Famous Last Words

Two-Faced Charade

Written by: PP on 31/05/2013 21:37:49

Ok, so there is literally no way I can get out of this one without losing a significant chunk of credibility as a reviewer. Critically acclaiming electronic post-hardcore, neoncore, or fashioncore as I have recently begun dubbing it, is a surefire way to commit career suicide in most circles. Unless, and here's the twist, I cleverly go ahead and claim that in order for us collectively to rain hate on Attack Attack!'s and Asking Alexandria's rape and murder of the concept of composing music, we need to present a credible counterpart that represents the opposite in their spectrum of music. In other words, a band playing effect-laden post-hardcore that's actually good. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you Famous Last Words and their debut album "Two-Faced Charade", a sparkling example of my beloved phrase that good music exists in all genres, even the ones that you may personally hate.

On face value, Famous Last Words do nothing to suggest the contrary to the common perception that splashing your music with enormous droplets of electronic pop while playing breakdown oriented music is just never going to be accepted as good songwriting by anything but teenagers. Digging deeper, one quickly finds the latter simply isn't the case with this album, because unlike most other bands playing fashioncore, Famous Last Words have abandoned the copy/paste chorus-breakdown-verse formula and actually have real dynamics in their music. Yes, "Victim Of The Virtuoso" has a mad catchy dance part smack down in the middle of the song, but the way the bridge naturally smooths the song into the section (and out of it later) suggests that the band have actually thought about what they are doing here. Similarly, "Legends And Legacies" at first sounds like a classic case of high-pitched male vocalist in a dramatic environment (think Chiodos' "Bone Palace Ballet"), it's ridiculously catchy in its chorus, carries a slick lead riff, and the electronics are but a backdrop here to give the song the punch it needs to sound so good.

What's better, breakdowns have been reduced on the record, leaving far more room for catchy clean vocal dynamics and backing screams to work their magic. Yes, the album is still plentiful in them, but they never feel like attempts at creating a pseudo-heavy sequence rather than as naturally flowing passages in their sound. As such, the songs on "Two-Faced Charade" feel like they've been written by real people instead of the hottest industry trend setters, even if effects and post-production play a huge role on the album as a whole. Basically, if you can have a song like "The Show Must Go On Pt 2", which is one of the catchiest post-hardcore songs you'll hear all year, you're good. You're very good in fact. While it's still kind of shallow in terms of its atmosphere and feeling, you cannot deny that "Two-Faced Charade" is a good record.

Download: Victim Of The Virtuoso, The Show Must Go On Pt 2, Lust Of The Lost, Legends And Legacies
For the fans of: Attack Attack!, Asking Alexandria, Chiodos, In Fear And Faith,
Listen: Facebook

Release date 30.04.2013
InVogue Records

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