I invented a new genre name today: “dreamo”. That is, emo bands that play dreamy emo. Like September. The Cable Car Theory is not dreamo. I just wanted to mention that if that name ever catches on, you know where you heard it first.
Guess what! CCT play emo. You knew that from the name. But here’s the catch. Most theory bands play whine rock. There is even a whine rock band called THEORY for god’s sake. CCT just steal Hot Water Music’s post-hardcore sound. And fair play to them. I could think of worse bands to thieve from. They maybe have a bit more of a Fuel similarity and they do it very well. “Something New” has crunching riffola, and lots of heartfelt and strained screaming & backups. “700” is faster and more chaotic, chuck in a bit of Assfactor 4 to the HWM-ness, and you might have it. This track rawks big time! Thumpin’, and the screams just rage. Lots of melody buzzing in the mix. I play air guitar to this. Fast. “Mediocre” slows things down again, and has an annoying jangly guitar. They sing the vocals at the start, then they become HWM again. Except for that silly guitar. Finally we have “A Song For Alexis”. Starts off sung again, no, don’t sing, it makes you sound like bad emo. Play fast, play heavy boys! Ah, they got the heavy bit going, and now they scream, and now they play faster. Yeah, they definitely got the HWM thing down to tea, but with screamy backups instead of gruff ones. There is even a short passage of classic crying emo a la Current or something. Lovely, this song gets better as it goes a long.
If you fancy mixing up your everyday emo rock with your not so everyday HWM, the Cable Car Theory are the band for you. Oh, and the packaging kills. But then again, it is on Immigrant Sun.