Search - Remembering Never :: Women & Children Die First

Remembering Never Mature, But Don't Lose Their Edge At All

LeftManOut | TheCityThatNeverSleeps, FL | 12/23/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For those familiar with Remembering Never's previous effort "She Looks So Good In Red", upon listening to "Women And Children Die First" you will notice a definite difference in sound. Now at first when you hear the word mature you might automatically assume a band has sold out, or has lost their edge and crushing mentality. With Remembering Never it is almost the exact opposite, because with WACDF Remembering Never have actually gotten much heavier than their last outing. While that might sound like a dream to some, it works well in some places and gets repetitive in others. At the very least, "Women And Children Die First" is one of the heaviest hitting hardcore albums you're likely to hear in today's music world where most bands are concentrating on making their sound more accessible to the mass, then making music they genuinely feel strongly about.



Make no mistake, this album is heavy. If "She Looks Good So Good In Red" was heavy, then I'd say multiply that by about 10, and you have the extremity of this record. This makes tracks like "For The Love Of Fiction" and "From My Cold Dead Hands" two of the standout tracks on the album because of their unrelenting and overwhelmingly devastating sound. As far as breakdowns go, Remembering Never has definitely turned it up for this release. This means if you love the chug, you're going to be in heaven when listening to WACDF. Not just that, but RN also works in creative additions to their breakdowns, not just the typical "dun-dun-dun stop" style. The most maturity from the band comes from Pete's lyrics. Where "She Looks So Good In Red" was all about hatred and love lost, "Women And Children Die First" shows that Pete has obviously gotten over a lot of his bitterness and turned his attention to the outside world. This means nothing is safe, including religion, meat eaters, the government and loyal-less individuals. This makes the record miles ahead of where the last one was in terms of content, because you not only get the emotional, anger-filled rage of "Incisions" and "All That Glitters Is..", but also extremely thought-provoking messages in "Closed Caskets", "The Glutton" and "The Grenade In Mouth Tragedy". This makes the album nothing of a disappointment, and instead a considerable stepping stone in the evolution of Remembering Never's sound.



Now as for the drawbacks of the album, there are a few. First since Remembering Never has obviously upped the heaviness of their sound of this record, it has made some songs sound extremely, extremely similar to one another. This isn't a very bad thing, but sometimes a listener could feel bogged down by the one dimensional sound "Women And Children Die First" offers. The last album gave you many different varied looks at Remembering Never's style, and it worked very well, whereas WACDF concentrates solely on the aggressive side of the band. One of the particular things that was prominent on the last record and is absent from this one was the use of the acoustic guitar fills. This elevated many of the songs found on "She Looks So Good In Red." Along those lines There's a definite lack of melody in Pete's vocals, as he primarily concentrates on screaming this time around. While his screaming vocals are excellent, I liked his wide use of clean vocals on the last record a lot, and while here and there Pete occasionally throws in some melodic singing on this cd, I think that's definitely a missing piece of this album. Also sometimes the band seems just too concentrated on being heavy. I mean I love breakdowns just as much as the next guy, but when you listen to a song with 8 or 9 of them, it gets old by the time you hit the tenth track. A lot of these songs seem better tuned to be played live, because when you're in a live environment you can interact with the band or dance all you want.



Overall "Women and Children Die First" isn't a disappointment in any regard. In fact on many levels it's an extreme accomplishment for Remembering Never. While it does have its inconsistencies (and they are small ones), "Women And Children Die First" is a must for fans of metalcore/hardcore, especially the breakdown friendly variety. The band's ability to expand their lyrical content and concentrate on certain aspects of their sound is one of the best and most surprising features about this album. While I still prefer "She Looks So Good In Red", I have a hard time turning this one off before listening to all ten tracks. The band is equally as talented live so be sure to check them out when you get a chance. Now open up that dance floor!"

A breakdown lover's wet dream...

Bodom86 | Philadelphia, PA | 12/11/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This band is very heavy, to put it bluntly. But to look at it more closely, it is easy to hear that there isn't a whole lot of originality in their music and that is why this album gets three stars instead of four. But like I've said with many bands, that does not mean it's not worth listening to. The music is still angry and absolutely full of breakdowns that will make any hardcore dancer do windmills like there's no tomorrow. The lyrics are well written and there's some good singing going on as well. I liked the hidden Pantera cover of "Strength Beyond Strength", although I wished they would've tuned the guitars up a step or so for that song - it would've sounded much better. All in all though, a great buy if youre looking for some straight-up, hard-hitting music, with lots of breakdowns. Top songs include "For the Love of Fiction", "The Grenade in Mouth Tragedy", and "All That Glitters Is"."

BRUTAL!

Nick | Round Rock, TX United States | 03/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This cd is not your typical "melodic" hardcore band. Its a LOT more unforgiving than say Poison the Well or Evergreen Terrace, and this guy's voice almost wisps that of death metal. Unlike it's Floridian peers Remembering Never doesn't have that (forgive me) beat around the bush way of going about describing stuff in their lyrics. No; they take it on head first. Don't get me wrong: Shai Hulud, Evergreen Terrace and Poison the Well are tight as hell too, but Remembering Never have more of the classical "hardcore" attitude, and it's greatly reflected in their lyrics. The music is still melodic like that of PTW and Evergreen Terrace; hell without the singer you could mistake them for a heavy Deftones; look at track 5. This album crushes. No joke. This might even make you swallow your pride and look at yourself (that's what hardcore is about isn't it?), I know it did for me. Jeremy Staska truely brings this band to a new musical level on this album (producer for the majority of their albums), and this is a far cry from (She Looks So Good...). He still sings in his almost Danzig-esque voice, but this is more slash and burn than freeing butterflies. Check this out."