In the extremely remote chance that an album review could be “objective” (which is hideously false), I will not feign such notions: I am a devoted Emery fan, so what follows is unadulterated fanboy subjectivity. Go read something else if that offends you.

We Do What We Want has been highly anticipated for some time now. First, it was released under Tooth and Nail Records‘ sister label, Sold State Records, which is *typically* known for releasing “harder” music. This, of course, led to much speculation that this album would be Emery’s “hardest” to date (it’s not). Second, Tooth and Nail/Solid State did a really nice job via social media of promoting the album. From releasing certain tracks in advance, to putting together nice pre-order packages, to inventing fun and interactive games for fans, the March 29th, 2011 release date was hard to miss.

And like other Emery releases, it was not one to miss. WDWWW is pretty much what you would expect from Emery–pounding, in-your-face songs that rarely let up, yet are consistently underpinned by really thoughtful lyrics. The classic interplay of alternating melody and screaming is brilliantly pulled off, and the album is diverse enough to not become redundant, while maintaining enough More >