Miah Week 1 - The Family Crest: A Review

 

 The Family Crest: A Review

        On May 20, 2022, The Family Crest released their new album by the name of The War: Act II, completing their story album trilogy. For anyone who doesn't know about them, they're a 12-year-old band specializing in orchestral rock. For anyone who doesn't know about orchestral rock, imagine if the accompaniment in Smells Like Teen Spirit was on a violin, and that's probably close to what The Family Crest is like.

        The album features twelve tracks, but for the sake of both word and patience limit, I will only be discussing my three favorites: You Are the Beginning, The Tree, and We Evaporate, in that order. (Please don't ask me how long it took to pick just three. I don't want to admit that out loud.)

        The first few seconds of You Are the Beginning immediately classified itself as one of the best songs I have ever listened to. I assumed it was going to be a type of ballad when it started off with soft instrumentals, but then it threw me headfirst into what can only be described as the background music to someone's villain origin story. The vocalist, Liam McCormick, doesn't exactly scream into the microphone, but he certainly tries. Although I'm not going to spoil anything about the song specifically, I do feel obligated to mention the operatic backing vocals (that would be where the "orchestral" part of "orchestral rock" comes in).

        I had a similar experience with The Tree. Even though it isn't one of my favorite songs in general, it is my favorite on the album. I am aware of how little that makes sense, especially considering the fact that You Are the Beginning is considered an all-time favorite when this one isn't. I don't quite understand why my mental tierlist went in that direction either; I have a theory that it's because the five songs preceding it set it up perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that it's my favorite song on the album purely because it's being supported by the others. I didn't know that tracklists could participate in teamwork until listening to this song. If it didn't take me a total of 21 minutes and six seconds to get the full experience of hearing it, The Tree would take first place. Unfortunately, I am incredibly impatient. This is no fault of The Family Crest's.

        Last, but certainly not least, We Evaporate. This and another song on the album, Cold, Cold, Cold, were tied contenders for at least ten minutes of debilitating decision-making. When it came down to it, I ultimately chose We Evaporate because of Laura Bergmann's piano solo at the very end. She's been featured on several of the band's tracks since their first album's release in 2010. The song is normally around five minutes long, but it takes me double that time to finally stop rewinding to the piano solo and looping it until I feel like flying out of my room and through my drywall (emotionally). Just for that, this deserves a spot at top three.

        Overall, I would give The War: Act II a ten out of ten. If you found yourself reading this review out of complete enthusiasm instead of intermediate interest (and, let's be honest, a little obligation), you might want to give it a shot. I'll recommend The Family Crest until they don't exist anymore or I don't exist anymore. Whichever comes first.

        It's your turn to recommend something now. Which 2022 song made you emotionally fly into drywall? 



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