Rifles At Recess
To Whisper In Tongues
7.3
Rifles at Recess (http://www.angelfire.com/emo/isfun/middle.html) With Tribunal nowadays you're not sure if you're going to get something brilliant like Prayer For Cleansing and Animosity or tripe like Amazing Device, as they tread the line between their impact on hardcore and commercial hunger. Luckily the oddly named Rifles at Recess (all the names with “hope’ “falls’ and “angel” were taken?) are more in line with the quality bands Tribunal offers. After the misleadingly epic intro track, “The Downfall of the Roman Catholicism and how it Directly Affected Kevin Smith”, I was expecting a Hamartia like display of devastating harmonies but it wasn’t quite so. Instead, RaR fit right in line with the epidemic of metalcore that mixes Gothenburg styling into their breakdown laden angst, “To Whisper in Tongues” is decent record that follows the by the numbers template laid down by Unearth, Prayer For Cleansing, Calico System, and countless others. It’s not particularly breathtaking or original but done well enough to warrant your interest if you’re a fan. Far more metal than the emo inspired side of this genre, Rifles at Recess is all about dual guitar harmonies, galloping riffs and dual scream/gruff vocals littered with predictable but nonetheless satisfying breakdowns. Of course the album is littered with clever, non-sensical angst ridden hardcore song titles like “Sporus in Theatre”, “I Died Twenty Times in 1986”, and “Custom Made Backstabber”. However, Rifles at Recess are kind enough to give explanation to the songs, and the sexual abuse recollection for “I Died Twenty Times in 1986”, was a brave move by vocalist Robby. Music wise you’ve heard this stuff all done before, definitely better by a few bands, but certainly there is far worse out there. RAR are a tad more metal based, and with their use of deep death metal vocals and stout bottom end they come across more like Dead To Fall and Nehemiah than their slightly more obvious peers. However they are capable of some decent if not familiar harmonies. For example the opening main riff from “My Apologies to the Walking Dead”, is just about one of the most entertaining riffs I've heard this year. Unfortunately, the whole album doesn’t really hit that high standard again, despite being a fairly enjoyable listen, I was just never blown away for the rest of the album, as it all sounded so recycled. Using every known structure, lick, set up and crescendo that the genre has essentially beaten like a dead horse, “To Whisper in Tongues”, often sounds a little too familiar, right down to the morose acoustic closer “Gone” (and worthless hidden track). Still, I love the genre, and on the whole Rifles at Recess have put out a decent album, that’s just too samey to break free from the rather crowded pack, despite its high quality. It's more the fault of the genre more than anything, as there is so much of it, bands like RaR will just get passed over unless they bring something original to the table. It's getting to the point where every review I write about this genre could essentially be the same with different band and song names. Still that doesn’t stop me from liking it and searching out more of it.
