THE AWFUL OFFERING: FEAR WILL CAST NO SHADOW IS THE MOST ANNOYING ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 10:58am by Axl Rosenberg
I’m about to say (type) something that could be interpreted as being terribly offensive, and so I’d like to be clear right now that I mean it only to be insulting to The Autumn Offering (who shall now be known on this site as “The Awful Offering”) with regards to their forthcoming release, Fear Will Cast No Shadow, and in no way, shape or form do I mean to be disrespectful to homosexuals as a group (besides, if Erik Engstrom is to be believed, I’m gay anyway, so…).
Okay. So. Here goes. To paraphrase the great Patton Oswalt:
THIS ALBUM IS GAYER THAN EIGHT DUDES FUCKING NINE DUDES.
Now, let’s clarify three things about my personal music tastes before I continue:
- I think very highly of the American New Wave of Heavy Metal as a group, and even though “metalcore,” the tag used incorrectly as often as it is used correctly to label some American New Wavers, is certainly a trend, as far as trends go, I think it’s a pretty decent one.
- To than end, I am a sucker for flashy guitar solos and even the most generic of breakdowns.
- Hair metal was my gateway drug into the world of the heavy heavy shit, and I am educated enough about the topic to be able to a) speak intelligently (or as intelligently as one can about such a topic) about Motley Crue’s New Tattoo, b) discuss the merits and demerits of Richie Kotzen and Blues Saraceno as replacement guitarists for Poison’s C.C. DeVille, c) own a copy of L.A. Guns’ American Hardcore, the Godawful album they did right after Phil Lewis left the band, and d) secretly pine at night not for a copy of Chinese Democracy, but for the first new Cinderella album in thirteen years (okay, I made that last one up, but still, what’s taking Tom Keifer so friggin’ long?).
All of this is just a really, really long-winded way of saying that I have nothing per se against cheesy, melodious, over produced pop metal or metalcore. So, theoretically, Fear Will Cast No Shadow should be right up my alley.
Unfortunately, the album just blows.
There is some cool guitar work on here, courtesy Tommy Church and Matt Johnson; none of the solos lept out at me, but there’s a couple of breakdowns, on songs like “The Castaway,” that I actually think are really, really cool.
Unfortunately, there’s also a LOT of clean singing that is best described as being in the style of, say, Duran Duran. I know that some of you reading this will think “Well, fuck this dude, he likes Cannibal Corpse and Pig Destroyer and obviously has a problem with clean vocals,” but that’s b.s.; I just don’t like this style of clean vocals. For one thing, Matt McChesney’s pipes just sound awful – incredibly whiney and just plain fucking annoying. And they’re overproduced to a fault; never mind the fact that I doubt McChesney can hit these notes in concert, but it sounds like they brought in one of the Backstreet Boys to sing all the choruses. Clean vocals have been a big part of metal for years, and there are literally dozens of ways to pull them off without sounding like some reject from TRL; unfortunately, McChesney and normally dependable producer Jason Suecof haven’t found any of those ways. The clean vocals on this album make my ears hurt, and not in a good way.
And while I hate to hypothesize as to artistic intent in a review – yes, process is interesting from a fan boy point of view, but in the end, product is all that really matters – I can’t help but feel that this album is totally insincere. The shift in tone feels considerably more violent than the one between Avenged Sevenfold’s last couple of albums or even the recent popification of Atreyu – and to what end? On their last disc, Embrace the Gutter, McChesney’s pipes were growly while still displaying a distinct ability to sing – think early Hetfield and you’ll have some sense of what I’m getting at. But that kind of scream-sing is absent here – McChesney is either screaming his guts out (which he is, admittedly, pretty good at), or, more often, doing the aforementioned irritating Lance Bass thing. Add to that the overuse of synthetic sounding, 80s pop-style vocal harmonies, and well, all the cool breakdowns in the world don’t matter.
It’s still too soon to call this the worst album of the year – I still haven’t heard the new Demon Hunter, after all, and I think there’s a promo copy of Wes Borland’s band sitting around here somewhere that I never listened to – but it’s certainly one of the most disappointing and annoying. It comes out on October 30; if for some reason you feel you absolutely must own a copy, I’d recommend saving your cash and just downloading it illegally.
(one out of five horns)
-AR
Didn’t they get a new vocalist?
Either way, what I’ve heard from this album blows.
Just another boring band
HEY! Look at that. They DID get a new vocalist. This is why you should always read your press notes, kids.
Anyway, maybe they need to get the old dude back. This album still sucks.
Even if they got the old guy back it wouldn’t make the music on this cd any less interesting.
It’s kinda sad that very few bands make good metalcore nowadays.
*more interesting
Love the reference to Blues Scaraceno. How ’bout that solo record huh?
Where’s Harry Cody or Vito Bratta when you need a good dose of 80’s hair riffage?
Um, Cinderella? I thought you said you don’t like whiney vocals. Do not ever make fun of me again for like Sucksmack or Godsuck or whatever you call them.
Sammy is awesome, but to be fair, Keifer is more raspy than whiny. Except on Don’t Know What You Got. He a whiny bitch on that one.
McChesney didn’t sing on Embrace the Gutter you retard. But the new album still sucks ass. Worst fall off of any band ever.
ARSE-HOLE WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE SAYING HEAVY METAL SUCKS ???? YOU SEEM TO ME TO BE A MORON WITH NOTHING BETTER TO DO BUT CRITIZE WHAT IT IS YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND….WHAT L.A. GUNS DID BACK IN THE DAY,THE POSERS OF TODAY COPY WHAT THEY DID AND DO IT NOT VERY WELL !!!! SOME METAL I DO AGREE SUCKS THE BIG ROTTEN GREEN ONE BIG ONE,THE STYLES OF–[BLACK METAL,METAL CORE,HARD CORE & MOST DEATH METAL OR THE CRAP THAT CALLS ITSELF DEATH METAL NOW DAYS LIKE THE WANNA BEs….UNEARTH,THE BLACK DALIAH MURDER,AS DAYLIGHT DIES,HIMSA & WOE IS THE TYRANT among many many others being forced at real metal music listeners today.SO BEFORE YOU CRITIZE-TRY TO UNDERSTAND IN YOUR PEA BRAIN WHAT THE HELL YOU’RE TALKIN ABOUT !!!!
Wayne
3-9-09
7:17pm
[...] you: way back in October of ‘07, when MetalSucks wasn’t even a year old yet, I wrote a pretty miserable review (to put it mildly) for The Autumn Offering’s Fear Will Cast No Shadow. Cut ahead to last [...]
[...] a little while back I got an e-mail from The Autumn Offering vocalist Matt McChesney to discuss an extremely negative review I’d given the band’s last album, Fear Will Cast No Shadow. McChesney could have been a [...]
What is with you people? Have you seen the state of metal these days? So a band starts adding some clean vocals to their sound, and all of sudden they are a piece of shit? At least TAO stays true to their roots and kicks ass with their musicianship. Look at Avenged Sevenfold. Their early stuff was some of the hardest metal to come along in years. And if you disagree with that then you are an asshole and really don’t know metal. Since then they have cleaned up their vocals and one of the best “metal” bands out there. Why? Because you can understand what they are singing now? No, because just like any true “metal” band listed on this page like Metallica, Motley Crue, Megadeth, and the list goes on and on, A7X changed their style to gain more fans. You people really are, and i say this again, assholes for thinking that is wrong. You don’t have to growl usesless lyrics about death and dungeons and dragons, that the only way you can understand what the fuck they are saying is to google the lyrics for the songs. And you call that metal? It’s not, in any form.It was and will not ever be. I have been listening to the true roots of metal like Maiden and Priest, through the 80’s and 90’s and there is so much garbage out there. The cookie monster growls suck. Lets face it. It was started by Bolt Thrower and Brutal Truth in the early 90’s. Ask them if they wished they had gone a different route with their vocals. Very few people like it. Period. And where are they now? I am actually thinking about starting my own Metal Website, because not only do I love metal, but as I am writing this I am actually enjoying being the only one who enjoys this CD, which is really what metal was all about. Being an outcast of society while everyone else was always trying to fit in and conform to standards. Can’t wait to read your rave reviews about Nightwish and Moonspell. Gayer than 9 dudes fucking 8 dudes? You go some balls to trash this compared to those 2 groups. And not to sound sexist, I think you know what i mean. Grow some of your own balls MetalSucks, because in my book, which is a good one, you lost your credibility. It’s just a matter of time before TAO climbs to being one of the better metal bands out there. Mark my words.
“I still haven’t heard the new Demon Hunter, after all, ” HAHAHAHAHAHA now that’s fucking funny