LABEL: SOLID STATE RECORDS
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 25, 2011

mery has been making quality music since 2004, with their debut release The Weak’s End. The album had its flaws, but the band proved right off the bat what they were about: poetic lyrics, impressive harmonies, and a near bi-polar feel of melding screams with crystal clear vocals, often overlapping them. Their dual vocalist approach was part of what made this style work, and since then the band has continued to thrive, releasing three albums and an EP in the time between then and We Do What We Want. With the departure of one of their vocalists, can Emery hold up the style their fans have come to know and love? In short, yes.

This album comes out of the gate with a heavy screaming track. In fact, the first couple of tracks are heavier tracks musically than what Emery has done before. The opening of “The Cheval Glass” and “Scissors” will prove this, though the latter has a weightier touch of the harmonies fans expect from Emery.

“Anchors” is track where the pacing feels just right. If the first two tracks did not do it for you, this one may still seem a bit heavy, but the writing here is as solid as ever. “The Curse of Perfect Days” is a bit of a catchier song, and I think it works better as an acoustic track (which appears on the Deluxe Version of the album). The next two tracks are both pretty obvious break-up tracks, and work for what they are. While the sound of them is appealing, and they are well written, you can only listen to so many break-up songs before the sentiments all begin to feel the same. While these tracks do not take the ‘I hate my ex’ route, they still sound much like they have been done before.

“Daddy’s Little Peach” is the first slow track on the album, and it is a track full of regret and questions. This track asks the question “When will I be old enough to do as I please? / Mommy had you buttoned up / We were daddy’s little peach / When will I be old enough…?,” the answer to which is found in the album of the title: We Do What We Want (now). “Addicted to Bad Decisions” is (unsurprisingly) another track about regret, though it (surprisingly) somehow gives me a Relient K vibe. Something about the writing, and even about the way the guitars and vocals flow together sounds like Relient K. While this is not a bad thing, it definitely was a bit odd on an Emery album.

“I Never Got to See the West Coast” is probably the most powerful track on the album, emotionally. Written from the perspective of someone who is suicidal, it is both a call out to people who struggle with those thoughts and a conviction towards people who do not seek to understand how someone feels in those moments. The lyrics are haunting, with the chorus saying “The drink slips down my throat / and the burn cures nice and slow / All the worst parts I wouldn’t want you to see / The only parts left of me now / Here I am, just a kid without a better plan / But it’s the simple thoughts that haunt me the most / I never got to see the west coast.”

“Fix Me” is only one of two tracks where former vocalist Devin Shelton shows up (the other track appearing only on the Deluxe Version). This is perhaps the best track on the album, and the chorus seems to ask the question the whole album has been pushing towards. This whole ten track journey has been a walk through brokenness, regret, and struggles, with the chorus of this final track stating “Fix me. Can you fix me? / I’ve been waiting so long to feel this heartbeat. / Will we every really believe? / We’re just caught in the thought that we deserve to be free.” The track even concludes by changing the chorus to sing “Fix me. Jesus fix me…”, allowing the band’s spiritual reality to shine through more explicitly than usual.

On the deluxe version, you will get both an acoustic version of “The Curse of Perfect Days” and a track called “Crumbling,” which also features former vocalist Devin Shelton. “Crumbling” has the most continuity with older Emery releases, providing growth but also the definitive sound Emery has been known for, and the acoustic version of “Curse” actually outshines the original.

When the album closes, if you’ve got repeat turned on, you may be surprised to hit the first track again. This whole release (excluding “Crumbling” from the Deluxe Edition) is a slow descent from heavy, hard hitting, scream filled tracks towards slowed down, remorseful, and at times convicting songs. This album is one that does not work as individual tracks as much as it does one coherent piece. If the screaming does not rub you the right way, at least listen through to the latter tracks, to get a feel for how they fit into the whole experience, even if those are the tracks you listen to with more frequency. Emery has shown that they can pull off a solid album, even with the loss of one of their vocalists, though it is clear that something is missing. I imagine just that sort of a shift would be quite difficult, and Emery’s next album will likely continue to show their growth as a band who now only has one vocalist.