Band: The Color Morale
Album: My Devil In Your Eyes
Label: Rise Records
Release Date: March 8, 2011
Genre: Melodic/Post Hardcore
Review By: Steve
Track Listing:
1. Nerve Endings
2. Human(s) Being
3. The Dying Hymn
4. Be Longing Always
5. Walkers
6. Demon Teeth
7. Falling Awake
8. Quote on Quote
9. This Lost Song Is Yours
10. Fill;Avoid
With many bands that explode on the scene, I am always interested to hear what their sophomore has to offer. Will they just recycle their previous album, completely change their sound, or will maturity step in and take them to the next level? Sadly, the overwhelming majority of bands in any genre goes the way of the first two and fade into the sunset. Rise Records has added some variability into their roster lately, but for the most part all of their bands sound the same, and in some cases, even the artists themselves look alike. This is not true of The Color Morale. They exploded on the scene in the fall of 2009 with their debut album We All Have Demons, which sold over 10,000 copies. Between the fall of 2009 to the summer of 2010, I saw these guys live four times, and only the last time at Sonshine last summer did they actually have physical copies of their album to sell. It stinks not to have CDs to sell at your show, but on the flip side, it is nice knowing that your album is selling like hotcakes!
With My Devil In Your Eyes, this Illinois based melodic/post hardcore band has shaken the sophomore slump and their sound has matured. I really enjoyed the first album but this one is much better. Every part of their music improved. The guitars, drums, and bass are tons tighter, and Garratt is maturing into a great vocalist. Even the clean vocals were done much better this time around. The hardcore touring they did in support of their first album really paid off by developing the bands talent. I know many people think that Garrett does the cleans, but their bassist, Justin Hieser, handled all the cleans the four times I have seen them play.
My Devil In Your Eyes starts out great with “Nerve Endings” and for the most part stays heavy throughout the first 9 tracks of the album until the conclusion “Fill;Avoid.” “Demon Teeth” and “Walkers” are by far my favorite tracks. These tracks display the maturity of The Color Morale the best. These tracks have some brutal rhythms that break the monotony of some of the regular chugging riffs in the rest of the album. In Demon Teeth, Garret changes up his brutal guttural growls and uses some intensive screams that throw a nice curveball into the mix. The only song I didn’t like was “Fill;Avoid” because like the title, it feels like a filler track. It is a slower track with just a few lines of lyrics, and ends with the repeated line, “You made me from dust, not dirt.”
Overall: if you liked We All Have Demons, you will love My Devil In Your Eyes. As everyone always says, this is nothing earth shattering or genre defining, but it is however melodic/post hardcore done extremely well. That is something that many albums cannot boast about. The Color Morale has started 2011 off with a bang, and I do not expect anything but great stuff from this band now or in the future. The Color Morale is here to stay!
RIYL: Gwen Stacy, blessthefall, Our Last Night, The Word Alive, My Ticket Home