Growing with Emmure

Emmure is a metal band commonly lumped into the "deathcore" genre. The term is only somewhat applicable to them, as they don't fit in quite right with other bands of the genre, but they've still become the faces of the scene. When somebody says they hate deathcore, their probable idea of the sound of deathcore is Emmure. They're the poster children for the deathcore hate movement. People even sometimes refer to them as "brocore" insultingly. But to me, they're not so much any of that, but a staple of my time with some of the greatest friends I've had in my life.

I first met these friends when I got my first job at Santikos Theatres, at their Silverado 19 IMAX location on Tomball Parkway. I reconnected with one of my friends from second grade there and quickly fell in with his group of friends so that eventually they were all just my friends. One thing we connected over right away was music. Though they listened to vastly different music than me, we bonded over our mutual passion for all forms of it. We had many disagreements, but the hobby was the same and I was open minded enough to listen to what they had to offer me. Some of it I liked, some of it I hated, but friendly debates over music cemented our friendship. The turning point in that respect was when we discovered our mutual love of Rites of Spring and realized we all sort of came from the same background, even though the end results were vastly different. We developed a respect for each other in that way.

Over the years, we've all started listening to different types of music and different bands, but one thing has always remained from those days. Back then, in 2008, my friends were spinning the latest CD by Emmure. It was their second full-length album, The Respect Issue. Though it was much heavier than the music I listened to, I could appreciate a few parts of it, in particular a song called "Tales from the Burg."



"I'll never forget waking up in Baltimore,
My palms full of sweat.
Clearly you've had your revenge,
For the night I spit right in your face.
You will never forget and I will never forget,
Every waking moment I spend wishing you were dead.
Just fucking die."

Brutal lyrics, full of hate and grudges, not my usual fare. Still, I loved one part of the song, where singer Frankie Palmeri repeats over and over the words, "I'm so over it, I'm fucking over it." There was an almost comical whiny desperation in his voice that I liked. Not only that, but the song is actually fairly catchy in a weird way. It wasn't enough to win me over, but it did get me requesting the song when my friends would put it on in the car.

Fast forward a year. 2009. In only that short period of time, my friends and myself had gone through quite a bit. We had changed, found new jobs, found new girlfriends, found new personalities. But we were still the best of friends, finding time inbetween all our busy schedules to just hang out together, drink beers, and shoot the shit. Ever present were our musical debates and even more of them erupted as Emmure released their third full-length, Felony. Some of my friends liked it, others didn't, but Felony finally took hold with me personally. It was even heavier than previous work, but those speak-sung parts where Palmeri sounded like he was crying and having a nervous breakdown at the same time became far more common, so much so that it became almost his signature style to alternate between those vocals and his trademark screams. The album wormed its way into me and my friends' collective brains, refusing to let go for most of 2010 as well. It became a running gag to sing and scream their ridiculous lyrics to each other at inappropriate times. The most common of these were lines from the first two songs on the album, "Sunday Bacon" and "I Thought You Met Telly and Turned Me Into Casper."



Sunday Bacon
"And now you're looking down the barrel of a gun
Son of a gun
Looks like you're not having any fun"

I Thought You Met Telly and Turned Me Into Casper
"I just want you to know that you're the reason I got tested
And because of you I'm at the clinic hoping, praying
Please God
Let me be negative"

It's not like those lyrics have any sort of deep meaning, but the way they're sung/screamed is strangely appealing on a very primitive level. It's raw, sort of stupid, and a whole lot of fun. Belting them out at all the wrong times can be the greatest release in an awkward situation.



Cut to 2011 and Emmure have a new album yet again. It's called Speaker of the Dead and it just came out a week ago. Of course, my friends and I already have it and have been jamming it quite a bit. It's easily the best thing the band has done. In these past few years, I've watched them progress from a somewhat catchy but inspired joke of a band to a legitimately good metal act. Speaker of the Dead shows that the band has maybe gotten tired of people like myself mocking their ridiculousness and just committed themselves to making good music instead. It's not for everyone and it's also the heaviest album they've done which might alienate many, but it at least shows a great deal of maturation and growth. Those funny speak-sung vocals have dissipated some, though they're still present on some songs because it wouldn't be Emmure without them, as they've toned down on some of their easier trappings, taking the high road for this one. In a way, it would seem that Palmeri and the crew finally made good on their promise back on "Tales from the Burg." They're finally over it and ready to make some serious music. Of course, the mocking won't stop, even among myself and my friends who have already picked out our favorite lines. But it should shut up some of the haters that have more open minds.

The biggest thing I take away from Speaker of the Dead though is not so much the development of the band but the development of my group. We've grown up so much together over these past years. We've all changed dramatically. Just for example, I'm on my fourth job since then, not even counting the job of writing. I don't look the same, I don't act the same, I don't even have the same interests. My friends are in the same boat. But one thing has remained consistent and that is that when there's a new Emmure CD, we'll always be in the car together, jamming along with it and yelling those stupid, funny, catchy, and badass lines to each other. For most, Emmure is either a cool band to rock out to or a great example of the worst kinds of shit the music industry can offer. But for us, Emmure is just a staple of our lives and our friendship together, no matter how we might change or grow apart. No matter how good or bad the band may be, they'll always have a place in my music library just for that.