Send "Of Mice & Men " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Absolutepunk |
 You've probably already made up your mind about Of Mice & Men without actually hearing its music. Since OM&M vocalist Austin Carlile was the formerly the vocalist of technojunkcore band Attack Attack!, you probably think Of Mice & Men’s Rise debut is exactly like that. Deep v-necks, beep-boop-beep noises, and running in place choreography. Basically crabcore. Thankfully, Of Mice & Men is not “Stick Stickly.” Instead, Carlile, along with bassist Jaxin Hall, created a band that’s a bit more technical. Now before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s just make clear that Of Mice & Men are not reinventing the wheel on this genre. If anything, they’re biting the style made popular by The Devil Wears Prada. Brash screams, shrill clean vocals, some noodling on the guitar, breakdown, breakdown, BREAKDOWN. Rinse, wash, and repeat for ten tracks. Right off the bat, “YDG!? (Ya Dig!?)” brings the heat. No one can deny that Carlile is a fantastic screamer; his wail never falters throughout the 34-minute long album. “Second & Sebring” tries to switch things up a bit by incorporating some piano, although that's been done to death as well. The urgency in this album is great though, songs are “They Don’t Call It The South For Nothing” and “Westbound & Down” are incredibly frantic, with Carlile violently screaming “I said I’d fight back!/I didn’t say that I’d fight fair!” in the former. “Farewell to Shady Glade” has one of catchier choruses on the album, while “The Ballad of Tommy Clayton and The Rawdawg Millionaire” reigns as the heaviest track, as it really showcases the band’s musical chops....full text |
| Sputnikmusic |
| As many will attest, the introduction of Austin Carlile to the modern music world as the front man for post-hardcore/"synthcore" band Attack Attack! may not have been one of the most successful ventures in the world. Worldwide, the band found major criticism for its break-down centric sound, incorporation of dance beats into their heavier brand of music, and the ridiculous way the group decided to headbang, which was fittingly titled as "crabcore". Fortunately for Carlile, he decided to jump ship only a week after Attack Attack!'s first full length Someday Came Suddenly was released, leaving the brunt of detractors insults honed in on replacement vocalist, Nick Barham. Formed in late 2008, Austin's newest band Of Mice & Men released a few scattered songs over the year of 2009, but it wasn't until 2010 the band released their self titled debut album Of Mice & Men. While the album does feature it's fair share of shining moments, unfortunately it shares more than a few common mistakes with Carlile's former band, enough so that band effectively squandered a great deal of potential only to release a mediocre first album. There is not one original thought to be found on Of Mice & Men. It seems that every breakdown, every squeal, every minor to major detail of the band was forged in the minds of bands past. Of Mice & Men is a product of the times, a fact made clear over and over again during the course of the album. Probably the most major fault of this album (and so many more like it that have been released recently) is the gross overuse of the "breakdown". Originally used by the some of the best bands in metalcore genre, such as Converge and Botch the breakdown has become a taboo term in the world of metal, shunned for it's often generic and boring nature such as seen on Of Mice & Men. It's the band never even tries to diversify the sound of their breakdowns, often using the formulaic combination of single note chugs intertwining with the quite annoying dissonant chords. While perhaps if the occurrence a breakdown was sparsely located throughout the album, it would not have been such a major negative point, but Of Mice & Men seems to believe in the age old saying "the more, the merrier", causing each song to be littered with these single note atrocities. The lesser of evils, however something that can still be highly annoying is the high pitched squawk of Carlile. The majority of the album sees him using this ear piercing screech, only to break the monotony with an even more annoying (and downright pathetic) attempt at gutturals....full text |
| Musicemissions |
| Anyone listened to these guys yet? Same vocalist from Attack Attack! They don't really sound a whole lot like them though. Less poppy and more hardcore/screamo with some singing interludes. Not bad overall for a debut....full text |
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