Here it is. Until further notice, this is THE emo album of 1999. Yaphet Kotto is rippin’ emo up in the traditional sense … the way it oughta be done … keepin’ it real the way bands like 12 Hour Turn do, and Moonraker did. And that means you’re assaulted with hard edged guitars driven by unrestrained and desperate vocals, both heart-wrenchingly screamed and softly sung. And then, without warning, the band might flow into a perfect breakdown into a gorgeous melodic section… *wow* … few current bands outside of Still Life and 12 Hour Turn are capable of being so genuinely powerful and pretty within the confines of a singular record.
Little touches bring to mind a whole host of awesome bands veering from flailing Torches to Rome brawls, to a touch of Moss Icon intensity and Indian Summer subtletly, and perfect movements from mellow to raging in the blink of an eye. Lyrics are both deeply personal and political, you can’t always decipher the original meaning but that hardly detracts from the music. Also, I have to love a band that uses a sample of old American football coverage, a short piece about former Dallas Cowboys legends, Roger Staubach and Drew Pearson, directing a win over the Vikings.
I hope that one day this record will be hunted down the way some of todays emo kids search for the earlier hard to find releases of the generation that set the standards. It certainly deserves it. Yaphet Kotto unashamedly cries all over your Mineral cd’s, then tears up your emo diaries album in a fit of hardcore rage. Those comps may say emo on the cover, but as with everything, it’s what’s inside that counts, and it’s just not even a close race. This is as honest as it gets, this fucking bleeds sincerity. Fuck yeah, this is 365 pages all on it’s own. Untouchable.