In January, Devin Shelton, the co-bassist, vocalist, co-song writer and founding member of post-hardcore band Emery, announced his departure from the band. Shelton’s announcement came just days after his former band made public their plans to release a fifth album with Tooth & Nail Records. The album, titled We Do What We Want, is one of the bands hardest and yet least varied collection of songs to date. Though Shelton didn’t announce his departure until after the recording for the album had been done, his contributions are limited to a single song on We Do What We Want. After hearing the new album, it can be questioned whether or not this band should have even carried on using the Emery moniker. A band that relied heavily upon the dueling vocals of Shelton and fellow song writer Toby Morrell like Emery did, sorely misses the dynamic that gave them their signature sound. This dynamic was cut back to the barebones on the band’s last album, the paltry …In Shallow Seas We Sail, so maybe it’s no wonder that Shelton decided to jump ship before it sank into the shallow sea.
In Shelton’s place, Morrell takes on the bulk of the songwriting duties. Lyrically, Morrell’s returned interest in the religious side of hardcore poetry creates for more thought provoking and overall interesting lyrical compositions than the group’s heartbreak riddled last album did. While the band still doesn’t come close to the interesting lyrics that they spray painted across their first three full lengths, the lyrics on this album are still an improvement upon Shallow Seas. The new album’s greatest track is in fact the acoustic based “I Never Got to See the West Coast,” based in part because of Morrell’s touching suicide-themed poetry. And while We Do What We Want is undoubtedly the band’s hardest album to date, it’s this open hearted ballad-esque track that shines the brightest. “I Never Got to See the West Coast” is a song that gives Morrell a chance to get as personal as he has probably ever been. It’s also nice to be able to take a breath and hear a change of pace song after eight straight tracks of redundantly heavy hardcore music and high pitched screaming.
It’s those first eight songs, of the ten song album, that bring down Emery’s latest release. There is good to be found within the heavy, post-hardcore mixture that makes up the vast majority of the album. There are a few breakdowns that you might find interesting and even a few vocal performances by Morrell and resident screamer Josh Head that you might like to think you could hang your hat on, but sadly the majority of this album is terribly forgettable. Gone are the catchy hooks, the beautiful harmonizing and the interesting songs. We Do What We Want is mostly heavy without substance, clinging to a dieing genre. Songs like “The Cheval Glass,” “Scissors,” and “You Wanted It” rely too heavily on crunching riffs and Head’s rampant screaming.
The album ends with “Fix Me,” a song that sounds like it could possibly have graced the presence of I’m Only A Man (that my friend is a grand compliment). It also happens to be (surprise, surprise!) written by Devin Shelton, the lone song that he contributed to on the album. It’s a slowed down, acoustic based track that certainly doesn’t overshadow the album’s gem, “I Never Got to See the West Coast,” but is still a better tune than the blisteringly mundane previous eight songs that lead off the album. Without Shelton’s voice and talents added to mix, and with the band experimenting in a heavier yet more rudimentary sound, we’re left with another sub par album by this group of talented post-hardcore forefathers. Despite being a pretty big fan of the band throughout the past decade, it seems that We Do What We Want is proof that Emery will never again reach the level of quality and consistency they once achieved.
"We Do What We Want" is on sale March 29, 2011 from Tooth & Nail.
