Labels: Discos Huelga
Review by: Danny Parsons
This is Loma’s first release since the departure of the old singer, Davey Fung “” and it really shows. If there was one thing I was a tad sceptical of with their previous releases (despite the instrumental aspect being ace), it was the vocals. Also, these guys now have a bassist too, which the lack of on the previous releases left the songs kind of empty feeling. The first song “” Worn Path “” is some of the most technical screamo/hardcore/whatever you want to call it, that I’ve heard in a long while. Off time signatures punctuated with short stints of melody makes this a winner for me. In terms of the new vocals (done by the guitarist and the new bassist, with a bit of input from the drummer too), they’re a lot more mature than the old stuff “” less high-pitched and whiney, more incoherent as fuck. Even looking at the lyrics, you can barely follow. Kind of like Sigur Ros for screamo you could say; you have no idea what they’re saying, but it sounds damn good anyway. It’s simply a wall of noise. It’s an acquired taste I guess and I can understand many people’s reservations with the vocals; for me however, it’s YES YES YES. The packaging is sweet too; nice photo of some trees and stuff on the front and a cool booklet inside with lyrics and all that jazz. There’s a tour edition as well, complete with spelling mistakes. DIY DIY DIY. The lyrics themselves are awesome; kinda’ reminiscent of William Burroughs’ literature if that means anything to you. Stand-out sections in my eyes are the Trilogy songs and the epic last song, Last City in which the drummer utters a yelp in the dénouement that makes me a very happy man indeed. All in all, a solid release and a notable progression from their earlier work. Thumbs up.