This record is incredible. Now I know I go on about emo, screamo or post-whatmacallit being dated, tired and, well, dull, but From First To Last have hit back at my jaded opinions with a genre-melding classic. ‘Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has A Body Count’ has everything – killer hooks, awesome guitar parts, heavy breakdowns, electronic beats, more emotion than a repeat showing of Titanic, rapping and it also brings the mosh. Of course.
While ‘Dear Diary’…could come off as an album that attempts to be a Jack of all trades, it avoids being a master of none by mastering everything. While their ‘Aesthetic’ EP showed promise, it ultimately failed because it didn’t stand out too much. With a new vocalist in Sonny Moore, I didn’t know whether in losing Phil, who, in my opinion, held the band together vocally, From First To Last would be able to handle the challenge of a debut on Epitaph. But by ‘eck our kids, they’ve blown away any misconceptions and ill-thoughts I may have had with one hell of a killer record. There’s punk rock, metal, hardcore…and so much energy. If you don’t like this kind of music From First To Last won’t change your mind, but if you’re getting bored with the same old same old, this is a band breathing new life into a genre slowly losing its will to live.
From the opening bellow of “kill the lights†in the track ‘The One Armed Boxer vs The Flying Guillotine’, to the closing rap by MLP, this is a record I’ve fallen in love with. There are hooks a plenty, as Sonny uses his voice well. There is screaming, but it’s never over done and is only used when you need to hear it. The guitars scythe and shred, while the drums batter a bloodied corpse of a kit. ‘Note To Self’ is every bit as good, while the awesomely titled ‘I Liked You Better Before You Were Naked On The Internet’ could easily have been a Blink 182 cutting room floor track from their new album, such is the electronica influence. The dual vocals could even be Mark Hoppus and Tom De Longe too. That’s not to say FFTL borrow from their contemporaries at all – this is a record that showcases their own talents and much of them surround Mr Moore. His vocal talent is astounding, switching from the aggression in ‘Featuring Some Of Your Favourite Words’ to raw emotion in ‘Emily’, when you just think his voice has to crack at some point.
‘Populace In Two’ and the brutal ‘Kiss Me I’m Contagious’ are heavy tracks, which still keep lots of melody, allowing FFTL to switch from bringing on the mosh to having killer choruses that are offset by Sonny’s wonderful vocals. For me it’s the closing unnamed track that really shows a band that is trying to be different. The guitars really hammer as the band use programming over a psychotic and deranged vocal, which eventually ends up in a rap by Major League Player, before falling apart in a bellowing Sonny scream and breakdown. Awesome.
This is a fantastic record and ones for fans of the genre to really get their teeth into. Full marks for at least trying to be different by throwing all kinds of influences into the melting pot, for an experiment that could easily have fallen flat. Thankfully for FFTL, it comes off marvellously. Now if only they could make it over here….
www.fromfirsttolast.com
Epitaph Records
Paul