...In Shallow Seas We Sail

After flirting with synthesizers and smoother textures on 2007's I'm Only a Man, Emery returned to a harder sound with While Broken Hearts Prevail, a seven-song EP that attempted to placate anyone who balked at the previous album's content. Released one year later, ...In Shallow Seas We Sail continues the progress that Broken Hearts made, allowing some melodic moments to flourish but largely emphasizing the band's hardcore foundation. The result is a fairly competent screamo album that makes all the usual stops between hushed melancholia and guttural, scream-filled catharsis. As demonstrated by the leadoff track, "Cutthroat Courage," Emery's dual frontmen have learned to play off each other's strengths, and their use of overlapping, echoing melodies creates some of the most melodically poignant moments here. Such interplay is largely lost when the band resorts to screaming, however, and the album's humdrum lyrics rarely stray from the well-worn subjects of breakups, despair, and the vain struggle for hope. "You're just a sickness and the cancer is your filthy mouth," the singers scream at the end of "The Smile, the Face," espousing the sort of despondent anger shared by numerous other screamo outfits. Audiences have come to expect more from Emery, however, and Shallow Seas presents a good deal of musical growth without encouraging similar development on other fronts. As such, fans may champion this as Emery's finest work, although few outsiders are likely to be roped in.