I got into The Fall of Troy not long after the release of their 2005 album Doppelganger. I forget exactly how I came across them, probably one of those ads that suggested checking them out if you liked Coheed & Cambria or The Mars Volta. Ah, the wonder that is post-hardcore, where bands with relatively little sound in common will be lumped together into the same recommended-if-you-like category. By now a large chunk of the population has at least a passing familiarity with the band thanks to the song "F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X." from that album, which was apparently on the soundtracks for Saints Row and MLB2k6 and was also an unlockable song from Guitar Hero III. I somehow largely missed out on the 2006 follow-up, Manipulator, having only listened to it once or twice. There may be some progression points that I'm missing then, but I think that In The Unlikely Event finds the band shifting gears a bit. Incidentally, I didn't really like the change the first time I put this CD on, but it's since really grown on me.The CD starts off on an upbeat note with "Panic Attack!" After a few listens I can hear the stylistic similarities to the material I was familiar with before, with frequently-shifting riffs, rhythms, and tempos, and toward the end the song does even include the kind of delay-laden line that comes to mind first when I think of their song style. "Straight-Jacket Keelhauled" is a fast-paced song that starts off very punkish and trades off between a high-pitched shriek in the vocals and a bit deeper scream. "A Classic Case Of Transference" has a frenetic guitar line but in the chorus settles down to a groove and a great melodic hook. It also has one of my favorite lines from the CD: "so get me off/then get off me/I've had enough of you." "Single" capitalizes on the same style that made "F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X." so catchy; it's not clear whether the title refers to the lyrical content or the notion of pushing it as the album's single. Lyrically, the track, like most of the CD, is about personal relationships. Most of them sound like breakup songs; then there are songs like "Webs" that sound more like take-me-back songs.
The CD is actually full of hooks, which are an interesting counterpoint to many of the discordant sounds and jarring riffs that you would expect from the band. While some of the songs transition into a groove, "Empty The Clip, The King Has Been Slain, Long Live The Queen" (what's up with the band's titles?) combines the chaotic rhythm with a another big vocal hook. "Dirty Pillow Talk" has an insane stuttering pitch-shifted riff and features Rody Walker from Protest The Hero on guest vocals that I don't really know how to describe.
Somewhere between growled and wailed. They're interesting and work well on the song, but I don't think I could deal with them for a whole CD. (They're not really in the style that I associate with him from Protest The Hero, either.)
"Nobody's Perfect" starts off happier than most of the songs, both from a lyrical standpoint and from the major scale riffing. Of course, it doesn't last, eventually turning dark before restating the opening riff at a sludgier pace and trading in the major sounds for discordance. The aforementioned "Webs" is built around a slow waltzing groove and is to some extent completely out of place on the CD, but is overall a very strong song. I'm hesitant to call it emotional lest somebody say "so there's an emo track," but if every ponkmo band wrote songs like "Webs" I wouldn't despise them so much. The band goes out on a high note, with the hooky and yet schizophrenic "Nature Vs. Nurture."
So like I mentioned in the beginning, the CD took an extra listen to grow on me, partly because the first several songs are somewhat different from what I remembered from when I used to listen to Doppelganger every day. On the other hand, the stylistic progression works well, combining jarring polyrhythmic lines with groove and extending beyond that. The Fall Of Troy is not for the faint of heart, but if you're an adventurous listener unfamiliar with them, I'd say this is as good a place as any to jump into their catalog.
