For the Fallen Dreams - Back Burner

I don't like metalcore. I do not like it in a box, I do not like it with a fox. I do not like it in a house, I do not like it with a mouse. I'm not a fan of that big inhaley scream-yell type thing that goes on. Most bands that feature one of these screamer guys always leave me thinking about how good or at least decent they would be without that addition to their lineup. 'Back Burner' by For the Fallen Dreams does not change this for me at all. What you'll hear when listening to these guys, is a lot of same-sounding hardcore songs, which still would've passed for poppy and delightful, if not for the overbearing screaming going on throughout. It's made worse by the effects on the voice to make it echo, and the fact that it's louder than the actual vocalist. I really don't understand the appeal, and I don't know if I ever will.

I wish these screams were more like the Sonic & Knuckles addition to Sega Genesis. You know, that game you put into the Sega and then you put your Sonic the Hedgehog game into the top of THAT cartridge. Then you could play as Knuckles for all of the games, if you for some reason wanted to. But, you would then realize that Knuckles is a stupid, worthless character and you'd go back to wanting to just use Tails forever. Because Miles is the shit. So are chili dogs. Well, it'd be cool if bands released an album with the option and turning screams on and off. So, if you just want to listen to music, you could. But, if you wanted to be assaulted by annoying, echoey screams, you could do that as well. You could emulate whatever Middle Earth battle scenes this type of music incites you to get into. I say that because I just now realized that I felt like this should be music playing in the background of some crazy battle with orcs, dwarves, hobbits, elves, trolls, and the like.

So basically, this album is a series of the same song, but really only when the screaming comes in. Or when they do an out-of-nowhere breakdown. The guitar leads are generally interesting throughout, and the regular vocalist isn't really memorable by any means...especially since he's drowned out half the time. I don't know. I can't really think of too much good to say. I don't feel good about that, at all. I generally only like to say nice things about a band or just say nothing at all. But, that's not always the way things go. I mean, I didn't force them to record these songs. I mean, I know that our readers are confused as hell as to how this band got into the mix of stuff we're reviewing. But, dear readers, it's good to have an equal opportunity review site. We're not going to turn reviews down based on genre alone. Even if this album sort of makes me want to become an exclusively pop punk review site. But, that won't happen. Because then who would review the shitty new Streetlight Manifesto albums in the future? Probably punknews, and they'll probably lie and call them good. PAH!

-Idle

P.S. I wanted to put in this review somewhere that they reminded me of Dayton's-Should've-Been-Kept-A-Secret-Band The Devil Wears Prada...but I thought that would be really mean. But it's still kinda true.

P.P.S. If you want to read a review by somebody who somehow LIKES metalcore. You can check out that one site that reviews more stuff than us.

For the Fallen Dreams. Idle and the Bear.