Miss May I - Monument Review

Miss May I is a quintet hailing from Ohio (seems like a breeding ground for metalcore, huh?) specializing in punishing percussion, driving melody and breakdowns...oh wait. lets talk about what makes them different from the rest of the sprawling scene, shall we? While many bands have started following the br00tal trends of dissonance and all out unorganized mayhem, Miss May I keeps it classy with a straight up thrash feel to most of their songs (more like As I Lay Dying than anything else) with a hint of made-for-stadium melody (also like As I Lay Dying) mixed with a splash of breakdowns made for moshing (...blah blah blah AILD blah blah)...man. what is it that I love about these dudes again?

oh yeah. EVERYTHING.

Lets start with Jerod Boyd on the drums: fast, precise, and all around perfect for the music. With the switches between atmospheric cymbal passages, deep tom rolls and enough snare rolls to make you feel sorry for the drumhead. Next up is the Ryan Neff's vocals. Here is a guy who (unlike the rest of the overpopulated scene) knows how to push his voice enough to put emotion in the songs, but stays away from the octaves in which he has no earthly business. He also seems to expand a bit more on this album, with some nice basic counterpoint (check just before the last chorus on Gears, my personal favorite). The guitarists, BJ and Justin, continue their tradition of classic, memorable riffs delivered at dizzying speeds. And last but not least is Levi Benton, he of the Indestructible Pipes; this guy can shriek at high range with the best of em and summon deep, crushing low end vocals in the same breath. This is a younger, faster, more modern incarnation of the AILD guys, and Miss May I is more than ready to take over this stagnant metal scene with their classic thrash twist of metalcore.

My favorite songs on the album are definitely Gears, Relentless Chaos (the single, video can be seen here) and definitely don't miss the ballad track on this album, In Recognition.

Tracklisting:

1. Our Kings
2. Masses of a Dying Breed
3. Answers
4. Relentless Chaos
5. Creations
6. Gears
7. Colossal
8. We Have Fallen
9. In Recognition
10. Monument
11. Rust (bonus, iTunes exclusive at time of album release)