Customer Reviews

Goodbye To The Gallows

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

By first listen, you'll think that this is a replica of The Acacia Strain's "The Dead Walk". Why I say this? Well, the guitars are downtuned to a really low note, the riffs and breakdown sound similar, guess like you could write Emmure as a ripoff band. But wait, there are elements that make this band distinctable as well. First, the vocal range is very diverse. Sometimes you'll hear a semi-guttural just like The Acacia Strain, then you'll hear vocals that will easily remind you of Sinai Beach. Also, the song titles have a somewhat original twist, especially my favorite track, "When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong" (Chappelle's Show anybody?).

Overall, this is no way original, but it is an enjoyable record, and compared to most of the tripe Victory is spewing out today, this will surprise the listener.

I heard the song "ten signs you should leave" like 3 months ago or more, and i'm not gonna lie, i hated it. I hated the weird talking that he does. It was so out of the ordinary and weird. But i loved his scream and everything else about the band. I had kinda forgotten about the band until the other day when i was browsing around in best buy. I thought "ah what the hell, i'll give it a listen". I first heard the song "ten signs you should leave" again, and was still a little annoyed by those vocals, but i listened to the rest of the song and realized it was awesome other than that. By the time track three had finished i was stunned. WHAT AN INTRO!! The tremolo effect on the scream in the beggining is killer. I listened to the whole album and was just amazed. Its nothing groundbreaking, but its just damn good. Very heavy metalcore/hardcore/deathcore stuff. My new favorite band at the moment. I recommend it to fans of I killed the prom queen, and stuff along those lines.

Deathcore is a genre of metal that relies on breakdowns to change the tempo of a song, mostly for the benefit of allowing members of an audience at a concert to have something to mosh to. It's a trademark associated with both the Deathcore and Metalcore genres, and is often something used against the genres by fans of more typical metal acts. With the exception of bands like Veil of Maya, All Shall Perish, After the Burial, and a select few other bands, Deathcore bands often fall into the habit of slowing down a song for the purpose of adding in breakdowns too often. This is fine if you're a fan of breakdowns, and the addition of them really doesn't matter when executed properly and if they actually add to the structure of the song.

Emmure is no exception to this rule. Following the standard Deathcore formula of using high shrieks, low grunts, and breakdowns, Emmure makes a very typical sounding Deathcore album in terms of style. However, that is not to say that the album is horrendous by any means. In fact for fans of standard Deathcore acts such as The Acacia Strain, Suicide Silence, Oceano, and Carnifex, Emmure's album "Goodbye to the Gallows" still manages to stand out as something that may peek some fans' interests. Emmure manages to add enough individuality and personal touches to the album to still separate themselves from the rest of the bands within the genre.

The album begins in stereotypical Deathcore fashion, a short (very short) introductory track that features a basic breakdown in order to set the mood for the first track to follow shortly after the introduction is over. This is something can be found on several other Deathcore albums (such as Carnifex), so Emmure falls victim to the cliche on this track. From here, the album gets things going with "10 Signs You Should Leave" which has an excellent rhythm going on, with Frankie's usual change in vocals from highs to lows and to spoken word. Another track that demonstrates Emmure's capability at writing songs and music is "You Gotta Henna Tattoo that Said Forever". The track uses a perfect blend of every aspect to Emmure's sound at any given point and does so perfectly.

The album doesn't break any new ground within the genre (unlike what Veil of Maya, Born of Osiris, etc.) the album is still solid. In fact, the track "Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle" mixes things up by throwing acoustic guitar work, making the track stand out more than the remainder of the album. As for the rest of the songs, Emmure uses heavily distorted guitars playing often simple riffs and combining this with Frankie's traditional vocal styles of using low grunts, high shrieks, and clean spoken vocals.

One of the few negatives about Emmure's style of Deathcore since they never rely on more technical instrumentation showcased by more complex Deathcore acts such as All Shall Perish or Thy Art is Murder. However, "Goodbye to the Gallows" still manages to be a very solid album that may satisfy most fans of the genre. However, if you're looking for something more technical, pick up anything by All Shall Perish, After the Burial, Veil of Maya, Born of Osiris, Thy Art is Murder, I Declare War, Glass Casket, or Through the Eyes of the Dead, since Emmure may be too simplistic for some people to handle. If you're just looking for some loud, heavy, brutal, and overall good quality music without the technicality of more complex bands, then Emmure does manage to provide a good album worth checking out in "Goodbye to the Gallows".

I was a bit disappointed. its a great album but sounded waaaaaayyy too much like the acacia strain. The vocals are what set them apart. The songs are good but a bit on the short side. not much in this review but just buy acacia strain. theyre better and it wont upset you that these guys are copying them.

All I can say is METALCORE! These guys can tear it up. This album is east coast metalcore at its best. It gets a bit repeditive towards the end of the disc, that's the only reason they get 4 stars instead of 5. If you want a cd that makes you want to murder ex girlfriends this will get the job done.

ok, let me start out by saying i don't like hardcoe, metalcore, and most other metal subgenre's involving the word core. i generally listen to real death metal bands and black metal bands. but, biases aside, this album was pretty good, or at least functional. i borrowed it from a friend a while ago after i heard a song on xm radio. vocally, the singer does do a very good growl and a decent scream. the band otherwise is good and plays interesting catches, melodies and rythms. the musical talent is there, however don't expect anything incredibly unique. what brings this cd down is the lyrics and the "clean" vocals that are spoken more than sung. lyrically, this band is about a stones throw away from slipknot or my chemical romance...its just alot of emo whying. as a fan of bands like gwar and dog fashion disco, i was expecting funny or sarcastic lyrics when i read the song tittles, but i was wrong.the spoken lyrics kind of interupt the songs and focus you in on the poor lyrics. so, all in all, this cd is smack dab in the middle and will impress those in the harcore crowd, and its a decent change of pace for fans of death metal if you can ignore the lyrics and get past the spoken words. if your looking for a great cut of death metal though, its not here. check origin's latest "anithesis" or nile's "black seeds of vengeance".

This album sucks. Don't get it. It's a disgrace to hardcore. If you want hardcore, look for something by Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, etc. Or if you want something by more modern bands, an album by either Paint it Black or Ceremony will do.

This, however, is crap. Nothing but breakdowns. No speed, no real "intensity". Just cookie-cutter metalcore we've all heard a thousand times before. Hell, there are even good metalcore bands out there who can actually make decent music, if this is what you're looking for instead of normal hardcore: Every Time I Die, Shai Hulud, Between The Buried And Me. Get something by these bands, or the ones listed in the first paragraph instead.

But not this garbage.

EMMURE-GOODBYE TO THE GALLOWS

I'll try not to do too many negative reviews, since I'm better at writing positive reviews anyway. However, after being forced to hear this album over and over again by my little brother, I couldn't take it anymore. I have to shed light on this musical abomination.

The production is nothing special. It's overproduced like all the other generic metalcore/deathcore records out there. Frankie's vocals are simply grating to hear. While I do suppose it takes some talent to utilize three vocal styles at once, it doesn't help when he sucks at doing it. The growls are the most tolerable part. They're generic death metal growls; nothing special about them. He also has those annoying hardcore screams that are typical in -core music today. It's all been done before by thousands of bands. But neither of these vocal styles can compare to the pile of dog **** that are his clean vocals. Oh dear god, make it stop! His clean vocals are so bad that it's hilarious. They're so whiny and emo, but oddly enough, they have no emotion. He always seems to be off-key and just comes across as a little boy whining on about stuff we don't care about. Jesse and Ben's guitarplaying is without a doubt the worst part of the entire record. I don't hate breakdowns. I do, however, hate those insipid "hardcore" breakdowns that play the same damn notes over and over again. Most "-core" bands will have one, maybe two, of these kind of breakdowns in each song. This band, however, has done the unthinkable. THE ENTIRE ****ING ALBUM IS A BREAKDOWN. I know that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it's not far off. About 90-95% percent of the guitarplaying on this album consists of stupidly simple chugging breakdowns. I have no problem with simple music, as long as it has something else backing it, like good songwriting, atmosphere, or something like that. This album has none of that. It's pretty bad when I can mimic the entire album with my mouth:

DUN DUN DUNDUNDUN DUN DUN

They do little to break up the monotony on this album. There are no leads or solos to be found here, and the few moments when they aren't dumping audio sludge on you (no offense to the sludge metal bands in Louisiana who actually KNOW what they're doing), they throw on some random dissonant chords, emo passages, or technical noodlings that have nothing to do with the song at all. They tune the guitars really low so they can shove those breakdowns in your face even more. It's no wonder metal elitists call this album the "brown note", because it's so low and chuggy, it literally sounds like someone soiling themselves. There's absolutely NO need for this many pointless breakdowns! Mark's basslines are inaudible for the most part and serve no other purpose than to help shove more stupid breakdowns down your throat. Joe's drumming sucks too, but I'll admit that he's probably the best part of the band. His drumming mainly consists of basic beats, with WAY too much double bass to accentuate-you guessed it-the breakdowns, with some occasional fills. The lyrics are downright laughable. Just listen to the poetry at work here:

"We were not meant to be, and I tried my best to work it through
I asked my friends, What should I do?
There only advice was leaving you
But I am glad I did or at least that's what I keep telling myself"

Wow, that's deep stuff right there.

Just so I have proof of how bad this album is, I put myself through the painstaking torture of listening to this album. Blow up my comment box with negative remarks if you want to, but you aren't stopping me. Here goes:



A Ticket For the Paralyzer: The album starts with...take a wild guess:
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If you said breakdown, you're right! The whole 51 seconds of this song is just a sluggish hardcore breakdown. At least the only vocals in this song are the singer saying "Go!" How boring. Next!

10 Signs You Should Leave: Holy ****! This song actually opens with a riff. Too bad the singer had to ruin it by taking an audio dump all over it with his horrid, off-key whining. The tempo goes up for a few seconds with the same riff and some growls. This is probably the best part of the album, but that's not saying much. It doesn't take long for them to go chugging away again. They throw in some dissonant squeals overtop of it that sound painful. Dear god, make the breakdowns stop!

"And it's sad to say"

Yeah, it's sad to say that I actually listened to this entire catastrophe of an album. Another breakdown occurs with some random technical fiddling that has nothing to do with anything. The song just keeps chugging away. We eventually get to a part that sounds like Slipknot. Yes, there are even traces of nu-metal here. Dear god. You'll hear a decent tremolo riff for all of 2 seconds before they decide that their precious breakdowns are more important than actually writing a song. They bring back the riff that the song started with, and it carries on for a little while, making you think that maybe you can salvage the end of the song with something decent. Nope. They **** it up again with yet another-you guessed it-breakdown that has the same technical fiddling overtop of it. The worst part is that there are still eight songs left!

When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong: Wow, clever song title there! Seriously, stop trying. Anyways, unlike the last song, this song has they band dumping their repetitive breakdowns all over you from the start. Dissonant parts, again, pop in and out. The tempo picks up, but they still do start-stop chugging rather than coming up with decent riffs. The breakdowns just don't stop dammit! They continuously pop up and make me want to vomit up my own intestinal tract. All the while the singer stops the screaming to scar my eardrums with his pathetic whining. Then, about two and a half minutes in, we are assaulted by one of the worst parts on the entire album(this whole experience was bad enough). We get YET ANOTHER breakdown, accompanied by this monumental failure:

"Won't you be my bride?
Another day x4"

Frankie feels the need to show everyone how horrid his clean singing is here. Imagine a drunken teenager singing karaoke. That's what this sounds like. This crap continues for the rest of the song.

Rusted Over Wet Dreams: This song opens up with some very emo sounding guitarwork. Okay, is this band just trying to piss me off now? By filling an album up full of things that I can't stand to hear? Of course, there is a breakdown going on under this. This can't go on too long though! We must make room for more breakdowns to windmill kick to! Then they go into this screamo sounding section. I honestly don't know if I can bear this anymore. How can this honestly be called "metal"? Underneath this is a...do I even need to say it? It cuts to another breakdown so more pit ninjas can practice their self-taught karate. These guys should have just made an instructional video for hardcore dancing. It would save me 30 minutes of torture.

You Got A Henna Tattoo That Said Forever: A couple of droning dissonant chords lead to another-you're going to hear this word A LOT in this review-breakdown. More random dissonance and emo cacophony go overtop another monotonous breakdown as the singer does his best Deftones impersonation. This abuse of breakdowns is just getting ridiculous, especially when every single one of them sound exactly the same. The breakdowns drone on and on with more pathetic whining and, oh dear. A pig squeal. Yet ANOTHER deathcore cliché. These breakdowns are so bare boned that they may actually lower your IQ from prolonged exposure.

Travis Bickle: An interlude. This is pretty much the eye of the storm here. It isn't long, though, before the audio torture begins again.

Sleeping Princess In Devil's Castle: This one opens up with a melody that starts off clean, then distorted, and it actually isn't bad. Wait a minute; I've heard this somewhere before...
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Now I remember! No wonder it actually sounded good! They STOLE IT from Akercocke, a FAR superior band. This is the same damn melody from their song "Shelter From the Sand" from their masterpiece "Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone", but with a few notes removed. This REALLY grinds my gears, because Akercocke are one of my favorite bands, and hearing a god awful band like this plagiarize their work just sickens me. Anyways, they desecrate this moment with what the do best: boring, monotonous breakdowns. Another dissonant, emo sounding section leads to another boring breakdown. It then turns into a screamo song with more awful vocals. They sneak another breakdown under this to end it.

The Key To Keeping The Show Fresh Is...I'm Dead: Yet another song title taken from Chappelle's Show, how clever. A basic drum fill starts off, then everything stops. Dear god, please don't let there be another breakdown...crap. They just keep going and going. This song doesn't seem to allow them to end either. This song literally is a giant breakdown. By the end of this song, I want to do more enjoyable things, like shoving sharpened pencils in my rectum.

It's Not Just A Party, It's a Funeral: Hopefully, it's the end of this terrible band. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem likely. The dreaded B-Word pops up again, loosely held together by dissonant parts. Then it segues into a generic melodeath riff. This is probably the most metal song on here, but that isn't saying much. The distorted mess of dissonance and breakdowns never seems to end. Thank god there is only one song left on this train wreck.

When Everything Goes Wrong, Take the Easy Way Out: Some random noodling leads to another breakdown (I am ****ing tired of saying this word). The lyrics in this song are so laughable and full of emo angst. I beg of you, NO MORE BREAKDOWNS! But no, they just keep coming like diarrhea after eating at Pizza Hut. Another dissonant part over the last breakdown (THANK ****ING GOD) and the album ends with a rap beat. Don't ask.

I hope I never have to experience that ever again. This album is nothing more than background music for windmill kicking imaginary ninjas. Those 30 minutes could have been spent taking a dump, and it would have sounded like this. This is a warning to everyone: AVOID THIS ALBUM LIKE THE PLAGUE. Don't listen to it even if you are curious. This album was memorable, but in the "it was so bad i'll never forget it" way.

PS: You can blow up my comment box with hateful remarks if you want to, that isn't gonna change the fact that I think this is garbage!

Do I Recommend: Stay away. STAY FAR AWAY.

I can't even wrap my head around this crap. I was excited when I ordered it, but man what a rip off. The stoopid vocalist, the blatant Acacia Strain music Rip Off and the mediocre song writing skills make this band just suck.
I hope their egos can handle the reviews.

Buy Acacia Strain and Meshuggah CD's instead.

First of all the acacia strain kicks these guys down even if they sound similair.I would have reviewed this cd better but the hip hop beat at the end of the album killed it all.But hey bands like emmure who wear those silly hats and dumb big clothes are into that crap that just destroys metal man.Trust me there's way better bands than this stuff.After you're finished listening to this album go and listen to some real death metal like some death or cannibal corpse.I know that mostly everyone reviewing this album is like these guys wearing those stupid hats and acting like little kids time to grow up.But hey who am i to tell you that but one day you'll snap out of it and as for the album well i gave it a try and yeah is great.Those slow vocals are annoying but the screaming is great and it's something i can rock out to but not go insane and wild.So give it a try you'll like it i guess and just cause someone doesn't like a band doesn't mean they don't have a life who really don't have a life are the ones who listen to rap and hip hop over 76 percent of people who like that end up homeless trust me i know many people and me.......well check out my band that will sure end it ALL!WAIT THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT THIS BAND AND IM IN ANOTHER SUBJECT,NO WAIT IT'S THE SAME