Boy Sets Fire: Tomorrow Come Today : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Boysetsfire want you to think -- very hard. "Your government's become a whore!" singer Nathan Gray spits out during the opener, "Eviction Article," an industrial-thrash behemoth dedicated to the "life-stealing motherfuckers" in the White House. On Tomorrow Come Today, these Delaware political punkers also target organized religion, materialism and the war on terror with some real hardcore ferocity -- and, surprisingly, a little subtlety. "Bathory's Sainthood" and "High Wire Escape Artist" utilize slow, gloomy bass lines that wouldn't seem out of place on an old Metallica record, and the standout "White Wedding Dress" is built around a few gentle guitar strummings. It's pretty, as spousal-abuse tirades go. Though Cox possesses an Everyman's voice, he uses it to sing his venom rather than scream it -- a lesson his punk-metal-emo peers need to learn. After all, if you have a message, you might as well make it loud and clear.

KIRK MILLER
(From RS 922, May 15, 2003)