Artist: Emery
Album: While Broken Hearts Prevail (ep)
Label: Tooth and Nail
Release Date: 10/28/2008
Reviewer: Tyler Hess
In case you hadn’t noticed, a lot of people were a bit steamed at Emery about a year ago, when their latest full length, “I’m Only A Man”, hit stores. This, in a way, is Emery’s answer to the accusation that they had lost it, in more ways than one. Produced by Emery’s own Matt Carter, While Broken Hearts Prevail was something that the band came up with around the time IOAM came out, having some ideas for some other songs that they wanted to put out, as explained by the band inside the booklet. One important point of interest is that this product is enhanced with detailed explanations of each song and the album idea itself within the pages of the inserted artwork/liner notes, giving us a closer look at how the band works within itself and how these songs came about. I don’t want to give away all their secrets, but one interesting point was vocalist Toby Morrell saying that selling out is “writing ‘Walls’ fifty different ways so we can pick up a paycheck.” Take that how you like, but let’s look at how the music turned out, shall we?
Like many EP’s can be, there is a little bit of this and a little bit of that on here. The first four songs should be the ones that we focus on, as they could easily be the type of songs that many would have wanted to come on the album after “The Question”, bringing back more of the screams and intensity/energy that make Emery epic. Although I personally liked much of the poppier Emery sound on IOAM, this is the kind of stuff that allows them to stand out in the emo/screamo crowd. The fifth song, “Always Depends”, is a much older song, written before they ever released an album, and is a bit of a nice throwback to their much older fans. “Thoughtlife” follows as a b-side that didn’t quite make the cut of IOAM, which is basically a wasted track, it does nothing for me. The final song, “Do The Things (You Want) is an interesting one, not so much musically, as it is more of a message to the fans, saying that while they appreciate them very much, Emery wants to call them out for their negative “scene” attitudes.
Spiritually, this is more of the same from Emery, as they tend to stray more for the broken relationship stories to make their point. However, track four,“Ten Talents”, is an interesting one as it is a call out to go beyond ourselves to help others.
Overall, this is a very good CD to own for the fans, but is merely a taste of what will hopefully be a smorgasbord of things to come.
8.5/10
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