After the hot mess that was I’m Only A Man, and the inconsistent EP While Broken Hearts Prevail, it was probably fairly easy to forget about Emery. But that EP was a crucial stepping-stone to bringing the post-hardcore quintet back to prominence. Laying down tracks such as “The Smile, The Face,” and “Edge of The World” proved that Emery could still deliver quality tracks. And that they do, plus more, on their fourth album, …In Shallow Seas We Sail. Masterfully produced by Aaron Sprinkle, the thirteen track album features crisp musicianship, incorporating the melodic heaviness that drew us to love Emery in the first place. 

You don’t want to read about my history with Emery just like I don’t want to read about how they changed your life way back when (soon after, you bought a sick t-shirt, I’m sure). Let’s just stick to the present, then. The merit and quality of I’m Only A Man has been hotly debated around these parts. With each new song posted more people dug a line in the sand and seemed to say, “I’m biased enough to not care,” or “Can’t wait for that new Spoken disc to drop!” We’re all familiar with Emery’s formula by now – I use that word because of how predictable the songwriting can be – the melodies dominate beginnings of songs while some unintelligible shrieking finishes out the tracks with moderately discordant riffs. Expect no different here. All we are left with is the illusion of intensity, repetitions of semi-heaviness. Why people (myself included) can look over such glaring flaws is hard to explain (I mean, catchiness can only take a person so far). On second thought, maybe we should be reminiscing.