In the late 1990s, sincerity was emo's cachet. It was how the genre gained a foothold in a subterranean market dominated by punk's protestations and ska's smarmy sense of humor. So, nearly a decade after bands like Mineral and Sunny Day Real Estate had the bright idea of uniting distortion and schmaltz in a minor key, who can blame the genre's descendants for wanting to have some fun?
By the End of Tonight are the far-detached heirs to a complicated legacy. Their aptly-titled 2004 EP Fireworks on Ice was one of the more adventurous re-imaginings of emo since screamo's inexplicable one-night stand with the mainstream. The EP wedded paranoiac, Drive Like Jehu-esque melodies to the previously stepped-around realms of thrash metal and prog.
On Tribute to Tigers, By the End Of Tonight flip the shit on its head, regressing from their cathartic, unselfconscious brand of emotional conflagrations to something slower, safer, and much less interesting. At five tracks, it's a wonder they aren't packaging the album as another EP. Opener "4's, 5's and the Piano That Never Made It Home" is an eight-minute mini-opera that proudly shows its framework. On that track, By the End seem to have overreacted to the wild-eyed excess of Fireworks: We hear each instrument clearly, but that's because the mix is watery; the band is flawless, but the players sound as if they're afraid of making mistakes.
Unlike Fireworks, Tribute to Tigers was created in an actual studio; but paradoxically, the album sounds more amateurish than its predecessor. The best riffs are often pitted in opposite channels, where the guitars feel distended and have trouble blending. The boys don't feed off of so much as accede to one another. "7:30 Easter Morning" hops around a lot, but in a timid manner that's less exhilarating than their EP's frenetic perambulations. "Tigers" seems to be what they're driving for: A slow-burning epic that follows impulsive instrumental corollaries without losing its focus. Though sullied by a somewhat maudlin melody, it's the structural ideal By the End of Tonight should try to replicate.
Avoiding the stop-on-a-dime changes and gloriously overemphasized climaxes that characterized Fireworks, Tribute to Tigers feels waify. The album proves that greater cogency doesn't guarantee success; only, perhaps, increased smoothness. When it isn't a plain bore, this gentler approach is pacifying--- the band often sound like a less stuporous Do Make Say Think-- but ultimately less gratifying.
