If 'Odd How People Shake' showed the world that Fear Before The March Of Flames had oodles of talent, 'Art Damage' is three steps in the wrong direction. Sure, the chaos and semblance of madness is still in check, but the tracks here don't have the same impact as their previous opus did. Infact when I first started to listen to this record, I really couldn't wait to hit the skip button. Comparisons have already been made to The Blood Brothers, Converge and Botch, and these are pretty fair. But creatinga cacophony of sounds and screams is no good when everything just doesn't click together - and for me, 'Art Damage' doesn't have the glue to hold it together.
Bands like Alexisonfire and Blood Brothers have done well for themselves this year because they've fused the chaos with some magnificent musicianship. The melodies and song structures are top notch, contrasting the darker, aggressive parts perfectly. FBTMOF don't rely on the melodic side to their music as much as those bands do and, for me, it restricts any long-term listening. I wouldn't say I was a huge fan of spazz/hardcore anyway, but on repeated listens this doesn't become any more accessible.
That's not to say FBTMOF are not good at what they do - after all it takes a hell of a lot of talent to be able to pull off what they do - but I just feel there are other bands who do this better. There's nothing to grab you, nothing to make the hairs stand up on end, and ultimately that leaves the promise of the previous record as the bitter taste of disappointment. I expected more and the 30-minutes of 'Art Damage' did not deliver. Back to the drawing board for me...
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