Poison the Well has brought their grandiose heavy sound to another level with You Come Before You thanks to some decent songwriting and a major label tab. As frontrunners in the melodic hardcore category, PTW have built a sturdy fan base by writing thick sounding, mid-tempo hardcore songs that you can sing along to. You Come Before You is definitely a step in the emo-core direction, but you accept it because songs like "GhostChant make you want to get up and dance, while "Zombies For Your Health is a complete sonic attack. The band shines on more experimental numbers, like the Jeff Buckley-esque intro on "The View From Here Is..., that quickly shifts into more PTW standard throaty screams and chunky bass lines. Overall this album is sure to get flack because of its release through a major label. But, the albums contents are as good as gold, so the term sellout hardly applies here.
(Atlantic)Poison The Well
You Come Before You
BY Jasamine White-GluzPublished Sep 1, 2003