traditional metalcore mold. Screamed verses by lead vocalist Austin Carlile who is well known for being in Attack Attack! for their first record and clean vocals on the choruses done by Aaron Pauley.
This is really done well on songs like "Feels Like Forever," "Glass Hearts" and "Bones Exposed. These songs are some of the best on the disc. These songs contrast with other songs such as "Would You Still Be There," "Space Enough to Grow," "Identity Disorder," and "Another You" which feature predominantly clean vocals by Pauley. On "Break Free" Carlile gets to shine as most of the song is unclean vocals. This song is one of the heaviest song on the album and has a chorus that is mostly unclean vocals with some cleans by Pauley peppered in. "You Make Me Sick" is another example of this. This song is the heaviest on the record and it's angry and will be sure to induce mosh pits for many shows to come.
The album's two best songs are the album opener "Public Service Announcement" and first single "You're Not Alone." "Public Service Announcement" is an angry song that tells off internet haters and anybody who doubts the band or talks negatively about them. This song is so honest and that's why it's an album highlight. "You're Not Alone" has a very nu-metal melody and is a catchy, fun, heavy song that just gets stuck in your head for days.
Restoring Force is by far Of Mice & Men's best record and it sets the bar pretty high for them in the future. Hopefully things can only go up from here.

No comments:

Post a Comment