Labels: Chucky The Rat – emuzah – Power Negi – Twintoe – We Told You To Play Faster
Review by: Oli Saunders
I bought this 10” recently at the Kingston date of the band’s UK tour. I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by them live and duly wasn’t, but they were really enjoyable and passionate. Something that really came across live was just how shambolic they are, but in a good way. The instruments were all over the place but it just about held together. At times it really did border on just becoming a big chaotic mess to be honest; people playing instruments that to the untrained ear don’t sound like they fit together whilst someone at the front screamed nonsensically into a microphone. It’s not for everyone. To me and other fans of the genre (in its contemporary form) though it makes sense and is quite beautiful.
This new 10” contains the bands most recent tracks and is their first proper vinyl release (the only other being a track on the emo annhilation 6”). of course it can’t capture the live passion that the band exerted but it still sounds really good. The band obviously take influences from Orchid and the like but they are not ripping anyone off that much. The music stops and starts, has slow and fast parts, and remains interesting throughout. The vocals vary a fair bit too between harsh high pitched screams and, well, harsh lower pitch. OKay the harshest thing I can say is that if you listen to a lot of screamo then you’ve pretty much heard it before, and yes there are bands that do it better, but it’s still worthy of a listen and in my opinion is really solid.
My summary is that this is a record that whilst not being essential will appeal to some fans of screamo. Released by five labels all around the world including Power Negi from the UK.
27th September 2009