Embrace Today

Embrace Today: We Are The EnemyWe Are The Enemy (2005)
Deathwish Inc.

Reviewer Rating: 3.5

Contributed by: AubinAubin
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on July 12th 2005Deathwish is having a damn good year. Certainly, the recent release of Modern Life Is War's flat-out spectacular Witness will earn them a place on many year-end lists, and the label has quickly become a dependable outlet for solid hardcore releases. Whether the label will take the crown of hardco.

Deathwish is having a damn good year.

Certainly, the recent release of Modern Life Is War's flat-out spectacular Witness will earn them a place on many year-end lists, and the label has quickly become a dependable outlet for solid hardcore releases. Whether the label will take the crown of hardcore previously held in the 90's by Victory still remains to be seen, but with so many previously reliable labels diluting their canon of hardcore acts in favour of watered down hit-or-miss indie rock masquerading as post-hardcore, it seems quite likely.

Also worthy of respect is the label's capable ability to maintain a roster of solid hardcore acts that sound almost entirely unlike each other; while Modern Life Is War boasts a seething teeth-gritted melancholy, Embrace Today aims in an entirely different direction, flaunting over-the-top hardcore roots and nearly unrestrained aggression.

The strength of the band comes from their ability to avoid playing to the "breakdown-and-squeal" metalcore crowd, choosing instead to stick a melodic bridge in the place where an obvious breakdown would appear. Instead of gang vocals, the band chooses to add softly sung female vocals to "Diamonds Are Forever," and these types of creative touches occur throughout the album.

On top of the solid songwriting, the band is more than capable musically, with effortless tempo changes and a vocalist that manages to sound harsh without sounding inhuman. While the band is certainly metal-influenced, they wisely choose to keep the reliance on single palm-muted notes to a minimum, and almost entirely avoid the majority of that genre's crutches.

A thoroughly enjoyable and solid release.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Anonymous (August 23, 2005)

old stuff was great, this is destined to be a hot topic fashioncore favorite. I hope the only thing they find is your brain matter amongst the dyed black hair and pieces of mesh in the burnout wreckage of what was your moms minivan.

Anonymous (July 15, 2005)

revelation bands BLOW AWAY victory bands. period. especially in the 90's.
j money

Colton (July 15, 2005)

"the new crown is definitley being handed off to rivalry..no questions."

Give Rivalry a few years and maybe, but they'll never catch up with the already solid releases Deathwish has put out.

soulbleed (July 15, 2005)

this band hasn't been good since 2003. neither has deathwish

Anonymous (July 14, 2005)

Whether the label will take the crown of hardcore previously held in the 90's by Victory still remains to be see...

the new crown is definitley being handed off to rivalry..no questions.

johnnydanger (July 14, 2005)

this record is bad. really bad. their old stuff was pretty decent. score for the album.

tylerdurden8136 (July 14, 2005)

BSD, you really need to get a life.

and i also want you to know that the shit you type is not even funny, you're simply wasting your time.

why do you have such a sick obsession with anchors anyways?

you need help.

Anonymous (July 14, 2005)

Embrace Today review by Anchors

Any therapist will tell you that the only way to struggle out of a bout of depression is to put on a happy face and Embrace Today.

Embrace Today's new CD rocks me in all the right places, proving once and for all that they are NOT the enemy, and if they are, consider me an "enemy soldier", because I will soon be joining their ranks!

-Anchors

Anonymous (July 14, 2005)

score is for the guy that said these guys were bleeding through wannabes.go kill yourlself

Anonymous (July 14, 2005)

Yeah. 100 DEMONS newest album was the shittiest thing thats been released by Deathwish EVER.

Colton (July 13, 2005)

"Lets see

Modern Life Is War
Sex Positions
100 Demons
Embrace Today
Blacklisted
Doomriders
Killing The Dream
Cursed

and all the other bands Deathwish has release records from.

Makes them one of the best extreme music labels ever, period."

Minus 100 Demons.

theundergroundscene (July 13, 2005)

a rehash of bleeding through?

do you have ears, son

Anonymous (July 13, 2005)

If this pile of rehashed wannabe Bleeding Through garbage was worth 4 stars, why is the review mainly a fluff piece on how great the label is?

Its ok to respect what Deathwish puts out and still be able to give an honest review. Unlike this one.

rkl (July 13, 2005)

xtreme like gogurt?

Anonymous (July 13, 2005)

im surprised crazytoledo knows good bands like embrace today haha.

benz (July 13, 2005)

"Makes them one of the best extreme music labels ever, period."

I'll toast to that.

-benz

Conduit (July 12, 2005)

Lets see

Modern Life Is War
Sex Positions
100 Demons
Embrace Today
Blacklisted
Doomriders
Killing The Dream
Cursed

and all the other bands Deathwish has release records from.

Makes them one of the best extreme music labels ever, period.

stevejonestherealbones (July 12, 2005)

wow dude, i didnt know you put this on all the reviews...go see jamison parker

are you enis the penis?

wanna hang out. you seem lonely..you in cali?

- jones the bones

- stevejones8770@yahoo.com

Anchors (July 12, 2005)

Haha you're right, my bad, I did not read that second part of the statement.

But yeah, I do live in Syracuse, and while we're not the largest city, you could make a fair argument about us being the hardcore captial of the US. Boston I'm sure would argue, but we've got a pretty damn big scene here.

sickboi (July 12, 2005)

Funny thing, I just checked out With Honor this week, good shit. Modern Life Is War is next on my list. I met them at a bar here, but didn't see their show. Seemed like nice guys.

rkl (July 12, 2005)

or at least if you didnt live in a major market and have access to more variety.

when comments are more than one sentence, it helps to read the "extras," Anchors.

from your user info, im going to infer that you live in syracuse. not a huge town, but certainly near a large market. i live in backwoods louisiana. i hope this clears things up.

stevejonestherealbones (July 12, 2005)

"um..i dont think any label has to do anything remotely spectacular to steal whatever "crown" victory ever had...

For quite a while, Victory was pretty much the biggest hardcore label around. They did put out records from Earth Crisis, Snapcase, Strife, Deadguy and many others in the 90s."

basically i meant...victory is really crappy now, so if the still had that hardore crown you spoke of..any label with a single good hardcore release could easily take the title.

i dont know. stupid, yes, but whatevs

- jones the bones

ghostmonkey (July 12, 2005)

"What's so fucking brilliant about Modern Life Is War?"

i don't get all the fuss. I saw them support Converge and it was all a bit samey and boring.

Anchors (July 12, 2005)

Victory was not all of hardcore, give me a break. Revelation and Equal Vision both had very strong rosters back in the day.

rkl (July 12, 2005)

theres no pretty much about it. victory was, for better or worse, hardcore in the 90s. or at least if you didnt live in a major market and have access to more variety. i learned about a lot of great bands from the victory style comps.

elliot (July 12, 2005)

i totally forgot this was coming out today. looks like i'll have to call my good buddy bannon and have him hook me up.

aubin (July 12, 2005)

um..i dont think any label has to do anything remotely spectacular to steal whatever "crown" victory ever had...

For quite a while, Victory was pretty much the biggest hardcore label around. They did put out records from Earth Crisis, Snapcase, Strife, Deadguy and many others in the 90s.

jamespastepunk (July 12, 2005)

If this is as good as MLiW, we're in for a treat.

theundergroundscene (July 12, 2005)

can someone send this to me?

and nora is and always has been horrible

and the modern life is war cd is sweet

Anonymous (July 12, 2005)

No good hardcore bands keeping it real? Check out Nora and get served.

LMChc (July 12, 2005)

about the only complaint i have about this review is that i don't know what songs stuck out to the reviewer.

but seriously, best review of the night.

etwiels88 (July 12, 2005)

What's so fucking brilliant about Modern Life Is War?

Their general approach to the genre. Some meaningful lyrics, vocals, and song structures help make that band stick out. There aren't many hardcore bands (or any I can think of off the top of my head) doing the same thing they're doing right now.

stevejonestherealbones (July 12, 2005)

um..i dont think any label has to do anything remotely spectacular to steal whatever "crown" victory ever had...

- jones the bones

- stevejones8770@yahoo.com

tylerdurden8136 (July 12, 2005)

What's so fucking brilliant about Modern Life Is War?

my thoughts exactly. i've repeatedly listened to "Witness" trying to like it, but i just can't seem to get into it.

now the new darkest hour, that's some amazing shit.

moneenerd (July 12, 2005)

What's so fucking brilliant about Modern Life Is War?

crazytoledo (July 12, 2005)

Best band reviewed tonight.

Nuff said.