Sorry, but if you tell me you had Edgar on your ‘vintage emo bands releasing new stuff’ bingo card I’ll call you a liar and a dipshit.
The band existed for a couple of years and managed a split 7” with fellow New Yorkers Tetsuo: a solid, scrappy slice of stuff to be sure, but you could certainly be forgiven for missing it while trying to track down a Saetia or Closure LP on the same label.
Here they are, though, back again and sounding pretty darn potent. They’ve managed the neat feat of hewing close to their original sound without coming across like a limp retread, keeping both their core and their spirit intact and ensuring ‘Places We Live, Places We Die’ seems both very now and very then.
What you get for your money are a mix of chonky cronches, dissonant, Milhouse-y jabs and more fraught emo parts: a satisfying, smash-and-grab assault that suggests a mix of former Mountain Records labelmates like Campaign, Eucharist, Republic Of Freedom Fighters and Render Useless.
Because I’m that way inclined my favourite tracks are ones like ‘We’ve Hit Bottom’ and the Shotmaker-esque ‘Staring It Down’, but to be honest it’s all fiery, all urgent and all full of heart – welcome back, Edgar!