Originally written by Mike Diver · 18 October 2004
Fear Before The March Of Flames
Art Damage
Label: Equal Vision
I guess it goes something like this:
xScreamoKid1x: “Well, we’ve made a pretty good debut, but now we’ve a bigger, better deal, we’ve gotta up our game… any ideas?”
xScreamoKid2x: “How about we just take what we’ve done before, but make it bigger, and better?”
xScreamoKid1x: “Goddamnit, you’re some kind of fucking genius – that’s exactly what we’ll do! Now, where’d I put my soya milkshake?”
Obviously, certain assumptions have been made there that might well be untrue. But, what is blatantly obvious after just a single listen to ‘Art Damage’ is that the ScreamoKids behind Fear Before The March Of Flames have upped the ante considerably; what their debut ‘Odd How People Shake’ promised, this delivers. More screams, more stabbed-at guitars, more noise, more passion, more intelligence, more everything. A better man than I might point to influences that aren’t Botch, but when a single reference is so good, who gives a fuck? What FBTMOF don’t know about the revered Seattle-ites’ back catalogue ain’t worth knowing – every frazzled hardcore breakdown here is executed to perfection. The ironic – or are they? – titles are in abundance, too – how’s about some ‘Hey Kid, I’m a Computer. Stop All The Downloading’ or ‘The Story Of The Curious Oysters’ for your crap-title kicks? Such ludicrousness would render FBTMOF ripe for a slaughtering if only the songs weren’t ace, which they are. The standout’s got to be ‘Should Have Stayed In The Shallows’, with its perfect call-and-response vocals, and key line: “The party hasn’t started until there’s spike in the punch”.
Consider this the spike and get partying, already.
• 8 Mike Diver's Score