Of Mice & Men – Of Mice & Men

Of Mice & Men
Of Mice & Men
Rise Records
March 9th, 2010

After recording with Attack Attack!, Austin Carlile left due to “personal reasons.” This saddened hardcore fans across the nation, and everyone anxiously awaited Carlile to announce his new project. With the help of his close friend Jaxin Hall, Of Mice & Men was born. The duo then enlisted local help and recorded the demo of the track “Seven Thousand Miles For What?” and uploaded it on Myspace. With the power of that demo, Rise Records signed Of Mice & Men only five days after releasing it on Myspace.

Right when you jump into this album, you notice the crushing guitar riffs and the superb drumming of Of Mice & Men’s drummer, Tino Arteaga. The first track, titled after the band’s new trend, is “YDG.” (for those of you not up on your current scene slang this means Ya Dig?) Not only does the song get you ready for the rest of the self-titled debut, but it also happens to be one of the better songs on the record. The clean vocals of guitarist Shayley Bourget throughout the whole album send chills down your spine and push you back into your seat. The lyrics are beautiful and the cleanly sung hooks are nothing but catchy. You’ll find yourself humming or even singing along.

All of the instrumentation on this album suit the pace and heaviness of the music. The drums and bass keep pounding faster than the beat of your heart, and throughout the record the guitar parts just keep coming. People say the hardcore genre is getting bogged down by generic guitar riffs which are made up of breakdown after breakdown, but Of Mice & Men attempts to prove critics wrong. Guitarists Phil Manansala and Shayley Bourget are able to do just that. The two incorporate intricate riffs with the necessary heavy breakdowns, at just the right moment, with mathematical precision.

The one downfall of this release is the fact that it seems to lose its playability after a few listens. Even after the first listen, you begin to anticipate what will be next, but what is wrong with that? Of Mice & Men did not set out to be groundbreakers, rather a group of men who create music which they love to play and hopefully will get the crowd moving at a show. This record is nothing groundbreaking, but is anything anymore? What sets Of Mice & Men apart from the thousands of other bands in this genre is they execute their sound with accuracy and talent, not just looks and synchronized dances on stage.

Be sure to pick the album up from your local retailer or an Of Mice & Men show now!