Album Review: Miss May I - 'Rise of the Lion'

When you're a band for quite some time and you gain a really great following that doesn't just incorporate teenage girls but a wide range of people, the prospect of doing something different and expanding your sound may be an idea to stay away from. After all, if it's not broken why fix it? Although bands such as Memphis May Fire and A Day To Remember prove that you don't have to change the game every album and can still be hugely successful, there's still something to be said about keeping the feeling fresh and refined. 

Miss May I are no doubt an accomplished band and this is nothing short of a good release. Yet the whole album just feels below par.

What they have created on 'Rise of the Lion' is definitely on the right side of metalcore. It has influences from straight up metal, to melodic metal and then grabs the grittiness of hardcore to make an ideal genre blend. But that's what they've done every album and that's what makes this a decent album and not a great one.  

Like we have always said, repetition can be great, only if the sound being replicated is great. 'Rise of the Lion' has a solid sound to it that is replicated throughout its ten tracks yet it's when taking in the fact that we have already heard this record about twice before that it starts to feel stale and almost boring.  

A perfect example of doing this record-repetition well is the aforementioned Memphis May Fire. Since their 2010 release of 'The Hollow' they have plugged the formula into each subsequent release. What makes the records different and feel more unique and on their ground is that there is a sense of maturity in each. There are different atmospheres, different instrument tones and different lyrical takes. Within 'Rise of the Lion', there is no real sense of development for Miss May I. It's not the same formula with a different feel or tone, it's the same formula with pretty much the exact same experience.

'Rise of the Lion' will either serve as Miss May I's saving grace that gives them a kick in the arse and gets them moving forward or serve as their downfall if they cannot learn from it. The ten songs on the album are all very similar, not just in sound but in texture and tone. Not only are they familiar to each other, but they are familiar in all way, shape and form to Miss May I's previous releases, which proves to possibly be its only criticism. The structure that the band hold is well-placed and formulated, and has taken them to great heights. However, it's the sole fact that we have been given an almost identical replica of their other albums and are still expected to pay twenty-dollars for it.

1.​Refuse To Believe ​

2.​Lunatik  ​

3.​Gone ​

4.​Echoes  ​

5.​You Want Me  ​

6.​Tangled Tongues  ​

7.​Hero With No Name

8.​Darker Days  ​

9.​The End Of Me 

10.​Saints, Sinners and Greats