Crash of Rhinos – Distal

April 1, 2011 • Brave or Invincible Records

I know, I know. It's too late to talk about this band. They broke up almost exactly one year ago, but it is only just recently that I discovered them and I can't stop listening to this album.

Back in 2010 I first heard Cap'n Jazz and got absolutely hooked on emo (as anyone who reads the blog can attest to; I've been posting more emo reviews than anyone ought). But after all that time I couldn't really find a band that brought the same kind of thing that made Cap'n Jazz so good—that same kind of raw intensity without being too heavy, the same intricate approach without being too mathy, the perfect balance of everything that makes this kind of music worth listening to.

Well, Crash of Rhinos has it. (Had it, I guess.) I've heard both of their albums but I think Distal barely ekes out as being the better one, and I don't say that lightly. There is not a single wasted moment here, not a single drum hit or guitar note or vocalization that isn't overflowing with passion and meaning and value and beauty. There is not a single song that doesn't make me stop whatever else I'm doing and take it in. This review took far too long to write because I had to keep stopping and just let myself listen.

A couple choice moments:

• The huge gang vocal section closing out "Big Sea", an excellent callback to the beginning of the song while showing just how grand they're capable of getting.
• The last half of "Stiltwalker", which takes on this elegant legato Bear vs. Shark feel that is absolutely entrancing.
• The seamless shift of the same riff into triple-feel halfway through "Gold on Red". I don't even know why it works so brilliantly.
• "Asleep" ending the album not with a bang, but by quietly slinking off into the distance, leaving the listener in a puddle on the floor.
• Me, needing to immediately listen to the whole thing again after the first time. That has happened maybe only three or four times that I can remember, ever.

This band is essential listening for anyone with even the remotest possibility of having interest in emo. And it came out in 2011—during emo's revival, when there don't seem to be many albums like this, and right when I needed it. It's criminal that it doesn't seem to have gotten as much exposure as it deserves. Maybe one day.