Album Review for The Things They Carried 'There's Something I Can't Tell Anyone'

The Things They Carried a.k.a 3TC, are a Metal/Screamo band form Long Island who are making headway in the scene after releasing their first full length on 12/17/10, There's Something I Can't Tell Anyone, releasing their first single "364 Day Anniversary" on 1/15/11.

3TC released their debut EP Attention Crisis in 2009 and immediately began touring in promotion of it. In the summer of 2010 they hit the studio again to begin recording their current album. "We wanted to create something ...that all of us were equally excited about. We wanted every song to be as good as the next, no fillers!" said the band's singer, Steve Schwartz.

What you get from the band is a unique blend of metal, melodic screamo, and the famous post-hardcore sounds from Long Island music. The band has the uncanny ability to switch styles up in songs and still put unique musical parts over stunning vocals and catchy choruses. Vocally they are like a heavier Silverstein or Used while musically they compare to Dead Poetic and at their softer moments, Hawthorne Heights.

There's Something I Can't Tell Anyone opens strong with the quick pulsing and guitar riffed "Rationality of Failure." The song stands out because of the the unconventional guitar work not heard in their style of music. It has more of a mainstream feel to it.

The next track is"364 Day Anniversary," this song was the first single off the album and deservedly so because of the heavy scream filled opening that captivates from the start. The verse has a great back and forth flow of screams and vocals, but the best part of the song comes from calm part on. Once the calm building bridge sets in, the song quickly jumps into a heavy fast passed transition ending with awesome double bass and screaming.



"Less Fun Than Being Dead" is definitely a radio single if they go that route. It has a poppy hook and is one of the catchiest tracks on the album.

Perhaps the song with the most moving parts musically and certainly the most unique, is "Mosely." The song almost tells a story without the words and does a good job of staying interesting the whole way through. And of course the track ends with their signature heavy ending.

"Doubt" has a slow creepy intro with  good back and forth between the clean vocals and screaming like on "364 Day Anniversary." The chorus is very catchy and it also has a singlesque feel to it.

The following track, "18G," has an intense screamo intro switching between low bellows and high pitched shrills with singing following. Then it goes into this really dynamic psychotic screaming spoken word sounding part. It is without a doubt the favorite on the record.

"Is That Your Idea What a Girl Should Look Like?...Not Mine!" While posing a question and being extremely long, it also proves to be another strong track on the album. It features a soft intro with a strong chorus and a hop skip and a jump feel about it. In other words, it switches up between fast and slow and mixes patterns making a cool effect musically.

This next track is by far the best song musically. The guitar and drum work on here is phenomenal. There are plenty of strings and piano parts intertwined throughout the song, but they stand out the best toward the end when mixed with the choir like outro.

"An Ode to Rachel Winters" is more of a story telling type song and remains solid throughout. It has a soft intro and outro and brings some of the strings back. It features a nice smooth bridge with great guitar work layered with strings.

"Memoriam" is an excellent closing track. It's a stringy and acoustic ballad with "big" sound reminiscent of a radio soft single. The listener can definitely feel the emotion in the song that coincides with the music ending with electric guitars and harder vocals It's a build up that makes sense and is a nice capper to the record.

There's Something I Can't Tell Anyone stands out among many bands who dabble in the same genre because of the way they approach and create each song to be a work in of itself. They do a superb job of making every track unique but yet have the same feel with the rest of the album. The music seems to have a central theme and tells a wonderful story from beginning to end.