The Beautiful Mistake

Item: Light A Match, For I Deserve to Burn
Author: Matt Modrich

Light A Match, For I Deserve to Burn

(2002)

Reviewed by Matt Modrich

Discogs Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label The Militia GroupDecapolisOctober 2002

emo post-hardcore

The Beautiful Mistake is a four-piece emo band out of southern California. Their first full-length on The Militia Group is entitled "Light A Match, For I Deserve to Burn."

Typically, TBM gets compared to Thursday these days. The comparison seems mostly based on the fact that they alternate between singing and screaming. However, the constant screaming is a new wrinkle for TBM because it was used more sparingly on their debut EP.

There are a lot of things to like about TBM and "Light A Match," but there are also some things that are holding them back from being an incredible band. On one hand the instrumental production on the full-length is better than the EP, but the vocals are not as prominent as they should be in the mix and that's a step back from the EP. The screaming thing is interesting because it adds some emotional dynamics to the music, but it's also overused and with a talented singer there is no reason to scream as much as they do.

As for the songs, the first three tracks are pretty solid, especially the second one "Stabbing Backwards," which is perhaps the only song that is accentuated by the screaming. The title track is another standout song, but its meaning isn't quite clear. Unfortunately, tracks four and seven are ruined by the excessive screaming and the rest of the album is mostly just filler or not as good as the first few tracks.

Still, TBM has a lot of talent and has delivered a debut that diehard emo fans will enjoy. However, as for the rest of the music populace or moderate emo fans, TBM will have to expand their musical creativity beyond just screaming to truly achieve the honor of being called a great emotional rock'n'roll band.