FACT - FACT
Rating
RIYL
Fall Out BoyBullet for My Valentine
A Day to Remember
Blink 182
Release Date
04/14/2009
Label
Vagrant RecordsTracklist
01. Paradox02. Los Angeles
03. A Fact of Life
04. Chain
05. Reborn
06. Purple Eyes
07. Lights of Vein
08. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence [original by Ryuichi Sakamoto]
09. CO3
10. Snow
11. Stretch My Arms
12. 45 Days
13. Why...
14. 1-2
15. Rise
16. A Fact of Life (Boom Boom Satellites remix)
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FACT are one of those bands that have always hinted at greatness but never quite figured out how to reign in and polish off their sound. They started off with two lackluster releases in the form of their short début album and an EP, both featured flashes of brilliance included within a mix of pop punk and hardcore, but were both ultimately underwhelming and under-produced. Enter producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette (Incubus, Chevelle) who has now helped the band exponentially courtesy of a production budget from Vagrant Records, and now some of those flashes of genius have been re-written, re-worked, polished up, and included on their self-titled Vagrant Records début.
It would be easy to write FACT off as a gimmick: the band all don ancient Japanese-style masks (see the album cover for an exapmle), and sound like a mix of a load of quite arguably bad bands (see the RIYL), but over the 50 minutes of this record we're treated to a schizophrenic blend of melodic hardcore and pop punk, and that greatness they have always hinted at has most certainly been achieved. Opening up with a drum 'n' bass intro on “Paradox” the song quickly transmutes into some frantic riffing and double bass pounding as unintelligible Japanese growls come in, progressing even further to feature choruses of unintelligible clean J-pop-style vocals, and even though I have no idea what they're saying, I somehow find myself singing along to both styles.
Each song featured here bustles and buzzes with a catchy eclectic creativity, and it's on songs like “Los Angeles” and “A Fact of Life” where the band are at their peak. Sounding like a mix of Fall Out Boy-esque pop punk and A Day to Remember-style hardcore, both have massive choruses as anthemic as FOB at their best (especially on a “A Fact of Life”), but like A Day to Remember, they feature crushing and yet somehow catchy double bass pummeling along with emotive hardcore screams.
The band continues to demonstrate their technical ability on “Chain / Reaction” and “Reborn” where they delve into full-on thrashy metalcore a la Bullet for My Valentine and Trivium at their melodic best, but it's on the instrumental “CO3” where the band flex their musical chops to the extreme, with it being two minutes of completely insane, straight-up, thrash metal where the group amazingly come out sounding like a modern twist of the three thrash giants Metallica, Megadeth, and Testament all smashed together within 122 seconds.
I know that the RIYL looks terrible and chances are you probably didn't even make it past the sight of it, but as much as this record sounds like a mess, it really isn't. Sure, some bits are cheesy and the synthesizer autotune effect on some tracks can be a bit overwrought, but the album is never ever a dull listen.
FACT have delivered a record which should be huge, and there's no reason why this band couldn't blow up as large as Fall Out Boy have. The band certainly have both the talent and the musical chops, but while there's no doubting this band will appeal to scores of 14-year-old girls (and quite likely Decoy's own Alex Davies), the album is damn unabashedly catchy, and for those who can get past their teen appeal and eccentricity, you can shelve these guys along with your guiltiest of guilty pleasures, but don't feel too bad about that because there's more hooks to be found here than the last two Fall Out Boy albums and more meatier thrash riffs than the last two Metallica albums combined.
--Rich Taylor
Comments
Kansas
liking this
EDIT - wow...the more I listen to this, the more i'm blown away
http://rateyourmusic.com/~benny06
Leeds, England
Sweet. Its amazingly addictive. I reckon it'll split the decoy camp 50/50 : ).
Atascadero, CA
doesn't almost everything we post? thats how i feel whenever a new feature goes up.
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Minnesota
FACT = SUCK
...but in reality I haven't listened to the album yet, so I have no idea.
Find me EVERYWHERE:
Waterloo, Ontario
sounds like early funeral for a friend. and while i liked that at the time, i don't know how i feel about this just yet.
Top Ten of 2009 http://www.decoymusic.com/users/3747/top_tens/2009
horrible, sounds like a really bad copy of "a day to remember".
Cincinnati
I'm liking this as well...I can't understand a damn thing they say...but I dig the punk-hardcore feel.
The dude really does sound like blink-182 in parts...
Kansas
Ok, I don't understand. Are they Japanese or what? Half of their lyrics are in english and I can't understand the other half...and I can't tell from their myspace where they are from.
http://rateyourmusic.com/~benny06
Minnesota
Yeah, they're Japanese.
Find me EVERYWHERE:
Dubuque
My old neighbors were Japanese.
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