Sweden's When We Fall have succeeded in an over done and trite field: the sing/scream formula. Whether I wanted it to ever be attempted or not doesn't matter -- they've done it and damn does it sound good. Owing much to the likes of Grade and American Nightmare, the band's debut full-length We Untrue Our Minds has taken the hardcore standard for intensity and energy, pushes it to the furthest point of relentlessness and adds a certain tendency to fall back down to emotive, passionate sing-alongs.
Emerging slowly behind some feedback, "Restore Erase -- Erase Restore" challenges their first impression by throwing all the chips on the table: singing, screaming, gang vocals, speed, mid-tempo -- it's all there. Just as soon as it came, the song is over and the speed is brought down considerably with "Summer Dying Fast." The chorus is a blast of catchy desperation where their emo influence really comes into the limelight -- but not without returning to pounding hardcore, of course. "An Act of Culture," another slower track, focuses more on the vocalist's ability to sing. As the song builds more and more layers of guitar, vocal harmonies/screams are added until finally fading off into the instrumental track.
Unfortunately, it is evident in "Kill Anna" and "End Serenading" that Side B lacks a lot of the energy and fire of the first half and the singing becomes seemingly more expected. Around the end of "Dear Nobody," I'm begging for the hardcore beats to come back and liven things up. To my great surprise, the closer "Sunny Tiny Spirits" does just that. After a small melancholic interlude, the song builds back to an epic breakdown utilizing every voice in the band.
Despite the very harsh vocals, the music When We Fall creates is not too heavy, and depends more on melodic phrasing, octave chords and high-stringed riffs than excessive chugging. There are very few breakdowns and moments of quiet instrumentals pop up in various places like the end of "Cold Iron Death -- Perish Me If I Defy" and the sample-laden "No Eyelids Can Make This Picture Fade Away" -- there's a fucking accordion!
With not much good to say about the lyrics (I'm going to pretend they're not there), their unique take on melodic hardcore puts them in a respectable league of their own. We Untrue Our Minds displays a lot of promise and even some potential to join the ranks of acts like Have Heart or even Comeback Kid.
Dropping the cheese and getting better artwork could really benefit them in the future, though.