This band seemed to crop up as a new name to drop for a couple of weeks on the internerd ‘screamo’ scene, and for good reason. They were pretty damn rocking. “Were” because they have split up now. But over the course of the 6 tracks present on here they bust out some intense and rocking jams that will appeal to anyone who even vaguely misses Pg. 99, and I am DDISTBD have approximately 1/50th as many members as the Page. The first track, “09.11.01” (all the song titles are dates), is metally and packs a hefty punch, but the intro to “08.26.20”, all wrenched screams and higher pitched guitars heralds a more emo approach akin to bands such as Funeral Diner. And these are two slightly different styles that the Diary meshes well through the duration, pulling off the moody twinkle breakdown to perfection, just check the Saddest Landscape style teariness on “03.01.04” – but you gave up, you gave up despairs the vocalist as the guitars make their sad sounds. Mighty fine. I will also draw attention to “04.08.03” which starts off as a full on traditional screamy emo blaster, with the hoarse screams being pelted out over the grooving melodies. It gets more complex as it goes on, with meandering guitar parts that rather remind me of Hot Cross. It’s quite an epic that mutates brilliantly over it’s course.
No insert came with my copy and I have no information beyond band name and song titles (being secretive = emo as fuck!), so I can’t tell you jack about the band except they were from the USA. Woo. I am not generally a fan of the slightly more techy end of the screamo spectrum and was getting a bit bored of it if the truth be told, but these guys and Welcome the Plague Year are seriously good bands that even a dopey wuss like me can’t ignore. I think this is a really good CD, well worth a listen if you are into the more technical stuff.