Goodness! Who would have thought it. Council Records arises from it’s deep slumber, and puts out a stunning split 7″ to blow away the cobwebs. So what if it looks like some kind of crust 7″ with it’s black and white cover of people wearing gas masks? It’s Council Records everybody! And they is back.

Yaphet Kotto & Council is a match made in heaven. Council having released some of the best emo of the 90s, they may as well put out some of the best of the new millenia too. Yaphet have been on hiatus too, though for only a year. And this crunchy emo-groover pretty much picks up the thread from where they left off, it certainly would have slotted quite nicely on their awesome LP anyway. Lots of racing, thumping guitar, led by dynamic drumming and the vague melodic thread that they run throughout all their music. Vocals are way down in the mix but tend to be on the screamy side. Has the obligatory mellowed out eerie emo part where everything chills out for a while before getting hectic again. Jolly good show boys, emo in the vein of Embassy, Spirit Assembly and Torches to Rome. That ought to get you interested.

Suicide Nation are fucked up. No two ways about it. Pile driving, out of control, emo-thrash. The vocalist pukes the words all over your turntable whilst the band play faster than light. BLURRRRRRRRRRGH! How they play this fast is beyond my feeble comprehension, and I am unable to make a decent comparison as nothing I have ever heard sounds quite like this. Rather intriguingly they have an acoustic break and a part where they actually play at a speed that doesn’t resemble that of a space rocket. The vocalist guy even says some words that can be made out at this point too. Usurp Synapse meets Assfactor4 at their most crazed? That’s about as close as I can get. Sorry.

So send your $$$ to Matthias Weeks. You won’t regret it.