In Fear And Faith

Your World On Fire

Written by: TL on 11/02/2009 14:18:33

Considering the density of the something-core scene located between emocore, screamo and metalcore, there seems to be an impressive amount of new bands emerging from it all the time, which of course only intensifies the struggle to gain the attention of the fans. One of the latest bands to step up to the plate is In Fear And Faith, a San Diego six-piece who have set sail with Rise Records and a debut LP titled "Your World On Fire", in an effort to best the vast sea of contestants and make it to your fringe-core hall of fame.

Definition-wise, IFAF are metalcore to the letter, with super melodic guitar lines piling themselves on top of breakdown after breakdown, however, given the character of their high pitched clean vocals and their super-charged delivery of them, it's hard to shake the emo-feeling that aligns them closely with bands like BlessTheFall, Greeley Estates and A Skylit Drive. I for one wouldn't give the unwary listener a hard time if he or she was to confuse IFAF for any of those.

As for this record, the skills of the six bandmembers combined make for a bit of a hit and miss effort. The songs have a tendency to start out with an awesome beatdown, complete with blazing lead guitar and menacing screams, only to fall into slightly messy verse parts before sorting themselves out for the chorus. The opener "Pirates... The Sequel" is the perfect example, as the way it kicks in after the intro track is fuckin' awesome, but unfortunately also a promise of more that the rest of the song struggles to make good on. If you add to this that "Your World On Fire" is also weighed down by a rather corny "Pirate"-theme and a lyrical focus on "daring to be yourself" or "taking the hard road" that's pretty juvenile, you could conclude that the record is a failure of proportions. Fortunately, songs like "Taste Of Regret" and "The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions" (which features Craig Owens of Chiodos), show that IFAF are actually capable of putting out some strikingly cool guitar lines and some memorable vocal parts to match. Indeed, these characteristics are also very much present in all the songs, they're just mostly paired with an equal number of parts where the melodies seem overdone and the breakdowns seem pointless.

This means that apart from the two said tracks and maybe the closer "Relapse Collapse", "Your World On Fire" is a record that's momentarily awesome, but mostly just average, and if it wasn't for the absolutely picture-perfect production that makes it sound really fuckin' good quality wise, I'd probably be prone to place it closer to a 5 on the grade scale. However, the state of things considered, this still ranks as an album that might not quite engage your attention for its entire duration, but is still a pretty good listen, as long as you're just not a stranger to taking a bit of scene-cheese as a side dish to your metalcore.

7

Download: The Taste Of Regret, The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions, Relapse Collapse,
For The Fans Of: BlessTheFall, A Skylit Drive, Greeley Estates
Listen: myspace.com/infearandfaith

Release Date: 06.01.2009
Rise Records

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