From Autumn to Ashes
Too Bad You're Beautiful

THE REVIEW

When you talk about fate. Just a year ago, during a Scottish holiday, I bought a series of CDs for just over five pounds at an HMV: they were (apart from something by Neurosis and Mogwai) all emo records, a genre very popular in England and especially in the USA. Although I was quite distant from this genre, I wanted to gain a little knowledge, just to broaden my horizons. During that stay, among many, I bought Funeral For A Friend (great purchase), Silverstein and Underoath (both so-so), Poison The Well (never liked them), and From Autumn To Ashes (also difficult at the time). Last week, I picked up the latter again and put them on headphones: I had to completely change my mind. Maybe it's because over the year I've listened to some hardcore and (alas) even metalcore, or maybe it was the gray Albion nostalgia; the fact is, I liked the album. Clearly, I don't love it, but among the grooves of the CD, I found powerful yet sweet tracks, full of tears of rage and pain, I felt chills experienced with completely different genres.

The album in question, "Too Bad You're Beautiful", starts off at full speed with the raucous screams of "The Royal Crown vs Blue Duchess", which intertwine with melodic vocals in a fast, violent, and hyper-technical framework that gives no respite and leaves you bewildered (unpleasantly, at least as far as I'm concerned). There are so many changes of rhythm, convergences and sound digressions, lacerating attacks, noise in short, making you feel in the grip of a storm, with the only refuge being the beautiful and intimate break three-quarters down the track, which flows into the final part in a scream that is undoubtedly more melodically appreciable.

Hypothetically skipping the song just described and moving on to "Cherry Kiss", the impact is different. There is still a lot of speed and power, the technical riffs are woven over the powerful screams of one of the singers, but the melodic presence is greater, and you can feel it once again in the break, which cuts the song in half and makes it grow in rhythm and emotional intensity. At the end of the track, I felt that maybe the album had the cards to convince me and I continued listening, which reserved a new surprise for me.

"Chloroform Perfume", a beautiful track entirely in clean, is a stunning sentimental climax that goes from an arpeggiated guitar to a peak of truly excellent craftsmanship. Pay attention to the lyrics: obligatorily emo in themes, perhaps somewhat adolescent at times, yet they can still strike and tear you with simple yet so cynical and cruel verses that they seem ripped from the diary of someone who has just been abandoned by the love of their life (a bit like the album's concept). Then there's the notable "Mercury Rising", almost an outro to the former, another resonance chamber for the suffering expressed previously.

Moving to the sixth "Take Her To The Music Store", you are immediately struck by the bittersweet start in pure "soundtrack-song-for-depressed-American-teenager-movie" style. After the first few seconds, however, the rhythm changes brutally, bringing us back to the good emocore heard so far, made up of enveloping and solid, incisive, and pounding guitar lines. Again, the melodic break is noteworthy, a pause between two very different yet effectively continuous parts of the song.

Going through the decent "The Switch", well done especially for the alternations between types of vocals and riffs, you arrive at another strong piece of the album, "Eulogy For An Angel". Although the arrangements may now sound familiar, the track works great, thanks to its beautiful melodic interludes where screams and clean vocals collaborate, creating an excellent balance (you can even hear some growl!!).

The finale is entrusted to the exceptional "Short Stories With Tragic Endings", characterized by the introduction of a violin to make an already late-autumn atmosphere even colder, and a female voice, which joins the two previously described, dueting with both (alternatively) or interpreting entire verses. Certainly the most pathos-laden song, where the tension increases as the minutes pass and the rage imbued with sadness becomes increasingly tangible. The track advances at this pace, reaching the most complete catharsis with the outro entrusted solely to the female voice and a general underlying melancholy now ruling the scene. The track is really well done; it deserves a full listen just to appreciate its complexity and general sharp coldness.

It doesn't matter much if we're talking about emo, it hardly matters to call it a genre for losers and teenagers. "Too Bad You're Beautiful" can pleasantly strike anyone, everyone can find at least one track that will surely win them over. It happened to me, and I invite you as well on this autumn journey into the late-adolescent melancholy of From Autumn To Ashes.