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Means

Sending You Strength
2007
Facedown

Means - Sending You Strength (Cover Artwork)

Review by: moneenerd
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Published on April 27th 2007

Metalcore is a genre that, time and time again, dozens of new young bands, who seem to appear from thin air, try to come up and innovate. What happens more often than not is that those bands fade away just as they came, after only releasing a shitty-to-mediocre record that sounds like everything we've already heard before, attracting only those who are either half their age, or friends of friends' girlfriends. It is, quite simply, a punk subgenre that is going nowhere.

So, picture in your mind what a band would sound like if I said the following sentence to you: "Melodic metalcore with fairly heavy emo influence, signed to Christian alternative music label, Facedown Records."

Yeah. That is a lot to swallow (and this is coming from a guy who thought Blessed by a Broken Heart was somewhat listenable at one point), but it's not hard to picture because we all know the formula. Chances are, you'll think of something that sounds like Misery Signals, or Evergreen Terrace, or Rosesdead (in which they sound exactly alike, top to bottom) or maybe even Still Remains. While, in my opinion, none of those are necessarily bad bands (Rosesdead released one of my favorite heavy albums with Stages), Means sounds exactly, exactly, exactly like every single one of them in one big, giant mixture of swoop haircuts and old-school tattoos.

The vocals are growled by one guy, sung beautifully by another. The guitars go from pretty and atmospheric to slow, thundering breakdowns. The drums, for the most part, maintain a simple punk beat, but go back and forth to more diverse time signatures. Each one of these qualities are put into practice in every song on the record. I'm sure creating this kind of music takes brains, and there is so much talent, intensity, and potential in this band, but it is, simply put, wasted on weak hardcore clichés that we've all grown tired of. There is no innovation here at all, only very obvious influences.

There is not a single song on this record that stands out to me in the slightest (except maybe "Connected", in which they sing/scream the album title over and over again, teaching me only to skip the track every time I put the album on). Other than the really annoying singing that comes into play way too often to allow the tracks to take off, Means aren't a "bad" band. I mean, if you're into this whole new-school hardcore scene, you'll probably love this, but for those of us who've already loved and gotten over albums like Burned Alive by Time, The Opposite of December, Jhazmyne's Lullaby, or even 10.21 years ago, I really don't think we have much reason to take an interest in Means.

In my opinion, Stages is the last great "melodic metalcore" album that will come out for a very long time, and I am perfectly okay with that.

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Posted by ak3punk on 2008-04-24 14:52:49
My Score:

Love this band, love this album. One of my favorite metalcore releases. I saw them play 4 times last year and every time was awesome. Be sure to check them out...

Posted by booker_pee on 2007-07-07 14:48:53
My Score:

Score is for Regina, Saskatchewan.

Posted by dreux on 2007-05-02 07:48:04
My Score:

Band sucks. 5000 bands have done metalcore with more intensity emotion and proficiency. Why the fuck would I listen to this when I could just listen to Age of Ruin or Reflux instead? I know it doesn't sound the same, but I'd be getting my fix for the genre from much better bands.

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 30, 2007 at 10:23 PM (EDT)

fuck people are dumb.

why do people post things when it has nothing positive, or good to say? i dont understand the point of posting on something you dont care for, if you didn't like it then why spent the time to put a brainless comment or cut up the reviewer for stupid things by putting comments such as:

"So in other words...an editor edited your review. OMG."
or
"This score is for the person who reviewed this and referred to the "guitars." There's only one guitar. They're a 4 piece."

so what if he didn't know there's only one guitarist, WHO CARES. "guitars" could also mean the multiple guitar tracks or whatever.

you may both get bent. grow a brain. and grow some fucking balls.

good review in MY OPINION. (my fuck i'm entitled to such a thing?!? this is amazing.) i like this band but agree they're nothing groundbreaking. they just play the style quite well and i like the songs.

Posted by moneenerd on 2007-04-29 10:22:38

guitar. guitars. who cares? it wasn't very good.

and i see this kind of metalcore very punk-y. a lot of fast punk beats.

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, April 28, 2007 at 8:07 PM (EDT)
My Score:

This score is for the person who reviewed this and referred to the "guitars." There's only one guitar. They're a 4 piece.

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, April 28, 2007 at 7:32 PM (EDT)

metalcore is not a subgenre of punk or hardcore. well an actual mixture of metal and hardcore would be, but metalcore bands like killswitch engage, means, facedown records, bleeding through, etc arent punk or hardcore

Posted by moneenerd on 2007-04-28 12:57:20

STAGES is RosesDead's full-length, when they had ForDireLifeSake's Matt Wedge doing vocals for them. Its one of my fave albums cuz it just flows so well from start to finish. Not for everyone though I guess, but def progressive and innovative!

Posted by BJR on 2007-04-28 09:43:27

What the fuck is Stages?

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, April 28, 2007 at 2:17 AM (EDT)
My Score:

Saskatchewan has some good bands this one is not bad, check out Volcanoeless in Canada there unreal.

Posted by moneenerd on 2007-04-28 00:03:58

umm did i say anything to dispute that fact?

Posted by inagreendase on 2007-04-27 22:07:16

whoever edited this removed it and added some words too.. :S

So in other words...an editor edited your review. OMG.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 6:22 PM (EDT)
My Score:

This is in my top 5 albums this year! If you like Misery Signals and As I Lay Dying you'll like these guys. I'm not saying its the most original shit, it is melodic metalcore/hardcore and its damn good.

The person who reviewed this album doesn't even sound like he likes this type of music. I saw these guys live and it was awesome, it sounded just like the album.

Do yourself a favor and check them out live and pick up this album...

Posted by BJR on 2007-04-27 16:18:46
My Score:

I like this record alot. I usually hate this kind of music, but the screaming wasn't too bad and they made it heavier. Their EP was baller fer sure.

Posted by moneenerd on 2007-04-27 15:53:49

I wrote a paragraph on how FACEDOWN is so totally predictable with almost every single release. whoever edited this removed it and added some words too.. :S

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 11:58 AM (EDT)
My Score:

facedown wrecked this band

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 11:58 AM (EDT)

sounds like the minneapolis music scene

Posted by moneenerd on 2007-04-27 07:29:38

Dreux:

Hey, fuck you man!

- T.Banger

Posted by dreux on 2007-04-27 02:43:37
My Score:

Score is for Stages.

Score is also for this record.

Score is for anyone retarded enough to compare shitty bands like Means and Rosesdead to a decent band like pre-Mirrors Misery Signals.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 2:25 AM (EDT)

snoozefest.

Posted by danperrone on 2007-04-27 00:52:16
My Score:

actually i found this to be above average metalcore and reminded me of misery signals' mirrors which, in my opinion, is the best album in the genre since hot damn

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