Labels: Level Plane
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Well, Level Plane cement themselves as challengers for screamo scene label throne by releasing this one – Emo (Violence) Diaries I. No generic “I am so sad, I have feelings, have sex with me” emo rock cod-sensitivity or art work here, just generic pictures of rib cages, red vinyl, feedback between songs, and bands yelling their heads off. Side B deigns it fit to squeeze Neil Perry (oft accidentally and incorrectly spelled by me as Neil Pretty), Hassan I Sabbah, Jeromes Dream AND Usurp Synapse all onto one side. Spot the difference? Good luck. It’s all on 33rpm but over before you can go have a shit without taking any reading material into the toilet, and get back again to your record player. Perry play really fast and tear it up in the vein of Orchid and then slow it down and grind like Jenny Piccolo. Always good. Hassan I Sabbah released a criminally amazing 7″ and this muffled recording sees them do Mohinder / Honeywell styled violence with some barely audible vocals, followed by a lot craziness and speeding drums. They also have a slow bit. Jeromes Dream rage out of control and sound really cool but the recording is muffled to fuckery. Lasts about 30 seconds, but is really awesome. Usurp then come on and do they typical heavy rumbling stuff with a 1 second long emo break and lots of scary bits. Kinda like Uranus. Yah. Classy side, but don’t expect pristine production. By the way, all four bands sound like Army of Flying Robots. Be afraid.
The Assistant lurk on the other side, all a lone and frightened. This is a song from their album, which is a shame if you already have that. It has a cool sample at the start, and a twinkly emo part and then they go full on screamo. Fast and dangerous with crunchy breakdown parts where you can tear at your hair and look to the heavens. Ex-You and I folks taking that sound a step further. Technical, metallish, and on edge, there is more going on here than your ears can comprehend. Liable to overload your brain and leave you shell shocked.