Seattle via South Carolina hard rock band Emery has been a pioneer in post-hardcore (or if you\'d like: the disgusting term screamo) music since their inception. Yet all the while you could tell by listening to previous efforts that Emery had so much more to offer. Their trademark harmonies and inventive guitar work is what truly set them apart from their counterparts. With their third album, 2007\'s I\'m Only a Man, Emery changes things up again; making sure not to retread old water and yet keeping the familiar sound that fans have come to love.
The Weak\'s End, Emery\'s debut album was filled with a harmonious, yet dark, undertone. They refined their sound with The Question, which was injected with bouncier numbers and a much more pop sensible sound. When it comes to I\'m Only a Man though, I\'m having a much tougher time coming up with applicable adjectives. On one note it retains the somewhat darker edge of their debut with tracks such as the overwrought titled "You Think You\'re Nickel Slick (But I Got Your Penny Change)" (a Question b-side) and the somewhat cleverly titled "After The Devil Beats His Wife," and yet on another note; songs like the similarly titled "The Party Song" and "The Movie Song" retain the catchy pop-punk feeling that many songs on their last album shared.
Where the album sounds best though is when the boys from Emery take chances and try to push the limit of their sound. The beautifully paced "World Away," does as much to showcase Emery\'s great songwriting as it does the wonderful vocal abilities of both Devin Shelton and Toby Morrell. The driving "Can\'t Stop the Killer" finds an emotional account of mid-life depression in the midst of the American dream:
"Your family\'s a joke and your job is your life / The time spent without them / Is time spent most every night."
The griping narrative and intriguing melody helps to make it one of the best tracks on the disc. The acoustically under toned "What Makes a Man a Man" slows things down a bit, but loses no grandeur in the process; filling the track with an epic drive and beautiful melodies.
In the middle of the album though, Emery takes a chance that they probably should have just let pass by. "Don\'t Bore Us Get to the Chorus," starts off with a choir of unaccompanied voices singing in an ultra high pitched sound and it only goes downhill from there. Once we do get to the chorus that the song title alludes to, we\'re greeted with a nice little unassuming and completely surprising dance beat to see us through. Once the song finally comes to a close it takes an odd turn as the band\'s trademark screaming blazes through in a seemingly unlikely time for them to do so. Actually, the screaming parts on this disc are much more limited than their earlier work, and most of the times when they do decide to do so it\'s tacked on to the end of the songs as if to appease genre fans. With such strong vocal ability between the band\'s two singers though, I see this as nothing more than maturity. Slowly but surely the band seems to be moving away from being labeled under any genre at all, other than rock and roll.
Currently though, Emery shines and takes chances within the parameters of the post-hardcore label they\'ve been given. Though they don\'t particularly achieve anything terribly groundbreaking, the limitless talent of these five musicians and their terrific songwriting ability should be enough to someday thrust them into the limelight. Not sure if I\'m Only a Man is quite a commercial enough sound to be able to do that though. Minor set backs aside, this is a solid third album from a solid rock band.
"I'm Only a Man" is on sale October 2, 2007 from Tooth & Nail.
