Moros Eros

Moros Eros: I Saw the Devil Last Night and Now the Sun Shines BrightI Saw the Devil Last Night and Now the Sun Shines Bright (2006)
Victory Records

Reviewer Rating: 4

Contributed by: GlassPipeMurderGlassPipeMurder
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on December 22nd 20062006 has been an exceptional year for debuts. From Fat, we've borne witness to the arrival of Dead to Me and the full-length debut of the Loved Ones. From Epitaph we've seen the Draft rise from the ashes of Hot Water Music and Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio hook up with Joe Steinbrick of Thieves Like U.

2006 has been an exceptional year for debuts. From Fat, we've borne witness to the arrival of Dead to Me and the full-length debut of the Loved Ones. From Epitaph we've seen the Draft rise from the ashes of Hot Water Music and Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio hook up with Joe Steinbrick of Thieves Like Us to form Heavens. However, all the aforementioned bands are composed of veterans to the punk scene. Victory Records' Moros Eros is something completely new. And to put it bluntly, I Saw the Devil Last Night and Now the Sun Shines Bright is one of the best debuts of 2006.

They call it "angular rock." I call it "the illegitimate-but-talented child of Fugazi and At the Drive-In." If that description doesn't work for you, you're most likely out of luck, because their sound is difficult to describe without a reference point. The bulk of their sound is made up of short, choppy garage guitars, ballsy linear basslines that seem to run perpendicular to the guitars, and very impressive drumming that runs the gamut from driving punk rhythms to booty-shakin' beats. Lead singer Zach Tipton has mastered the art of delivering powerful shouts that are at the same time catchy and unconventional.

Despite the annoyingly long and "scene" title, I Saw the Devil Last Night and Now the Sun Shines Bright is solid. It's somewhat of a themed album with loose religious references mostly focusing on heaven and hell, angels and demons, God and Satan, etc. The album opens with the energetic "Today Is the Day," a bouncy garage-influenced tune that sets the lyrical theme and is a paradigm for most of the album's music. "When I Wake" follows, and is one of the weaker cuts of the album, not allowing the band to show off their best assets. The waltzy "half-title track" "I Saw the Devil Last Night" seems at first as if it might drag like "When I Wake"; shortly before the two-minute mark however, drummer Bobby Theberge kicks in some pounding punk rhythms bringing the track back to life, though the song does suffer from some annoying Blood Brothers-esque falsettos. "Insane and Speechless" features more impressive drumming from Theberge and is one of the catchier numbers on the disc.

"I Will Come Back Again" is another one of the stronger tracks, featuring atmospheric accompaniment coupled with an infectious melody backed with driving percussion in the chorus. At 6:02, "Madness Seems So Normal" is a bit drawn out and is somewhat skipable, though there is some interesting musicianship. The album ends with "Satan Has a Heart of Gold," a punchy two-and-a-half-minute number that unfortunately features some of the worst lyrics on the album: "Momma says satan's got a heart of gold, Papa says Jesus got a heart of stone, Everyone says I got a heart of stone, But Satan says I've got a heart of gold." However, the peaceful bridge of Tipton crooning,"I know the truth" makes it a pretty good track.

It will be interesting to see how Moros Eros attacks their followup in the coming years. If they're able to continue to grow while keeping their roots in a post-punk garage style without dumbing down their sound for mainstream acceptance, they'll have a nice little niche they can carve out in today's punk scene. Regardless of the future, I Saw the Devil is one of the best debuts of the year and will certainly be hard to top.

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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.

Kursk (February 13, 2007)

the music is for the large part is all pretty cool. Angular, dancey, post hardcore, whatever the fuck you wanna call it, it is awesome and catchy as hell.

The vocals on the other hand are kind of um shit. This is a really good debut though as you stated on the review, I'll be looking forward to hearing better vocals in the future.

Icapped2pac (January 5, 2007)

god damnit. "lesson" => "listen"

Icapped2pac (January 5, 2007)

You guys all gotta be fucking kidding me with this band. I don't usually outright hate things I hear upon first lesson, but this is shit. Those vocals are shit sandwich.

Anonymous (January 2, 2007)

These guys are awesome. I don't care who signed them. The drums are amazing and the music! I might be mistaken, but is this the first band on Victory who doesn't pepper their lyrics with "shocking" 4-letter words! Alas - a band who doesn't resort to the masses and are too intelligent to do.

Anonymous (January 2, 2007)

I wonder how many records these reviewers have made themselves? Sounds like a buch of losers who have nothing bettter to do than criticize those artists who have the talent to make music. Who cares what label they are on? When was your last gig?

Anonymous (December 30, 2006)

the album it's just ok...sure, we don't have to judge a band just for the label they are in, but, seriously, even when victory still have good band like darkest hour and comeback kid, if there's a reason why they are now that popular it's because this awful mallcore bands like aide or hawthorne heights

Anonymous (December 30, 2006)

These guys sound like mewithoutyou

Anonymous (December 27, 2006)

score is for the guy who thinks ATDI has one good song, that's the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life, go fuck a tree or smoke some meth, cuz you sure as shit shouldn't be giving ANYONE your opinion on musical matters...as far as this band goes, those lyrics posted above are enough to make me stay away...I mean seriously, that's bad

Anonymous (December 25, 2006)

Does this band remind anyone else of the Kinison but not as good? (Not saying the Kinison were great)

Not-To-Regret (December 25, 2006)

At The Drive In does not suck. Some of their material is up to par with The Shape of Punk to Come. Post-Punk is the shit.

Fugazi.
Q And Not U's first album anyone?

Kursk (December 24, 2006)

this band is actually alright, I wasn't aware that Victory had the capibility to sign bands like this anymore. I haven't heard this whole album but the score is for what I've heard.

Anonymous (December 24, 2006)

t.s.r.

Anonymous (December 23, 2006)

to the guy down below talking about albums that grow on you and whatnot, for me and most people i know, i prefer an album that takes a little time to grow on me to make me love it rather than something like the loved ones full length which i listened to constantly for about 3 week and then found myself bored with it. if something takes time to get into my rotation then i tend to love it more in the long run

Anonymous (December 23, 2006)

"At the Drive-In was on Fearless at the same time as Bigwig. Does anyone think they sounded even remotely similar?"

well they suck somewhat the same, both have roughly one good song, both are loved far more than they are worthy of... do i need to go on? (honestly i'm about out of comparisons)

Anonymous (December 22, 2006)

this is a good album, but they need to expand their sound. all the songs have the same kind of drum beat and similar format.

Anonymous (December 22, 2006)

Victory is a big label with a really large roster. Catch 22 doesn't sound like Hawthorne Heights nor Darkest Hour. Writing off a band because of the label is just foolish.

At the Drive-In was on Fearless at the same time as Bigwig. Does anyone think they sounded even remotely similar?

Anonymous (December 22, 2006)

It really is quite good.

Anonymous (December 22, 2006)

I'm decidedly impressed. These guys showed up late on the Maxeen/Action Action tour that my band was opening for. They were excellent.

Anonymous (December 22, 2006)

What the fuck is a band like this doing on Victory?

dolorBrigand (December 22, 2006)

most albums that “grow” on me don’t make into heavy rotation...ever. Shake my spine, force me to think, expound on my deepest fears/dreams...that’s an album. Most importantly, you’ll know it immediately. Your just wasting time trying to see the artistic beauty in a fucking Victory release in 2006 plain and simple.

GlassPipeMurder (December 22, 2006)

i felt the same, but it definitely takes more than one listen. after the first listen, i only uploaded two songs on my computer. after another listen i had 8 of 10. now they're all there.
best songs: Today is the Day, Insane and Speechless, I Will Come Back Again, Make Me an Angel, I Saw the Devil Last Night.

dolorBrigand (December 22, 2006)

Seriously, I listened to the whole fuckn thing. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for audible dysentery at the moment, but I cant believe you would even suggest this album as an impressive debut. Background music to a “collectors” game of monopoly at best.

punkbytheounce (December 22, 2006)

Four stars, really? I heard one song somewhere and thought it ruled, but when I heard the record I wasn't very impressed.

Anonymous (December 22, 2006)

Say it ain't so, 'glass, say it ain't so!

BrendanKelly (December 22, 2006)

wait, wait, wait a good victory release?

GlassPipeMurder (December 22, 2006)

are you kidding me? obviously you didn't listen very far or don't have an open mind, this is one of the more impressive debuts of the year.

dolorBrigand (December 22, 2006)

fuck this sucks, I cant believe anyone even listened to it long enough to consider a fuckn review. dick