Review #2: Poison the Well - You Come Before You

artist: poison the well album: you come before you label: atlantic records released: 7/1/03 by: rob tatum The hardest thing for any band is to take what they have done in the past and improve upon it. Poison the Well’s Opposite of December was one of the most influential albums to ever hit hardcore, so it wasn’t any shock that Tear from the Red didn’t quite live up to their first full length. Now, with their third full length, and first major label release, Poison the Well unveils You Come Before You. This release takes strong points of both previous full lengths and sandwiches them into an all-out barrage on the senses. Within the first thirty seconds of the album, the song “Ghostchant” establishes that the band has not gone soft or strayed away from what most listeners have come to love. The album is once again filled with blistering and melodic guitars, amazing drum fills, and lead singer Jeff Moreira’s booming screams and harmonic singing. Any fan of Poison the Well knows that they focus on combining intense and energetic music into almost perfect melodies. You Come Before You hasn’t changed this basic platform, but the songs don’t necessarily follow any particular format or structure as appeared on Tear from the Red. There is a saying that you can never get too much of a good thing, which may hold true in some cases, but Poison the Well makes sure not to wear out listeners with repetition. In a few songs, there are noticeable similarities to past songs, such as the beginning of “Meeting Again for the First Time” has a striking resemblance to the intro of “Botchla” from Tear from the Red. Aside from those few parts, each song establishes itself as something different. The album does not run together in the way Tear from the Red did. One of the major things I noticed about this album is that the overall feeling is angrier than any of their previous releases. Jeff’s lyrics have transformed into much more mature pieces without compromising the emotional side that was established on Opposite of December. The music goes through the same sort of transformation and the album really does have some heavy hitting parts that will appease a number of hardcore fans. I really was worried that they may have averted from the intensity and gone for slower and softer melodies, but that is definitely not the case. Aside from the instrumental, “The Opinionated are so Opinionated” and an unnecessary sound bite, the album does actually come close to Opposite of December on many levels. The unfortunate thing is that the groundbreaking potential is no longer there, making it difficult to even compare the albums. Regardless of that, You Come Before You is still leagues ahead of a good majority of bands, and until there is another band that can perfect the intensity and melody infusion that Poison the Well has mastered over the years, it is going to be hard to knock them from the top of their genre. favorite song: “meeting again for the first time” rating: 94%/100% listen to poison the well