This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Granted, it doesn’t happen often — but every now and then, the music biz surprises me. You Come Before You, the impressively heavy and dynamic third full-length from Poison the Well, is definitely one of those times.
Simply put, this Florida screamo metalcore quintet could easily have been voted the Band Least Likely To Score A Major-Label Deal. But here they are, with all their grinding brutality, blowtorch guitars, roiling churn, noisy mayhem, intense agony and primal-bellow vocals intact. Could it be that the suits thought the soothing oases of delicate melody and haunted ambience that crop up here and there on these tunes would soften them enough to make them commercially viable? Could it be that the major labels are wising up to the commercial viability of the underground? Or could it all just be some horrible mistake involving Poison and a bad cell-phone connection? Either way, I’m not complaining. I doubt you will be either.
