Didn’t Memphis May Fire Used to be a Southern Metal Band??

I’ve never been a Memphis May Fire fan, but I do distinctly remember their music having a southern metal twang to it (via bluesy rock n’ roll riffs), and I remember thinking that when it came to Trustkill/Victory/Rise/Fearless bands of the late ’00s these guys really weren’t so bad, despite the kinda annoying emo-y vocals.

So imagine my shock when I clicked on a link in a press release announcing MMF’s new song “Beneath the Skin” and got the following steaming pile of generic breakdowns, triggered drums, djenty guitars, keyboard sound effects, good cop / bad cop vocals and every other imaginable horrible trend in 5th-gen metalcore:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7YR_wY8vO4

What the fuck happened to this band???

Admittedly I don’t think I’ve listened to a single Memphis May Fire song since 2009’s debut album Sleepwalking, and there have been quite a few member changes since. But still.. what in the?! Complete 180. Memphis May Fire took a perfectly acceptable / decent foundation for a band and completely ruined it by caving to every single terrible modern metal trend. WHY!? Then again, the whole “metalcore bands with southern riffs” thing was really hot for a moment in the late ’00s (see also: The Showdown), so maybe this was inevitable: as the trends have shifted, so have Memphis May Fire.

Just to make sure I wasn’t confusing Memphis May Fire’s old stuff with some other band I consulted Spotify and listened to a couple tracks off Sleepwalker. Nope, same band. One less band I’ll need to pay attention to going forward, I guess.