Given that The Coming Strife usually specialise in crowbar-to-the-face metalcore it’s kinda surprising that they’ve ventured into the emo pop market, but in these uncertain times I guess it’s good to diversify one’s portfolio.
True to their extremely Emo Diaries name, The April Situation party like it’s 1999 and Doghouse Records have given up on Threadbare in favour of trying to convince the world that Husking Bee are a good band. Sweet, sugary stuff is the order of the day, and it fits in nicely with bands like The Get Up Kids, Jejune, The Jealous Sound and Pop Unknown, winning out for me on tracks like ‘Endless Threads’ when the emphasis is on bopping energetically along and boshing out big, syrupy hooks. Elsewhere things get a bit more ruminative and delay pedal-heavy – a sound that never entirely does it for me, but certainly demonstrates a sense of texture and variety.
All in all, it’s a nice strong start – if it was 25 years ago I would have enjoyed catching them on a bill alongside Sunfactor, Spy Versus Spy and, inevitably, Babies Three.