 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Remembering Never
Women and Children Die First
2003, Ferret Records
Florida‘s own Remembering Never are back with their sophomore release, and a few things have changed since we last heard from Mean Pete and the crew. Remembering Never are best known as that band that released She Looks So Good In Red a few years ago and were written off as another Poison the Well clone. With their new album they seem to be all about destroying that perception.
Women and Children has all the elements of basic metallic hardcore, with angry screaming vocals, a little singing, the odd sound clip and crushing breakdowns. The way Remembering Never is able to distance themselves from the rest of the metalcore pack is by doing it all so well. Mean Pete‘s vocals are passionate and angry from start to finish; you get the impression he actually cares about what he‘s singing. The rest of the band sounds tight, with some memorable guitar work thrown in between the breakdowns.
The great thing about this record is seeing how much Remembering Never has evolved since their last effort. The lyrics have totally switched from dealing with lovers and killing them to political, issue-driven words on Women and Children. Pete touches on his disdain for religion, animal rights, lies and many other topics. I personally view this as an improvement and it gives the band more of an ability to impact peoples‘ lives. An added bonus is song explanations with the lyrics; I feel that more bands should include these. Pete explains that he felt the band needed to contribute more to his beloved hardcore scene by making meaningful music. Remembering Never has also gotten more aggressive by almost totally ditching Pete‘s singing except for a few instances. This isn‘t really for the better or worse, only different.
All in all, Women and Children Die First is a solid release. It‘s definitely the best record to come out on Ferret since Every Time I Die‘s Hot Damn!. This CD isn‘t revolutionary, but it accomplishes what it set out to do: deliver a message and get the kids dancing. It will be interesting to see where the band goes from here. Overall I give it a solid B, plus the hidden Pantera cover at the end is really awesome. If you really like this band check out Mean Pete‘s straight edge side project, Until The End.
Best Song: ‘Closed Caskets‘
Copyright ©2004