EMMURE’S THE RESPECT ISSUE – A SHORT, SWEET SLAB OF CONNECTICUT BREAKDOWNCORE

I don’t usually don’t go for this kind of tuff-guy br00tal breakdowncore — at all — but for some reason I’ve found myself liking Emmure’s latest, The Respect Issue (May 13th, Victory Records). Maybe it’s because Emmure sprinkle subtle guitar atmospherics, pinched harmonics and short spurts of shred throughout this 28.9 minute, ten track breakdown assault. Varied vocal techniques, Vinnie Paul-style drum production, and constant rhythm and tempo shifts from Agnostic Front-style gallops to near-Crowbar levels of sludge keep things interesting throughout this quick burst of hardcore bruisers. Emmure reeeeally loooove chugging on that one open low note and the one other note that’s a half-step higher, but damn, they’re pretty fucking good at playing those two notes in a whole bunch of different patterns. Even “Chicago’s Finest,” the band’s stab at a commercial, radio-friendly track, literally uses two notes as the basis for the entire song. I don’t know whether to lambast or applaud that decision… but I think I’m going to go with “applaud” since that takes some real balls. “Rough Justice” veers a bit too close to by-the-numbers metalcore for my taste, but makes up for it with some tasty, jarring dissonance later on. Best of all about The Respect Issue; with such a short album there really isn’t enough time to get bored.

-VN

(three and a half out of five horns)

[Emmure on MySpace]
[Emmure Official Website]