[2007] I Never Heard The Bullet - Moving With Grace That Men Despise
These eyes do more than seeing, they take a mental photograph to keep.
To many, the post-hardcore scene had long grown stagnant in 2007. Kids were just playing as many breakdowns as possible, donning skinny jeans, flippy hairdo's and checkered vans to attract girls. The scene was dead, or at least that's what men that dominated the crowds in the 90s would have you believe. Now, I'm the last person to claim that there wasn't a massive shift in sound, as well as aesthetic, after the turn of the millennium, but there was still plenty of genuineness to be found during and beyond the major label feeding frenzy. I feel like many missed out on a lot of great music, simply dismissing it because the bands might've looked a certain way or because of the genre they were classified as. I Never Heard The Bullet, odd as their name might be, is one of those bands I feel was brushed off.
Opening with a piano interlude that rolls into the first track, Strike Three, the thing that immediately stands out is the vocals. To say Motaz Hussein has a unique voice would be an understatement and if I had to describe it I would say that it falls somewhere in between Patrick Stump and Jonny Craig, which are two names I never thought I'd use in the same sentence. Motaz isn't the only vocalist though, all three (!) guitarists provide backing vocals in the form of harmonies, back and forths or screams.
With three guitars you'd think the songs would sound too busy, but thanks to the clear mix it all sounds extremely well balanced. Take the outro of This Has Controversy Written All Over It, where the rhythm guitar provides a steady backdrop of chugs for the other two guitars to duel it out through leads. Not just the rhythm guitar, but the entire rhythm section is very tight here and there's no shortage of interesting tempo's, with the start-stop intro of Strike Three and the polyrhythmic verses found in 10 Ways To Sneak Up On A Ghost. Alongside the more conventional instrumentation there's also some tasteful electronics sprinkled throughout a couple of tracks.
With everything else I listen and have listened to in this genre, Moving With Grace That Men Despise often feels like a release that, while generally fairly unknown, conceivably has been a touchstone for a few other bands. Closure In Moscow's The Penance And The Patience [2008] and Capulet's We Won't Let Go [2009] are two releases that come to mind when listening to this; both take a lot of cues from the guitars as well as the subtle electronic elements. And while I'm glad that other bands I enjoy might've picked up on and even took inspiration from them, it's sad they never reached a wider audience. Perhaps it was really because they moved with grace that men despise.
