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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I miss the days of "Too Bad You're Beautiful", August 30, 2005
Listening to "Abandon Your Friends" makes me really miss the days of "Too Bad You're Beautiful." That's not to say that "Abandon Your Friends" is a horrible album because it's not. It's just merely an album that begs to display to everyone how much of a shell of a band they are compared to their older material, but, I never had high hopes for this to begin with. It's pretty much what I expected. Very standard, by no means jaw-dropping, but listenable-very much like The Fiction We Live.
I suppose my biggest gripe with FATA's evolution, or perhaps the lack thereof, was their decision to drop a lot of the progressive nature that was found on "Too Bad You're Beautiful" for a more standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge style of writing. Probably the biggest problem with "Abandon Your Friends" is it's just flat out predictable writing.
One thing you'll probably notice is that generally the format of this album is half of it is heavy tracks with Benjamin Perri and half of it is mellower tracks with Francis Mark. Their's very few tracks where the two are found together (Where Do You Draw The Line, Jack + Ginger, and Placentapede being the only three tracks where both vocals are featured). Past that, Inapprope is probably poppiest song FATA has ever written and featuring Francis Mark only. Sugar Wolf finds FATA music returning to something more alongst the lines of "I'm Best At Ruining My Life" from The Fiction We Live and again only featurings Francis Mark. "Vicious Cockfight" serves as a fairly standard metalcore track with only Benjamin Perri. Streamline is probably the mellowest song FATA has ever written, even mellower than "Chloroform Perfume" and only features Francis Mark. "The Funny Thing About Getting Pistolwipped" returns back to the standard metalcore with Benjamin Perri. "Kansas City 90210" reverts back to Francis Mark. Short For Show is entirely Benjamin Perri. Beginning to see a pattern here? A large portion of the album comes across like its a split release with two different bands writing two different styles of music intertwined in the phasing of the album. While some may argue that's a band showing off its versatility, I would only agree with that if the writing was above the average post-hardcore record which "Abandon Your Friends" is not. This intertwined variance serves the album little to nothing other than constantly shifting mood of the album and makes it feel like its all over the place, which it literally is.
I will say that, unbelievably, Francis Mark's mellower half of the album is far more of an enjoyable listen than Benjamin Perri's heavier half of the album. The vocal patterns displayed by Perri throughout the entire album are nearly identical whereas atleast Francis Mark experimented a bit more and as a vocalist, I woulds say he has improved. Unfortunetly, neither Mark nor Perri could carry FATA by themselves as the single vocalist of FATA which becomes dreadfully apparent when you listen to this album. In addition, the heavier riffing sounds so redundant and uninspired except for a few parts of "Jack + Ginger". I realized a good portion of the band is different from back in the day, but I also realized that we will never hear the same maniacal riffs that this band used to write. The title track, "Abandon Your Friends" is the highlight of the entire album and while it is a mellower track featuring only Francis Mark, it invokes a lot of the same emotion that their early material did and is really the only moment of the album that caught me by surprise. Everything else is very standard and predictable. Not necessarily bad, but certainly not great either. For $7.99, which is what it's on sale for this week at Best Buy I'd say its worth it. Any more than that, and it's probably not worth it. "Too Bad You're Beautiful" still sits at the top, and "The Fiction We Live" edges this one out as well. Maybe next time they'll get it right.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
warrants repeated listening, December 9, 2005
From Autumn to Ashes has long been a subject of great controversy in the music world. The reaction to this band is extremely divided, and you either love 'em or hate 'em. Truth be told, I'm one of the former. I absolutely cherish "Too Bad You're Beautiful" and, I know I'm going to catch all sorts of hell for this, "The Fiction We Live" as well. Now if you've heard both of those CDs, then it was no big surprise to you that this band was changing. "Too Bad You're Beautiful" showcased the band's ample heaviness in all its spectacular glory, winning them over many fans from all over the metal scene. With their follow up, they opted for a slightly more commercial sound, a move that sent many of their old fans packing, but also drew in a newer crowd. And so now we're here. "Abandon Your Friends," the band's third full-length release, is definitely a two-sided coin. It seems that the band is trying to please both old and new fans, and in the process has lost some of the finesse that made their first two albums so great. The typical trade-off on vocals between Benjamin Perri and Francis Mark that literally MADE their previous efforts is only really displayed on two or three songs this time out. The rest of the album is divided into two main categories: a) songs sung entirely by Fancis, and b) songs sung entirely by Ben. In some eyes, this may actually be viewed as a good thing, but I myself don't think so highly of it. The reason why the last albums flowed so well was the fact that the two singers complemented each other, and for that reason, no particular song was either too heavy or too mellow, but instead a nice compromise between the two. On "Abandon Your Friends," From Autumn to Ashes have sacrificed their once signature sound in favor of a more divided, yet accessible to some, record hindered only by its own design. Still, there's plenty to like here. The album opener and first single "Where Do You Draw the Line?" hearkens back to the band's glory days, and is probably the best song on the CD. "Inapprope" and "Sugar Wolf" follow up, and while the former is good despite being light, the latter is blemished by one major downside: the band could have opted to let Ben scream the verses instead of Francis (nothing against Francis, but Ben is much more talented in that department). "Vicious Cockfight" triumphantly returns to the heavier side of the band, as do the stellar "The Funny Thing About Getting Pistol Whipped Is..." and "Short For Show", as well as the forgettable "Jack and Ginger". "Placentapede" is another relatively fast song, but it is sung entirely by Francis (not that that's necessarily a bad thing, I just didn't want to give the wrong impression). "Streamline," in my opinion, is the worst song on the CD, if only because it tries too hard to be sentimental and ends up sounding like a rough cut of "Chloroform Perfume". "Kansas City 90210" and "Long to Go" are both decent, albeit predictable, songs that represent the more melodious side of the band. The album's title track and closer is where the band really shines, though. Showcasing only Francis and a piano, the song is four minutes of sorrow put to song. If only the rest of the album were as good as this, we might have a CD worthy of five stars. Unfortunately, this is not the case. While many songs stand out against the dreary, choppy, and ultimately forgettable backdrop, overall the album is not up to the caliber of musicianship I have come to expect of From Autumn to Ashes.
Choice Cuts: "Where Do You Draw the Line?" "Sugar Wolf," "The Funny Thing About Getting Pistol Whipped Is..." "Aboandon Your Friends"
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
not bad, just didnt meet expectations, September 5, 2005
my main problem with this cd is that its too soft. softer than The Fiction We Live. LOTS softer! i mean, Benjamin is more like a backup vocalist on this cd. Francis practically takes total control of vocals. if you like songs like chloroform perfum or no trivia, then this cd is a great cd, but if you are buying this for the heavy aspect you would expect from FATA, then i wouldnt bother with it. there are only 4 or 5 songs on here that Benjamin even sings on, and even those Francis is singing with him.
these songs by themselves arent bad songs. if they were on another cd, from another band then it would be a pretty good cd.
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is From Autumn to Ashes' 
