• Facts
      • Facts
        • Band: From First To Last
        • Album: From First To Last
        • Release date: 6 May 2008
        • Genre: Rock/Hardcore
        • Label: Suretone
        • Official website: From First To Last
        • The Bullet Rating: 10/10
        • .
      • Tracklist
        • Two As One
        • The Other Side
        • Worlds Away
        • We All Turn Back to Dust
        • Medicinal Reality
        • A Perfect Mess
        • Tick Tick Tomorrow [aka ‘Swallow’ on the Hot Topic edition]
        • Deliverance
        • I Once Was Lost, But Now Am Profound
        • Be-Headed [Marathon Man]
        • In Memoriam in Advance
        • .
      • Rating
        • 10 - Head banging rock
        • 8 - Rock N Roll
        • 6 - Wobble
        • 4 - Sway
        • 2 - Seaside rock

Album review: From First To Last – From First To Last

2007 was a rough year for From First To Last, starting with the departure of lead vocalist Sonny Moore and moving on to be dropped by their record label Capitol Records, due to financial problems within the company. By mid-year, neither the fans nor the band members themselves knew what the future held for guitarists Matt Good and Travis Ritcher and drummer Derek Bloom. However, failure was never an option for the boys, and within a few months they had pulled bassist Matt Manning into the mix, moved Good to lead vocals, and jumped back into the studio to start recording the already written third album. After completing a few songs in the studio, the band was signed with Suretone Records, and was able to finish recording the album, this time with more help, ensuring that this release would be the best they could possibly make it.

With the help of producer Josh Abraham, From First To Last has managed to put out an album that, in my opinion, surpasses their past releases, Aesthetic, Dear Diary, My Teenage Angst Has a Body Count and even my former favourite Heroine. Matt Good has stepped into his new position with ease and has managed to bring a more mature sound to the entire set; as one fan put it ‘hallelujah, the whining is gone’. The lyrics and music both have real feeling and emotion behind them, and it would be wrong to even try to compare them to the grim ones of the past. As Good put it during an episode of FFTL-TV, ‘there isn’t an angry song on this album’.

Fans can rest with the assurance that FFTL may have stumbled a bit after Moore’s departure, but are now standing strong, and with the success of this album and a strong position on this summers’ Warped Tour, they’re not going anywhere anytime soon

Verdict: I adore this album to no end, and haven’t been able to stop listening to it since I bought it a few days after its release. The lyrics sound less of an ‘angsty emo’ whine-fest, and more of mature, post-hardcore. The band sounds completely different without Sonny Moore, but in a good way; if you didn’t like FFTL before, I’d suggest giving this album a listen, because it just may change your mind.
Megan