FamilyFans Music

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I'M ONLY A MAN

Emery / Tooth and Nail Records

Fan Appeal: Teens and Young Adults

Genre: Rock / Screamo

This album is a brilliant new expansion from an already rockin’ band.

Emery brings phenomenal musical composition and authentic emotion. The vocals always seem full of passion and longing. The best part of their composition is the skillful layering of vocals. There are constantly two voices—sometimes they’re both singing the same thing, other times they sing different things, and other times one will be singing with an under layering of screaming to emphasize certain lines. “The Movie Song,” is an inventive song that compares the singer to a secondary character in a movie who dies in the beginning. This comparison is made because of how he sometimes is so close to achieving his goal, but then a small blunder is made, and that goal is now unreachable. I’m Only A Man has the changing aspect that every band needs to show growth, but they stay true to their sound and don’t have too much change to make them less desirable to fans.

The greatest weakness in this album is the vagueness of the lyrics. There are symbols and lyrics that seem like they should mean something, but they’re so vague or weird that they can’t be discerned. The weakest song is definitely “From Crib to Coffin.” This 10-minute ballad has potential, but after about two minutes, it seems like they’re pushing it too hard to be something that it doesn’t need to be. This song has a pretty annoying ending too. Plus, there’s a synthesizer line that repeats and doesn’t change for the last two minutes and leads to nothing. Not great.

I would recommend this CD to current Emery fans, and those who are looking for a new screamo band to try.

FAMILYFANS RATING: B+

If members of your family like this CD, then you may want to try…

-The Question or The Weak’s End, Emery, Rock/Screamo. Some powerful rock albums that will make the listener want to dance and sing along.

--TN

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