CHALLENGER
By Memphis May Fire
Let’s start with some short background info: Memphis May Fire is a band from Dallas, Texas, that formed in 2004. Their newest album, Challenger, was released in 2012.
Anyways, how did I discover this band? Let’s see…. A friend of mine recommended me this insane list of bands and I proceeded to download Pandora on my phone and create dozens of stations. I started with Of Mice & Men and Memphis
May Fire kept playing and every time I heard anything by them, my immediate thought was wow. These guys kick ass. And, by the way, they do.
The Songs on the album:
Without Walls
Alive In the Lights
Prove Me Right
Red In Tooth & Claw
Vices
Legacy
Miles Away (featuring Kellin Quinn)
Jezebel
Losing Sight (featuring Danny Worsnop)
Generation: Hate
Vessels
Anyways, how did I discover this band? Let’s see…. A friend of mine recommended me this insane list of bands and I proceeded to download Pandora on my phone and create dozens of stations. I started with Of Mice & Men and Memphis
May Fire kept playing and every time I heard anything by them, my immediate thought was wow. These guys kick ass. And, by the way, they do.
The Songs on the album:
Without Walls
Alive In the Lights
Prove Me Right
Red In Tooth & Claw
Vices
Legacy
Miles Away (featuring Kellin Quinn)
Jezebel
Losing Sight (featuring Danny Worsnop)
Generation: Hate
Vessels
This album is an awesome experimentation mixing soothing synth beats with serious metalcore. You start off with “Without Walls,” which starts with this haunting keyboard riff and a few measures in a whispery chant falls in and increases in volume until there’s a complete style switch to screaming and a driving drum beat. Throughout this there remains in the background the original riff that the whole song fades to in the closing.
Next up Challenger plunges into the hardcore “Alive In the Lights.” After a beginning of drums and screaming interlaced with an epic guitar riff, the keyboard slides in again to give an apprehensive mood to the music. Once MMF reaches the chorus, Matty Mullins (the lead singer) shows off his fantastic singing voice but immediately switches back into growling. This leads into a short but sweet guitar solo that ends with screaming and a repeat of great guitar work. Throughout the chorus repetitions, you can experience the impressive high range that Mullins possesses that is definitely not apparent in his deep-throated screams.
“Prove Me Right” starts out with guitar chords that are quickly joined by a simple drum beat and then the enjoyable voice of Mullins who later switches back to his growling. “Prove Me Right” has this extremely drum-driven and catchy chorus followed by an almost spoken word type line that ends in “Just know I told you so. HAHAHA!” A very fun and addicting song! Just remember… “Thanks for nothing” (a commonly repeated phrase during “Prove Me Right”).
A drum fill begins “Red In Tooth & Claw,” joined by the voice of Mullins that I enjoy so much. Seriously, there’s something almost addicting about his voice and I just love it in this song. There’s this one quote that I find particularly noteworthy (and funny in a slightly sick way) that I wish to share: “I think I have room in my heart but I simply reserved none.” Hahaha. The driving force of the bass drum carries the band during this song.
Next up is “Vices,” which has an unappealing vocal beginning, but the guitar work makes up for it. A repeated line in this song is “I just want to feel love again,” which hints to the meaning that can be narrowed down to “I’m a fuck up. I want you. But I’m a fuck up. But I want you. Etcetera.” Again, the bass is just such an imperative part in keeping the song moving. Without the solid bass line, there wouldn’t be MMF. Or they’d just suck. One of the two. Or they could become a pop band!
“Legacy” has a short few measures that builds up to Mullins screaming. Joining the rest of the sound comes an interesting keyboard riff that sounds like a xylophone. It sounds really cool. A bit later, the song builds up and then drops into this piano riff and then it just all picks back up again. It’s an interesting piece that repeats itself throughout the song. The lyrics in the bridge really appealed to me: “lift up your eyes discouraged one, when you feel like giving up, when they say it can’t be done, it’s up to you to show them why they’re wrong.” Also, the line “words only come to life when you believe,” strikes me pretty hard as a notable quote.
If you remember from the Holiday Visual Radio Special, “Miles Away” featuring Kellin Quinn was played. I love this song because it captures a specific kind of relationship, and it is done very well. Also, the song is beautiful which is admirable in and of itself.
“Jezebel” has an excellent transition from the previous song and definitely serves as a shocker because of the vocal change. I am not sure if I can pinpoint what it is about this song that I like so much, but it probably has to do with the great intertwinement of the guitar and baseline. I just love it! This would be awesome in concert; it’s a serious head-banger.
As if the album was designed for me, MMF starts out “Losing Sight” featuring Danny Worsnop starts out with a heavy bass drum beat and is joined by an intense rhythm guitar part. I love this one line: “I’ve grown blind from always being in the spotlight.” This makes a lot of sense because a lot of famous people end up in the limelight so long that they forget themselves; in a sense, they become blind to reality and make stupid choice after stupid choice after stupid choice.
“Generation: Hate.” Well I’m assuming you can guess what the song is about. And believe me, if you listen to the lyrics you get a pretty good idea of just how much hate Mullins is channeling for this song. I find this lyric funny: “your deepest secret’s that you wish that you were me.” That would inspire a lot of hate.
The album closes with “Vessels” which sounds really cool. That’s really all I have to say. There aren’t lyrics, but you can hear the raining in a boat dock or on a boat at sea and the shouting of people in the background. It’s moving to hear it because you can feel the tragedy.
Awesome album. You should listen to it.
Next up Challenger plunges into the hardcore “Alive In the Lights.” After a beginning of drums and screaming interlaced with an epic guitar riff, the keyboard slides in again to give an apprehensive mood to the music. Once MMF reaches the chorus, Matty Mullins (the lead singer) shows off his fantastic singing voice but immediately switches back into growling. This leads into a short but sweet guitar solo that ends with screaming and a repeat of great guitar work. Throughout the chorus repetitions, you can experience the impressive high range that Mullins possesses that is definitely not apparent in his deep-throated screams.
“Prove Me Right” starts out with guitar chords that are quickly joined by a simple drum beat and then the enjoyable voice of Mullins who later switches back to his growling. “Prove Me Right” has this extremely drum-driven and catchy chorus followed by an almost spoken word type line that ends in “Just know I told you so. HAHAHA!” A very fun and addicting song! Just remember… “Thanks for nothing” (a commonly repeated phrase during “Prove Me Right”).
A drum fill begins “Red In Tooth & Claw,” joined by the voice of Mullins that I enjoy so much. Seriously, there’s something almost addicting about his voice and I just love it in this song. There’s this one quote that I find particularly noteworthy (and funny in a slightly sick way) that I wish to share: “I think I have room in my heart but I simply reserved none.” Hahaha. The driving force of the bass drum carries the band during this song.
Next up is “Vices,” which has an unappealing vocal beginning, but the guitar work makes up for it. A repeated line in this song is “I just want to feel love again,” which hints to the meaning that can be narrowed down to “I’m a fuck up. I want you. But I’m a fuck up. But I want you. Etcetera.” Again, the bass is just such an imperative part in keeping the song moving. Without the solid bass line, there wouldn’t be MMF. Or they’d just suck. One of the two. Or they could become a pop band!
“Legacy” has a short few measures that builds up to Mullins screaming. Joining the rest of the sound comes an interesting keyboard riff that sounds like a xylophone. It sounds really cool. A bit later, the song builds up and then drops into this piano riff and then it just all picks back up again. It’s an interesting piece that repeats itself throughout the song. The lyrics in the bridge really appealed to me: “lift up your eyes discouraged one, when you feel like giving up, when they say it can’t be done, it’s up to you to show them why they’re wrong.” Also, the line “words only come to life when you believe,” strikes me pretty hard as a notable quote.
If you remember from the Holiday Visual Radio Special, “Miles Away” featuring Kellin Quinn was played. I love this song because it captures a specific kind of relationship, and it is done very well. Also, the song is beautiful which is admirable in and of itself.
“Jezebel” has an excellent transition from the previous song and definitely serves as a shocker because of the vocal change. I am not sure if I can pinpoint what it is about this song that I like so much, but it probably has to do with the great intertwinement of the guitar and baseline. I just love it! This would be awesome in concert; it’s a serious head-banger.
As if the album was designed for me, MMF starts out “Losing Sight” featuring Danny Worsnop starts out with a heavy bass drum beat and is joined by an intense rhythm guitar part. I love this one line: “I’ve grown blind from always being in the spotlight.” This makes a lot of sense because a lot of famous people end up in the limelight so long that they forget themselves; in a sense, they become blind to reality and make stupid choice after stupid choice after stupid choice.
“Generation: Hate.” Well I’m assuming you can guess what the song is about. And believe me, if you listen to the lyrics you get a pretty good idea of just how much hate Mullins is channeling for this song. I find this lyric funny: “your deepest secret’s that you wish that you were me.” That would inspire a lot of hate.
The album closes with “Vessels” which sounds really cool. That’s really all I have to say. There aren’t lyrics, but you can hear the raining in a boat dock or on a boat at sea and the shouting of people in the background. It’s moving to hear it because you can feel the tragedy.
Awesome album. You should listen to it.
Zoe Adler is a music journalist from Long Beach, California. Besides her website, which is her pride and joy, she works with the GRAMMY Foundation and the Long Beach Independent. Additionally, Ms. Adler is a musician, spending half of her time playing the flute, piccolo, trombone, and marching baritone. She has been with TeenView Music since the very start and hopes to make something of it in the future. |