Review: Embrace Today - Soldiers

artist: embrace today album: soldiers label: deathwish inc released: 2003 by: rob tatum I can now re-define my definition of angry, fast-paced hardcore after listening to Embrace Today’s Soldiers. With nearly every one of the fifteen tracks being around one minute in length, Soldiers quickly covers subjects ranging from love to lies and ignorance. Embrace Today sets out to make ears bleed with this album. The lyrics are extremely angry and aggressive. Promoting straight edge and inner strength, Embrace Today attacks ignorance and self-doubt with violent lyrics and blistering music. In a sense, the album is positive, but it’s hard to see it in that light with the aggressive nature of the songs. All but one song on the album contain the word “fuck” in one form or another, and not to be a censor, but that seems a little excessive to me. Most of the songs are intelligently written, but the manner they are presented takes away from their full impact. Vocally, lead singer Steve Peacock differs from many singers within the same genre, with a less hoarse scream than most. Musically, however, Embrace Today falls in line with the majority of bands playing the same style of hardcore. Truthfully, there is nothing that sets them apart from the masses beyond the vocals. Well, the next time that you have the urge to sing-along and move around, this is a good album for that. If you are looking for musical progression or melody, Embrace Today won’t help you much. favorite song: "without you" rating: 71%/100% listen to embrace today