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On the Might of Princes

Where You Are and Where You Want to Be
2001
Creep

On the Might of Princes - Where You Are and Where You Want to Be (Cover Artwork)

Review by: Anchors
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Published on November 13th 2005

The show was slated to be as follows: On the Might of Princes, then the Blood Brothers, followed by Cursive. OTMOP was the only band I hadn't heard at the time; this was back in late 2003, but I had heard great things about their sound. Well, a hurricane that made it up to Long Island prevented them from leaving it, and subsequently, they dropped off the show. No big deal I thought, hadn't heard them anyhow.

How wrong I was.

A few months later, I actually got around to hearing the band, and was immediately upset that the chance to see them had slipped by. Worse, even, was the news not much farther that the group had disbanded. Thankfully, they did leave us with a few fantastic albums, and Where You Are and Where You Want to Be is the best of those. Frantic, impassioned, but with a terrific sense of instrumentation, the Long Island exports are able to truly grasp the concept of writing great songs. Bridging the gap between screamo and post-rock, all ten songs on the album, no matter the duration, simply feel epic. The song structures will completely engross you, and the entire album flows beautifully one song after the next. Delicate and yearning, harsh and spastic, you're never quite sure what direction the song is going to take next.

While things start off sort of slowly, with "You Can Only Be So Careful," the absolutely stellar "The Water vs. the Anchor" is perfectly indicative of great things to come. As some of you probably guessed from my user name, I do have a particular affinity for the song; its wide range of sounds and emotions is something to behold. The raw, underproduced sound of the album is reflected well here, as is the passion that OTMOP hold for the music that they play. Opening with some clean guitar and simple drum patterns, the tension in the song heightens the farther it goes along, and the vocal dynamics are absolutely top notch. Harsh textures, crashing guitars, and vocals perfectly suited for it, when people talk about the full package, this is the sort of thing they mean. "If I Knew Numbers" starts in a deceptively low-key manner, with more of that mood-driven, wistful clean guitar work, until exploding into a tight little ball of rage. A lot of people may see this as a tired formula, but before anything else, it's imperative that you know this album was recorded in 2000, and released January of 2001; they weren't cashing in on trends, they were helping to create it. And in any rite, this is the genuine article, where passion and talent share equal hands; this isn't an album produced for Hot Topic and mass consumption. "Cheers for Beers and Bullshit" is a track that also starts out in that similar fashion, but has many ups and downs before finally settling towards the end. But the band saved their strongest two tracks for last.

"An Allusion to Italy" takes the fury of Orchid with the guitar stylings of Forstella ford, or old This Day Forward, and expands on that for a good six minutes. The amazing guitar work dominates the duration, but the sporadic vocals inject some real vigor and conviction as well. Epic as it may be, "For Meg" closes out the album in dramatic and exemplary fashion. Starting out with a spoken word sample and quickly moving into a rhythmic swirl of bass, guitar, and drums, the shrieking vocals cascade in and out, while the guitar just picks up more and more and more in intensity; as loud as things get, it always gets louder, until just when you think your speakers will blow from the rumble, the album is over.

I truly wish more bands like this, more bands with an extreme passion for their music existed now. Through their words, vocals, and chord progressions, On the Might of Princes put out one of the finest albums of 2001, or any year after has seen. Buy it, cherish it, and just hope all you can that more bands will pick up where they so passionately left off.

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 19, 2005 at 12:21 PM (EST)
My Score:

the re-release of "makings of a conversation" should be coming in this february and you can listen to a song, called "snow watchers" from the album at roklokrecords.com its so good.

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, November 14, 2005 at 2:18 PM (EST)

such a good album, i too, am psyched for the re-issue.
someone mentioned this shit on VLV a few days ago and I haven't stopped listening since.

Posted by iheartadam on 2005-11-14 13:46:23

God, this reminds me an awful lot like the super-gay chats on the old tXc. I'm horny. Somebody put on some Mae and put it in my dumper.

Posted by iheartadam on 2005-11-14 13:44:19

It's true. Most guys are like that. I'm a submissive person myself. Like I always say, if you can't put it inside of your ass, it's just not worth it.

Posted by stevejonestherealbones on 2005-11-14 13:29:30

i really havent done any dudes in the ass..just to clear that up...nor vice versa

- jones the bones

- stevejones8770@yahoo.com

- thats a lie, thats not where the 8700 cam from

Posted by stevejonestherealbones on 2005-11-14 13:20:46

no, i'm not arguing how flipping gay that cover art is. when i said the latterman had a couple of sallys playing extreme pattycake...i had no idea i would ever experience these fairies doing a biathalon on the beach in their boxers.....

but my main point was that, in general, butt sex with me is not THAT gay...in fact when i fuck a dude in the ass and vice vresa its more a show of heterosexual male dominance, not homosexual love which is for faggots...i'm not gay, just dominant

- jones the bones

- stevejones8770@yahoo.com

- thats a lie, thats not where the 8700 cam from

Posted by sickboi on 2005-11-14 13:14:01

Jonesy, look at that cover. LOOK AT IT.

Gayer than your car on a Saturday night.

Posted by stevejonestherealbones on 2005-11-14 13:10:30

i'm never gonna bone down with sickboi again, if thats how he really feels. its not gay if two guys jack off together at least right?

- jones the bones

- stevejones8770@yahoo.com

- i learned that from S.P.

Posted by Anchors on 2005-11-14 13:02:51

A thousand bands, huh?

Name three.

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, November 14, 2005 at 11:58 AM (EST)
My Score:

Score is for the lack of an awesome Anchors intro.

I was going to buy this recently, but then I heard it is getting remastered so I figured I would wait.

Posted by hobbitcore on 2005-11-14 11:23:12

hahahahaha so dramatic

"How wrong I was."

I love Anchors

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, November 14, 2005 at 11:02 AM (EST)
My Score:

Guess what: in 2001, a thousand bands put out the same album as this.

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, November 14, 2005 at 9:09 AM (EST)

Heres to OTMOP screennames.

-sirens

Posted by sickboi on 2005-11-14 08:47:07

That cover art is gayer than Steve Jones butt sex.

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, November 14, 2005 at 1:16 AM (EST)
My Score:

this band fucking sucks

Posted by BlackSheepBoy on 2005-11-14 00:05:59

I've always found "Sirens" to be a cohesive and rocking album. However, I was under the impression that was their lone release. I'll have to check this one out....

Posted by primeevil7 on 2005-11-13 19:43:39

I can't wait for the reissue.

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, November 13, 2005 at 5:17 PM (EST)

This band fucking ruled and was one of the best live bands I've ever seen.

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, November 13, 2005 at 4:43 PM (EST)
My Score:

uarghh..totally boring

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, November 13, 2005 at 4:07 PM (EST)

"As some of you probably guessed from my user name, I do have a particular affinity for the song"

Nobody cares you dumb clown.

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, November 13, 2005 at 2:11 PM (EST)
My Score:

"Where You Are and Where You Want To Be" and their first album "Making Of A Conversation" are their best works. That is not saying that "Sirens" was not as good but their first two albums were the ones that really captured their whole experience of the feeling that their live shows left on me best. I am glad that I had the fortune of seeing them from the very beginning. For those lucked out on their first two albums the first time around reisssues are currently in the works with bouns materials.

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, November 13, 2005 at 1:54 PM (EST)

i think whoever wrote this review downloaded the songs incorrectly, because an allusion to italy sounds nothing like orchid or forstella ford. the song is acoustic, and has a banjo. and the water vs the anchor is the first track on the album. nonetheless, a fantastic album.

Posted by Anchors on 2005-11-13 13:50:48

I'm pretty sure he was kidding about that, but that's always bugged me about TBS doing that, I guess figuing that most of their fan base won't know about it anyhow.

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, November 13, 2005 at 1:34 PM (EST)

Actually, TBS ripped their title from this album. Note the release date from OTMOP's album - 2001. It's crappy TBS did that, since they're from Long Island and played shows with OTMOP in the past.

Posted by musical-monkey on 2005-11-13 12:14:02

on the might of princes/blood brothers/cursive? that would be one hell of a show.

Posted by skaboom on 2005-11-13 11:18:16

They totally ripped their album title from TBS.

Posted by killyouridols on 2005-11-13 07:14:07

i used to prefer sirens too, but then this grew on me and it's now one of my fav recs ever.

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, November 13, 2005 at 5:02 AM (EST)
My Score:

screamo and post rock...fuck the most boring genres after metalcore and emo

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, November 13, 2005 at 4:34 AM (EST)
My Score:

TERRIBLE band. anyone who likes them has bad taste in music...i think that's a law in some states. and if it's not, well it's about damn time we did something to fix that.

Posted by dougkatz on 2005-11-13 03:20:05

awesome band until they cancelled every show they were supposed to play.

Posted by colin on 2005-11-13 01:50:49

odd i haven't heard of this release. i do enjoy sirens quite a bit.

Posted by inagreendase on 2005-11-13 01:48:26
My Score:

Great album, but I prefer Sirens a bit. Though "The Water..." is definitely their best recorded song.