Four Letter Lie - What A Terrible Thing To Say

Band:Four Letter Lie
Album: What A Terrible Thing To Say
Genre: pop-core
Label: Victory

Tracks:
1. Cake Eater
2. Nothing But A Ghost
3. Pretty/Ugly
4. It's Coming This Way
5. What A Terrible Thing To Say
6. Think of Your Favorite Place
7. A Place Called "Further"
8. Pretend You Never Happened
9. I Don't Speak To Deadmen
10. Charlatan

Over the past couple of years, Victory Records has made a name for themselves in the “hardcore” scene. Having signed successful hardcore bands such as A Day To Remember and Thursday, it really comes to no surprise to me that they were able to find another band to grace our ears with. Four Letter Lie released their first album with Victory Records, “Let Your Body Take Over,” in 2006. Their sophomore album, “What A Terrible Thing To Say,” is another Victory Records release and is sure to be another winner on the post-hardcore scene.

The first thing I noticed about What A Terrible Thing To Say is the new sound of Four Letter Lie. Let Your Body Take Over seemed to have a pop-esque feel to it, whereas What A Terrible Thing To Say has a more “mature” sound. The musicianship of Four Letter Lie has surely gotten better within the past two years and this becomes evident within the first minute of the first song, titled “Cake Eater.” With impressive guitar riffs, contributed by Kevin Skaff and Connor Kelly, the album opens very strongly. "What a Terrible Thing To Say” stuck out to me the most. Four Letter Lie structured their title track in a very clever manner and then combined it with a melodic, stays stuck in your head for days, type of chorus. Another standout moment can be found during "A Place Called ‘Further’." At the end of the song, there is an unforeseen and prevailing choir-like singalong, which easily will become a crowd favorite. My personal favorite track is “pretty/ugly.” For a hardcore band, this song displays a softer side, which is always nice to see once in a while. Four Letter Lie displays talent that crosses over the genre barriers, bringing something new to the scene. During the course of the entire album, the vocals have a sense of intensity that displays, singer/screamer, Brian Nagan’s passion for what he is doing. Together with John Waltmann’s bass backbone and Derek Smith’s driving drum kit, there isn’t much that could go wrong with this album.

That being said, the only thing that could be improved upon is the lyrical content. The lyrics are rather conventional for the genre, so I can’t say that they are bad, but if the band intends on setting themselves apart from others, I think they should aim for more creative lyrics. Generally speaking, though, “What A Terrible Thing To Say” remains solid all the way through.

**Written by our contributing writer: Meaghan Allen**
GRADE: 7.5/10
MYSPACE