Miss May I-Monument

I've only been listening to Miss May I for a few months. I have known about them since they came out with their first album, but haven't really gotten around to actually listening to them. After being legitimately satisfied with the band's material, I heard from a couple of my friends that they were coming to play in Seattle in about two weeks. They said that they had bought me a ticket because one of them was having his birthday there, so I decided I would go since this band was pretty good, and I had seen both opening acts before and liked one of them. Overall I was satisfied with Miss May I's performance, not something I would spend my own money on but I had fun. I had only heard their first album before that so I bought their new CD since I liked the songs that they played off of it.

First off I would like to say that Miss May I is one of the heaviest metalcore bands I've ever heard in my life. They aren't quite as thrashy and ear suffocating as Mnemic (the heaviest metalcore band I know of), but their breakdowns are so brutal I think my heart skipped a beat during one of them. I would like to note something that I think was a horrible decision. And that is that they chose one of the worst screamers to be a guest vocalist on one of the songs. I mean, he is horrible, and if you want to know just how bad he is, read my review on Attack Attack's self-titled album, and message me and I'll send you two YouTube links that I will have you watch. My favorite thing about the overall sound of the album is that there is tons of clean, meaty bass that sounds awesome. The bass blasts are perfect, without distortion. In Miss May I's first album, the vocalist really needed some improvements due to an undeveloped and unpracticed scream and growl. But in this album, damn, his vocals sound astonishing. His vocal frys are perfect and his growls are deep and full. The singing can be a bit out of tune sometimes, so maybe the singer should practice more and remember to take care of his throat and such. One thing that I recently realized is that this band is one of the only screamo/metalcore bands that get regular air time (I don't know about the rest of the world but they sure get played on one of my stations quite a bit), even though there are tons more other bands like that that never get played on the radio, which is something that I've always wondered (which probably why the concert had tons of people there). An improvement that I would make is that most of the breakdowns in the album sound very similar to each other, which shows lack in creativity. I think that the best musician in the band is most definitely their drummer! The drummer uses a larger than usual set and (unlike most drummers that use huge sets) he actually uses it and knows how to use it well! That and the singing are the main downsides to this album.

The first song is one of their faster songs, and the band really nails keeping on time which makes the song really cool. The song starts out with pure speed and brutality, and then makes a very smooth transition to a melodic, sung chorus with an excellent transition back in to the speed and anger. The second song is my favorite, despite the fact that it features one of my most hated and unsupported vocalists. The song is very fast a lot of the times, and then has a whole mish-mosh of melodic parts, brutal breakdowns, and other unexpected stuff. This song is really where the drummer shows everyone what he is capable of, huge thumbs up for the fancy drumming! Now the breakdown at the end is one of the most brutal breakdowns I've ever heard a melodic band play, when I heard it, I couldn't stop smiling and laughing because it really gave the song an astonishingly fantastical ending. The pure anger and rage in the whole album is so controlled and beautifully expressed. This album definitely gets a solid 19/20. This album would mainly impress people who are fans of melodic death, metalcore, and screamo. I will most likely buy their new album.