Customer Reviews

Women & Children Die First

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For those familiar with Remembering Never's previous effort "She Looks So Good In Red", upon listening to "Women And Children Die First" you will notice a definite difference in sound. Now at first when you hear the word mature you might automatically assume a band has sold out, or has lost their edge and crushing mentality. With Remembering Never it is almost the exact opposite, because with WACDF Remembering Never have actually gotten much heavier than their last outing. While that might sound like a dream to some, it works well in some places and gets repetitive in others. At the very least, "Women And Children Die First" is one of the heaviest hitting hardcore albums you're likely to hear in today's music world where most bands are concentrating on making their sound more accessible to the mass, then making music they genuinely feel strongly about.

Make no mistake, this album is heavy. If "She Looks Good So Good In Red" was heavy, then I'd say multiply that by about 10, and you have the extremity of this record. This makes tracks like "For The Love Of Fiction" and "From My Cold Dead Hands" two of the standout tracks on the album because of their unrelenting and overwhelmingly devastating sound. As far as breakdowns go, Remembering Never has definitely turned it up for this release. This means if you love the chug, you're going to be in heaven when listening to WACDF. Not just that, but RN also works in creative additions to their breakdowns, not just the typical "dun-dun-dun stop" style. The most maturity from the band comes from Pete's lyrics. Where "She Looks So Good In Red" was all about hatred and love lost, "Women And Children Die First" shows that Pete has obviously gotten over a lot of his bitterness and turned his attention to the outside world. This means nothing is safe, including religion, meat eaters, the government and loyal-less individuals. This makes the record miles ahead of where the last one was in terms of content, because you not only get the emotional, anger-filled rage of "Incisions" and "All That Glitters Is..", but also extremely thought-provoking messages in "Closed Caskets", "The Glutton" and "The Grenade In Mouth Tragedy". This makes the album nothing of a disappointment, and instead a considerable stepping stone in the evolution of Remembering Never's sound.

Now as for the drawbacks of the album, there are a few. First since Remembering Never has obviously upped the heaviness of their sound of this record, it has made some songs sound extremely, extremely similar to one another. This isn't a very bad thing, but sometimes a listener could feel bogged down by the one dimensional sound "Women And Children Die First" offers. The last album gave you many different varied looks at Remembering Never's style, and it worked very well, whereas WACDF concentrates solely on the aggressive side of the band. One of the particular things that was prominent on the last record and is absent from this one was the use of the acoustic guitar fills. This elevated many of the songs found on "She Looks So Good In Red." Along those lines There's a definite lack of melody in Pete's vocals, as he primarily concentrates on screaming this time around. While his screaming vocals are excellent, I liked his wide use of clean vocals on the last record a lot, and while here and there Pete occasionally throws in some melodic singing on this cd, I think that's definitely a missing piece of this album. Also sometimes the band seems just too concentrated on being heavy. I mean I love breakdowns just as much as the next guy, but when you listen to a song with 8 or 9 of them, it gets old by the time you hit the tenth track. A lot of these songs seem better tuned to be played live, because when you're in a live environment you can interact with the band or dance all you want.

Overall "Women and Children Die First" isn't a disappointment in any regard. In fact on many levels it's an extreme accomplishment for Remembering Never. While it does have its inconsistencies (and they are small ones), "Women And Children Die First" is a must for fans of metalcore/hardcore, especially the breakdown friendly variety. The band's ability to expand their lyrical content and concentrate on certain aspects of their sound is one of the best and most surprising features about this album. While I still prefer "She Looks So Good In Red", I have a hard time turning this one off before listening to all ten tracks. The band is equally as talented live so be sure to check them out when you get a chance. Now open up that dance floor!

This band is very heavy, to put it bluntly. But to look at it more closely, it is easy to hear that there isn't a whole lot of originality in their music and that is why this album gets three stars instead of four. But like I've said with many bands, that does not mean it's not worth listening to. The music is still angry and absolutely full of breakdowns that will make any hardcore dancer do windmills like there's no tomorrow. The lyrics are well written and there's some good singing going on as well. I liked the hidden Pantera cover of "Strength Beyond Strength", although I wished they would've tuned the guitars up a step or so for that song - it would've sounded much better. All in all though, a great buy if youre looking for some straight-up, hard-hitting music, with lots of breakdowns. Top songs include "For the Love of Fiction", "The Grenade in Mouth Tragedy", and "All That Glitters Is".

I had never heard of these guys before I saw their album cover and decided to check them out. Am I ever glad I did. These guys filled a void in my music collection that I didn't even know I had. This is original hardcore. In a time where bands insert breakdowns so often it becomes redundant(Don't get me wrong, I love a good breakdown. Just not ones that fill up space), Remembering Never put a refreshing spin on what I thought was hardcore. It's a heavy, crushing, brand of hardcore with spots of melody and uncompromising vocals. As for the lyrics, one may not agree with all of them, but at least it makes one think about something worth while. I'm all about unity, family and friends, but sometimes it's just like I get it already. I don't know if they reinvented the wheel here, but they definitely reinvented themselves on this one.
Remebering Never: crushing, thoughtful, original. Definitely worth buying.
PS - for you PanterA fans, you just might recognize the hidden track at the end.

This cd is not your typical "melodic" hardcore band. Its a LOT more unforgiving than say Poison the Well or Evergreen Terrace, and this guy's voice almost wisps that of death metal. Unlike it's Floridian peers Remembering Never doesn't have that (forgive me) beat around the bush way of going about describing stuff in their lyrics. No; they take it on head first. Don't get me wrong: Shai Hulud, Evergreen Terrace and Poison the Well are tight as hell too, but Remembering Never have more of the classical "hardcore" attitude, and it's greatly reflected in their lyrics. The music is still melodic like that of PTW and Evergreen Terrace; hell without the singer you could mistake them for a heavy Deftones; look at track 5. This album crushes. No joke. This might even make you swallow your pride and look at yourself (that's what hardcore is about isn't it?), I know it did for me. Jeremy Staska truely brings this band to a new musical level on this album (producer for the majority of their albums), and this is a far cry from (She Looks So Good...). He still sings in his almost Danzig-esque voice, but this is more slash and burn than freeing butterflies. Check this out.

This CD is crazy as hell it doesnt stop beating you down.It is the perfect CD for fans of old Atreyu,Poison The Well,Bury Your Dead,Unearth,Dead To Fall, and It Dies Today.At times it sounds very almost poetic not neerly as extremly as Atreyu does but still.At other times it sounds like one massive Breakdown.This is the band to mosh your brains out to.I saw these guys live they were awsome and it wasnt like a small push pit NO!I am talking full on Spin kicks,floor punches,windmills,and just general craziness.So buy this CD check them out live and go crazy...not litteraly.

Ahh yes. Remembering Never. I bought this CD on a whim. I had never heard of them before but they were classified in Strawberries as "Heavy Metal" so i thought what the hell. I sure wasn't disappointed. Remembering Never is now "The band of A Thousand Breakdowns." For The Love of Fiction is a song you can listen to over and over again without getting sick of "A prayer for the dying, a prayer for you, the hopeless." That phrase sticks out in your mind and stays with u till the end. Many of Remembering Never's songs have a VERY catchy chorus. Incisions also does this "Fingers shoved to the back of your throat, for a little sex appeal, heaving." Obvously these lyrics aren't for virgin ears, but it is a nice break when you feel like listening to something kick-ass. The most catchy chorus of all time, in my opinion, is in Plotting a Revolution in A Minor. It is, very simply, "never looking back, looking back, looking back. Never looking back, looking back, looking back." Now i know this is very simple and seemingly redundant, but man is it catchy. This CD is amazing so definately check it out.

Oh good old Remembering Never. This cd is under debate for me. At times i listen to it and im all into it, screaming along. And other times its just like....eh im over this cd. But i got to give it 4 starts for this reason: Its one of those cds that i will put down for a bit, and when i pick it back up, i fall right back in love with it. Plus they are one of my favorite live acts. If you like hardcore music with sing-along anthems, i vote this one to be added to your collection.

Recomended:
"Serenading this dead horse"
"Incisions"
"The Grenade-in-mouth tradgedy"

It's been done before, but it's still worth a listen if you're one of those online purchaser guys who buys his music on Napster and iTunes (I don't share free music anymore, and when I did, it was the stuff off the big labels). "Incisions", the lead single, has a weak opener, but when about 40 seconds passes, the band slows down and delivers some bone-crushing melody to George Bush. (George Bush sucks!) The song has some ups and downs, as well as the CD. Buy this if you want stuff to crush the prep culture (not the lesser metalcore culture crowd).

Let's sing about something other than george bush sucks. Sure, I might agree but if I want to listen to politics I will turn on talk radio or the news. When I want to listen to music I just want to kick back and enjoy. Also some of their lyrics are a little to hippie radical and far fetched. If you must have your politics and music mixed there are plenty of BETTER bands out there to waste your money on. This one just has a repetetive theme of boooooriiiiing

This is probably the albun I have heard the most since Poison The Well's "Opposite Of December", this album is so different from all the other hardcore bands out now. Most bands focus on one subject in their albums like religion,life lessons, etc. Remembering Never does it all. In this album they send out the message of what hardcore truly is about. Pete's singing voice on this album improves a lot and the meanings of the songs will blow you away. So far I've seen them live three times this year and they don't disappoint. They bring the feeling of every song so much that you just get hooked on the whole cd and will be the only album on your cd player for a while. Stand out tracks are "For The Love Of Fiction","Plotting A Revolution In A Minor", "Incisions",and "Closed Caskets". Definitely advise you to purchase the album. Be on the look out for their new DVD coming out soon.