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Fear Before
the March of Flames: Art Damage
I usually despise bands with stupid names intending to be cute or catchy, but Fear before the March of Flames is a different story. As a rule, I always hate bands that name themselves after weird Faulkner novels or newspaper headlines from the 1950's. Maybe that's because those bands all try to add me as a Myspace friend as soon as they see that I listen to Angel Hair or Heroin. Well, I would advise adding Fear before the March of Flames to your list of friends after giving a fair listen to Art Damage. Fear Before the March of Flames is probably a big fan of the legendary aforementioned Gravity label bands of the mid-1990's, but based on their sound, I'd be willing to bet that they're even bigger fans of their contemporaries such as The Blood Brothers. These bands have a shared common link in that the "verse-chorus-bridge" structure is typically supplemented by a breakdown featuring some variation of "singing" to contrast with the brutal hardcore screams. I think some kids call it "screamo," but I also think those kids should stop spending their money on tattoos and black hair dye. Regardless, Fear before the March of Flames proves that the band members are capable musicians, but the lyric-writing is still perhaps a bit suspect. Take for example a song like "Hey Kid. I'm a Computer. Stop all the Downloading." Here is a sample of the lyrics from this particular song: "You cannot buy love/you cannot sell feelings/have at me with your most primitive touch/secretaries now make great lovers." Okay, so besides the fact that the lyrics make no sense (unless you are a sophomore in college and your major is "Creative Writing") and that they have nothing to do with the title of the song, the greatest mystery is why the band would choose to include the lyrics in the album's liner notes in the first place. Again, musically, the song is terrific, but the words just don't match up. There are however some songs with profound lyrics such as "The Long Road to the Middle," which calls for youth to avoid becoming like their worker-drone parents, who will incidentally probably have to shell out the money to pay for a copy of the record. Hypocrisies aside, the album's greatest achievement is in its ability to ravage the listener's ears, yet at the same time provide a soothing sense of calm; because despite the seemingly savage nature of the record, the main goal is to better ourselves. This humble sort of aim can be seen in "Consequences David. You'll Meet Your Fate in the Styx": "You sold me quick fixes in the past/I keep them in the medicine cabinet/but you should see what I keep in my closet." Lyrics like these and this sample lyric from "Should Have Stayed in the Shallows: "Let's do coke like we're vacuums and dance our troubles away before we drive our cars off bridges" provide accurately vivid imagery, but I fear that this would only lead to a fledgling band to call themselves Let's Do Coke Like We're Vacuums and Dance Our Troubles Away Before We Drive Our Cars off Bridges. Then we'll have to consider their album for review as well. Anyway, band names and nonsensical lyrics should be out of the equation, as they're mostly indecipherable throughout the entirety of the recording. As it was said before, listen to the album and get a feel for the intentions in that way rather than trying to follow along with the liner notes. Besides, the artwork sprinkled throughout the liner notes is disturbing enough to make you want to shut the booklet the first few times you flip through it. But then, as we all have morbid curiosities, you'll pick the booklet up again and see that it alone is worth picking the album up at a record store.
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