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I Am The Messenger

The War Between

Written by: PP on 06/05/2011 01:57:24

I Am The Messenger are the latest entrant to the saturated post-hardcore scene with their debut album "The War Between", which has reportedly been in the works for three years now. Though they bring nothing new onto the table, their record is still enjoyable in its own right, given the mildly interesting combination of genres stacked together on the release.

While the main classification is definitely post-hardcore given the wealth of emo/Christian chorus vocals (interchangeable on this record) the band swings by both metalcore and deathcore throughout the record. "Seriously, Your Song Titles Are Far Too Serious", for example, begins with stock metalcore riffage, and then moves swiftly to post-hardcore realms during the chorus which is like straight off "Discovering The Waterfront"-era Silverstein. The vocal harmony in particular sounds like it was directly ripped off Shane Told's repertoire of impressive emo melodies.

Elsewhere, the band dives nose first into deathcore by slowing things down to a crawl for a brutalized thumping breakdown and deep growling. Here the band sounds like a heavier version of The Devil Wears Prada, but as soon as the clean singer delivers his emo-tinged vocal lines, it's difficult to escape the Silverstein comparison given how closely he mimics Shane Told throughout. That's one positive, uplifting element on the record, which otherwise executes one emo/post-hardcore cliché after another, though in a slightly heavier and more metalcore-induced format than is the norm for the genre. Take the song titles, for instance: "Later Facebook"? "Br007@L PoodI3"? "Sittin' Pretty In Pancake City"? These should already give you an indication whether or not you'll love or hate this record.

Andy Atkins from A Plea For Purging guests on "John Gustafson?`The Low Life?", giving the track a little extra brutality to contrast the melodic and catchy clean vocal chorus that comes straight after. But while the track is fairly catchy, it's also the perfect example of the problem on "The War Between" in general. Outside of the few infectious chorus melodies , the songs just aren't very interesting, because they are very, VERY standard/generic post-hardcore instrumentally, not to even mention the sub-par screaming which is monotonous at best. They aren't awful, per se, but lacking of qualities that would make them stand out in a genre where thousands of bands are doing more or less the same thing as I Am The Messenger.

Download: I Thought You Were Going To Mediate, Seriously Your Song Titles Are Far Too Serious, Bipolar Bear
For the fans of: Silverstein, Letterbox Tragedy, The Devil Wears Prada
Listen: Myspace

Release date 22.02.2011
Bombworks Records