Of Mice & Men

On their self-titled album, Of Mice & Men serve up a ten-course meal of by-the-numbers metalcore. All of the usual ingredients are there as minor-key riffage and anguished screaming combine to create a frenzied catharsis that’s offset by more melodic passages and soaring vocals, with crushing breakdowns liberally added to break things up. It’s abundantly clear that OM&M are very talented musicians, and the album does a great job of showcasing their ability, but at times it suffers from the kind of over-production that’s become increasingly common in the genre. Clichéd studio tricks like sweeping fades, booming bass hits, and heavily gated, over-compressed guitars take away from the fury that’s trying to be unleashed here, stripping the album of any rawness and turning into another homogeneous metalcore album. If you’re a fan of what’s been happening in the genre lately, or maybe just want to hear what Austin Carlile (formerly of Attack Attack!) is up to these days, then Of Mice & Men is for you. For everyone else it’s just more of the same thing that's been heard time and time again.