Felony is the third studio album by American metalcore group Emmure under the Victory Records label. It was released on August 18, 2009. The album debuted at #60 on the Billboard Top 200 selling roughly 8,000 copies in its first week. Felony is also the first album to feature new members Mike Mulholland on guitar and Mike Kaabe on drums, replacing founding members Ben and Joe Lionetti, respectively.

Felony
Studio album by
ReleasedAugust 18, 2009 (2009-08-18)
Recorded2009
StudioWild Studios (in Quebec, Canada)
Genre
Length31:37
LabelVictory
ProducerAntoine Lussier, Bryan Goldsman
Emmure chronology
The Respect Issue
(2008)
Felony
(2009)
Speaker of the Dead
(2011)
Singles from Felony
  1. "I Thought You Met Telly and Turned Me into Casper"
    Released: 2009
  2. "Bars in Astoria"
    Released: 2010[2]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[3]
AbsolutePunk19%[4]
Way Too Loud![5]

Inspiration and musical style

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Inspiration

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The album is allegedly inspired by a real event in which vocalist Frankie Palmeri assaulted his best friend by "[hitting] him in the head with a bottle", which resulted in Palmeri being arrested.[6] The lyrics for the album's title track also references this anecdote.

Style

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Felony is the first album by Emmure to draw on more of a nu metal influence than their previous albums, evident the more-frequent bounce riffs and other tropes such as rapping vocals. AllMusic stated "...their streamlined brand of East Coast hardcore, death metal, and punk is as reliable as it is predictable."[3] MetalSucks noted that the album features gangsta rap elements.[7]

Several songs on the album reference popular culture media. Examples include the song title "I <3 EC2" (which is a reference to the film Planet Terror). The song "The Philosophy of Time Travel" is the title to a fictional book from the film, Donnie Darko; the guitar riffs played on the track are similar to the melody of the song from the film's score, much of the lyrics were inspired by the film as well.[8]

The title of the second track, "I Thought You Met Telly and Turned Me Into Casper," is a reference to two characters from the 1995 film Kids; Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick) and his friend Casper (Justin Pierce).

The song "R2deepthroat" contains a verse of lyrics found in the 1995 hip hop song "Shook Ones (Part II)" by Mobb Deep, which was done as an homage to New York hip hop.

Track listing

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No.TitleLength
1."Sunday Bacon"2:37
2."I Thought You Met Telly and Turned Me into Casper"2:53
3."I <3 EC2"2:45
4."Felony"2:47
5."You Sunk My Battleship"3:09
6."The Philosophy of Time Travel"2:36
7."First Impressions"2:18
8."R2DEEPTHROAT"2:17
9."Bars in Astoria"3:28
10."A Lesson from Nichole"2:26
11."Don't Be One"2:55
12."Immaculate Misconception"1:26
Total length:31:37

Personnel

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Emmure
  • Frankie Palmeri - vocals
  • Jesse Ketive - guitar
  • Mike Mulholland - guitar
  • Mark Davis - bass guitar
  • Michael Kaabe - drums
Production
  • Produced by Bryan Goldsman and Antoine Lussier
  • Engineered by Yanick Desgroseilliers and Antoine Lussier
  • Mixed by Antoine Lussier
  • Mastered by Pierre Rémillard
  • Photography by Jeremy Saffer

References

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  1. ^ "Stepping Stone: Emmure // Felony – Heavy Blog is Heavy". 16 February 2017.
  2. ^ https://www.discogs.com/release/2280220-Emmure-Felony-Singles [bare URL]
  3. ^ a b "Felony Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  4. ^ "Felony Review". AbsolutePunk. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  5. ^ "Felony Review". Way Too Loud!. Archived from the original on 2013-02-05.
  6. ^ "Founding EMMURE Members Respond to Frankie Palmeri Diss: "Nobody Takes Him F-kin Seriously" - Rock Feed". Archived from the original on 2018-04-27. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  7. ^ "SCRAPING GENIUS OFF THE YEAR: GARY SUAREZ'S TOP TWENTY ALBUMS OF 2009". MetalSucks. December 17, 2009.
  8. ^ "The Philosophy of Time Travel" songfacts]