Review by: Oli Saunders
As all screamo enthusiasts know, Dolcim contain two members that were in Cease Upon The Capitol, and the band formed pretty much as soon as CUTC broke up. I’m not a great fan of CUTC to be honest, I bought their records and I think I went through a period of thinking they were pretty great, but then I just got bored by them – they became below standard screamo to me. Even when I saw them at Trashfest a couple of years back I wasn’t impressed. This is a pretty harsh start to the review, and I do still have their 7” End Of History which I really like. But the point is that when I saw that Dolcim had formed I wasn’t that bothered – I didn’t expect much from them.
Fast forward a bit… when I finally got round to listening to them I was pleasantly surprised. And though it then still took me ages to get their demo, when I did a few weeks back I found it to be most fucking excellent. Three songs of awesome screamo still somewhat in the style of CUTC but new elements that made me enjoy it immensely. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, but it is screamo done very well.
This new LP has just been released on React With Protest and I snapped it up pretty quickly. And listening to it this evening I again find the band very enjoyable to listen to. All three members contribute vocals, the instruments are all spot on and get me going, nice whirling guitars and all that. The LP stays interesting throughout, lasting half an hour and never veering in style but that’s fine. It’s not going to be in my top ten of the year but it’s a really solid screamo record. The only thing I would say is that the songs don’t actually improve from the ones on the demo in my opinion. Those ones sounded a bit more intense, particularly the vocals. Maybe I need to have a few more listens though. Shit, I just checked and the songs from the demo are actually on the LP but rerecorded! The recordings don’t sound as good here to be honest, less raw and as I said before less intensity. However, all in all it’s a solid record worth checking out if you like chaotic but melodic emo.
I will be seeing these guys when they tour Europe this summer, not sure if they are coming to the UK at all… One thing that worries me a little is that there are blatently two guitars on the record but only one guitarist in the band. So I hope the songs sound as good if they are touring as a three piece. Should be good regardless though and I’m looking forward to it!
25th March 2009