Fear Before the March of Flames - Art Damage

Fear Before the March of Flames’ debut, Odd How People Shake, flew in many different directions at the same time and had much success doing so. Still, it only seems natural that their follow up should focus more closely on a particular aspect of what made the debut work. Even though they seemed to have carved out enough sonic space to house a couple hundred thousand different sounding albums, another loosely packaged mess of noise might just sound the same no matter the direction(s) it takes. With this in mind, the band has tightened up some of the bolts and created a much more consistent sounding, and a no less effective album in Art Damage. This is not to say that Art Damage is by-the-numbers, but it approaches more of a complete thought than Odd How People Shake. For good or ill, they have trimmed some of the extra, and sometimes more compelling appendages from their franken-monster sound. Gone are the melodic vocals that often shared the stage with vocalist David Marion’s dry-throated barking, leaving this album hard pressed to be labeled screamo (though some still will). The vocals still do take many shapes - the “ladies and gentlemen / boys and girls” background shouts of “Should Have Stayed in the Shallows” and the cleanly sung but understated passages toward the end of “Consequences David, You’ll Meet Your Fate in the Styx” are both examples of this, but to much less degree this time around. The same could be said of the more experimental probings of their debut; they’re once again present (the gentle – and too short – interlude of “A Tyrant Meets His Maker” and the soft piano outro to “The Story of the Curious Oysters”) but less prominent. What’s left matches the straight ahead ideal of hardcore with heavy-as-fuck riffage that still remain very adventurous at times. When you get tired of Marion’s screaming (and you will), it’s the guitars that will save you. Either channeling Botch (“Consequences David…”), dropping some subtle touches of space rock at you or getting their nerd on with some mathy fun, the axes give your head plenty with which to be busy. What you take from Art Damage will probably hinge on how you think it stacks up to Odd How People Shake and your feelings toward the changes made between the two. But Odd How People Shake is not necessarily required listening, as Art Damage stands tall on its own merits as a post-hardcore showcase. The scaling back by no means represents regression, but rather, a band that could be inching closer to a distinct identity. [www.marchofflames.com]