Poison The Well
You Come Before You

THE REVIEW

Well, in the end I did it. Yes, I managed to get my hands on "You Come Before You," the third album by the phenomenal Poison The Well. And I was simply astonished. Yes, because it was precisely the third album I was awaiting with some anxiety to confirm whether I indeed had one of the most brilliant and talented bands the metal scene has produced in recent years before me. Now I have that confirmation.

Another masterpiece by the Florida band, there's nothing to do about it. My fears about their transition to a major label (just like with Hatebreed) proved to be unfounded. There was no sort of "softening": "You Come Before You," now marks the actual maturity achieved by the band, both technically and artistically. Let's start by saying that technically, they have now become really competent (especially the drummer). Artistically, however, I wouldn't know if this is the band's best album or if "The Opposite Of December" should be preferred...
In any case, the new work presents itself as a total stylistic shift for the group. A darker mood, no more super-fast metalcore with few but beautiful glimpses of poetic and captivating melody as in the first work, nor a return to more melodic and emo-directed sounds as in the second work. This is absolutely the heaviest and simultaneously most melodic album ever recorded by the band. The heavy moments are now "truly heavy," just as the melodic moments are now "truly melodic." The melody is used much more than in the first album, but there is no contamination between sweetness and anger from the second. In the style of the first, we indeed find the violence-melodic break binomial, but played with much more care, no bursts of melody but melody that is there and truly makes itself heard. The guitars are now really powerful and destructive, as is the drumming, and especially played with a mastery that was previously lacking.
Jeffrey Moreira, then, has reached an incredible maturity: in the shouted parts, he's even better than the monster we knew before, but especially in the melodic parts, he proves to be something spectacular, wielding a fascinating and intense voice like never before. "Ghostchan" starts immediately with a drum intro and then explodes in all its violence, before the melodic and intense chorus tears your soul from your chest; "Loved Ones" is a delight of violent guitars before a wrapping break reestablishes harmony; "For A Bandage Iris" is another stunning assault on the ears that then loses itself in a chorus akin to the emo of "Tear from the red"; "Meeting again for the first time" wraps you in all its melody before Moreira wipes everything away with his voice, giving us one of the best songs on the album; "The Realist" is powerful, so melancholic, and rich with a delightful evocative atmosphere; "Apathy Is A Cold Body," in my opinion the masterpiece of the album, is a delicate deftonian fresco that will give you goosebumps for its emotional intensity and its massive, colossal melody; "Sounds Like.." is sweet, enveloping, and psychedelic; "Crystal Lake," entirely screamed, is a true bomb of anger and power, presenting itself as a pure hardcore song but played in the manner of the "new" Poison The Well... All are examples of what has been said so far.

In short, even though now they're under a major label, they have shown themselves to be even more powerful than before (albeit much more melodic and emo-oriented and with a cleaner production) and not only that: no chase for easy money by seeking more commercial paths, on the contrary, "You Come Before You" is an album that, in any case, deserves more listens to be fully understood and, above all, always keeps that flame, that impulse of sonic independence that has always characterized the group of Moreira and company. Much more accessible, despite everything, compared to the first two albums; while not reaching, as was almost expected, the compositional peak of the first album, "You Come Before You" is an intense, emotional, melancholic, visceral, poetic album. But perhaps it's not the case to make comparisons since this is a fundamentally "different" album from what Poison The Well had proposed so far.
Another spectacular album from this great group, it's just up to you to decide where to place this masterpiece among the other 2 of the band.