Prawn, Frameworks, Xerxes, Things Fall Apart, Reverse the Curse

May 5, 2015 • Ace of Cups, Columbus, Ohio

I guess I'm okay with the somewhat low amount of shows I've been to lately since they've all been so good. Tonight was no exception.

Reverse the Curse

This band's genre is really hard to pin down—I guess I'd call it some kind of atmospheric, super-textural post-punk or alternative rock, or something. Aside from the mumbly vocals, I actually liked them quite a bit. They make a nice opener, if nothing else: they're not too extreme but they put on a really good hard-hitting groove when they want.
6

Things Fall Apart

I have mixed feelings about this band. Their music sounded really familiar, but pparently I've never heard them before—I suppose they're just kind of generic (for lack of a less-derogatory word). They play standard modern screamo, and they do do a pretty good job at it although I can't say I was thrilled. Maybe it was due to the fact that the instrumental style was very "pretty" sounding, highly melodic and twinkly, so the screamed vocals didn't really jive well. Some bands pull it off but I don't think Things Fall Apart did. They must be doing something right, though, since they had the largest crowd of any other set (what's the deal with that?)
5

Xerxes

Like a moron I decided to take a slightly-longer-than-normal break before Xerxes' set, and I wish I hadn't. They were definitely one of the better sets of the night. Although they were also pretty straightforward screamo / emocore, they are definitely doing it right for a live setting. Very energetic and driving, melodic without being too sappy, and really great interplay between the bass and guitar. It's a shame their set was so short; they're definitely worth checking out if you get a chance.
8

Frameworks

It had been ages since I listened to these guys (okay, two years, but still) and I forgot how good they are. Their particular style of screamo is probably one of the better ones I've heard, at least in the studio, and they do work well on stage too. They're a bit too messy live to be appreciated on the same level as their studio work, but it was definitely good enough. Special mention to their adorable moment thanking Prawn (it was the last day of the tour) with a little gift bag.
7

Prawn

Like I said, last day of the tour, and if you didn't see them man oh man you missed out. Prawn has never even really been one of my top-favorite emo bands (though their albums are both really quite good), but live they knocked it out of the park. If you've heard them before there's isn't much to say about the musical side of their show (although thier drummer is pretty amazing, it turns out), but even music aside, their stage presence was amazing—lots of energy, genuinely having fun. I wish there had been more songs from the first album that I would have recognized, but oh well. Great stuff.
9

Fleshworld / Gazers / Viscera/// – Split

October 14, 2014 • Unquiet Records

Reviewing promotional split albums always feels a bit weird, but sometimes the material really is good enough that I have to share it. Today's edition is three metal bands from all over Europe: Fleshworld from Poland, Gazers from France, and Viscera/// (slashes included, please) from Italy.

Fleshworld gets the split off to a great start—I'm really enjoying their tracks. Their style of sludge metal manages to be both a little atmospheric and very driving at the same time, a bit Cult-of-Luna-esque without as much grandeur. The rhythmic patterns going on here are great—the hard-hitting drum grooves are especially irresistible, and there are lots of really nice crunchy guitar lines holding it together. They occasionally launch into some more intense punkish-blastbeating, quiet clean bridges (naturally), and even a little bit of psychedelic noodling, which are all nice enough—but man am I digging the standard sludge. I haven't heard many new bands lately doing it as well as they do. I only wish the first two songs were a little longer, as the nine-minute "Rezygnacja" is, to give me a bit more to sink my teeth into.

Gazers sounds nothing like their name implies—this is some raw and harsh screamo, chaotic riffing, blasting, some slower chugging sections, the occasional breakdown, and all. Maybe it's that Fleshworld is a hard act to follow but I'm not as thrilled about this band—though they are still pretty decent. The songwriting is a bit disjointed and hard to follow at times, but they definitely have the texture and mood down well. Admittedly I've never been a huge fan of this style of post-hardcore/screamo so I'm probably not the right person to take Gazers on, but you could certainly do a lot worse.

Viscera/// brings us back around to the sludge metal side of things, but in a much different way from Fleshworld. The promo kit calls them "psychedelic" but I don't think I'd agree whatsoever; they're definitely way too clean and heavy for that (blastbeating isn't psychedelic, and flanger pedals don't automatically make you so, no matter what anyone says). But they do have nice big riffs aplenty, and bigger riffs you rarely have seen. Their style is all over the place, though—they swerve from crunching rhythmic lines to almost-black-metal tremolo blasting to upbeat stoner metal, and it's a bit weird. The poppy clean singing in "Nobody's Diary" feels wildly out of place and the band can get a bit too repetitive at times, but the majority of what they've put down here is pretty great.

In short—one split, plenty of great brutality to be had, and I'm off to see if there's any more from these bands to check out, because my interest is definitely piqued.

Anger House – Asleep

June 3, 2014 • Happy Ass Records

I've reviewed Anger House here before; see my review of Loss for a good overview. Their brand of old-school emocore harkens back to the D.C. school of Rites of Spring and their peers and I love how they're doing it. Asleep is essentially just more of the same, so there really isn't a whole lot for me to say about the EP. But in no way do I see this as a bad thing. "Devotion" is probably their best song yet and one of the best post-hardcore songs I've heard in a long time. They are very consistently putting out good material, and I basically just wanted to put out yet another good word for them. So go listen!

Coma Regalia / Greyscale

July 30, 2013 • Middle-Man Records

I don't review a lot of splits, but the format has really grown on me over the years as a way to quickly get to know some interesting new bands, especially in a genre you want to explore more. So with that in mind, we have two great bands from Middle-Man Records that are pushing the boundaries of screamo in very cool ways that are worth a look.

Coma Regalia plays a fairly standard sort of noisy, banging screamo, with short, rapid-fire songs. They're noticeably more melodic and a bit milder than more traditional bands like Orchid, resulting in some very well fleshed-out riffs and even some catchy hooks to go along with some atonal, angular guitar lines. However, I think they could probably benefit from some longer arrangements; as decent as their songwriting currently is, their songs don't quite have the memorability and staying power as they could, since they're over so quickly. But the potential is definitely there and I am certainly enjoying their output here; they just need to string it into more powerful and lasting songs.

Greyscale is a bit similar to Coma Regalia, but with a somewhat more dreamy, almost-post-rock approach to the genre that butts heads with an aggressive tone. It's a really interesting combo I don't get enough of. There's some great intricate guitar work going on as well as song great arrangements, with solid buildup and tension release. I'm not totally sure that their big, expansive, murky sound really gels that well with the fast-paced and dense screamo songwriting, though, but if nothing else it's a cool experiment and I'd definitely like to hear more of it.

Both bands are really solid on this split and worth checking out.

Locktender – Kafka

July 25, 2013 • Replenish Records

I have never really been much into screamo much, but lately (as my appreciation for other emo has increased, probably) I've found a few good releases that I've really enjoyed. It's taken a few listens for Locktender to really click, as does a lot of music like this, but this is one album that's definitely worth the time to get into.

Don't let my use of the word "screamo" put you off, though; this is a bit distant from the likes of pg.99 or Orchid. Kafka has quite a diverse output of styles on display; they're mostly derived from screamo in some way, but Often the music contains a very heavy, sludge-metal-like edge, while later veering wildly into a light post-rock aesthetic. The result is music that's often very dense and chaotic and a bit difficult to wrap one's head around, but, surprisingly, in a good way. Though there's a lot going on (especially on the two longer, proggier tracks), it is one of those albums that one can hear something new in it each time.

It helps that on the whole, Locktender has a really good sense of melody that they apply all over the place for a very affecting performance. The vocals are especially good in this regard—I love the contrast between the harsh and guttural screams on most of the album, and the melodicism and passion of the singing that accents it. The guitar and bass parts are, of course, doing their part as well, just in a way that's a bit harder to put into words.

And it's probably true that a big part of the reason I like Kafka so much is that I haven't heard anything quite like this album before—not that that's saying a lot, but still—and it's still pushing all the right buttons as far as what kind of stuff I've been really getting into lately. So consider this an enthusiastic recommendation if you're at all in tune with the kind of stuff I've been into lately.

SRVVLST, Peace Be Still, Maumelle, Prize the Doubt

July 5, 2013 • The Summit, Columbus, Ohio

It was a bit weird to learn that The Summit is actually distinct from Café Bourbon St.—two equally tiny, grimy bars sharing the same building. Can't say it's not good for an emo show, though. While this was probably the lowest-attended show I've been to yet (top five, at least), I gotta say it was a pretty good time.

Prize the Doubt

These guys were really interesting for sure. It was a weird combination of dissonant screamo and hard-as-shit metalcore, with the occasional grindcore and post-rock segue thrown in. I thought they were too weird to enjoy at first, but they really grew on me during their set. Performance was middling, but the music was very neat. Worth seeing.
7 • Best Power Stances Award

Maumelle

I've got conflicting opinions on Maumelle. First off, the music is awesome—kind of typical midwest emo, with the stereotypical twinkly guitar (albeit very well-done, some really great licks) and excellent songwriting. The vocals seemed really out-of-place though, nothing but full-on screams the whole time; it was a weird juxtaposition that didn't make a lot of sense to me. It didn't bother me enough to not enjoy the hell out of the band, though.
7 • Best Mullet Award (aka Worst Mullet Award)

Peace Be Still

Even though Peace Be Still had probably the most generic sound of all the bands that played, they were still quite good in their own way. Horrible vocals, but in the satisfying emo way; well-played guitar and drums; above-average bass grooving (probably one of the better parts of their sound). I could have done without the between-song "stories" or whatever. Still, good stuff.
7 • Most Frequent Unnecessary Tuning Award

SRVVLST

These guys had a much more math-rock oriented sound, kind of like an emo Battles, with a similar focus on instrumentals instead of vocals. Lots of 5/8 time and things like that, which was a nice change of pace. The complexity made for a slightly sloppy performance, though, but I guess that is understandable. I did really enjoy how for their last song, they invited everyone up on stage (maybe a dozen of us) to watch. It was a very cool experience, definitely they show's highlight; made everything seem a lot more special. Recommended.
7 • Best Fingertapping Award

Have Mercy – The Earth Pushed Back

May 21, 2013 • Topshelf Records

Topshelf Records has been on fire lately. You Blew It!, Prawn, The World Is a Beautiful Place..., and this album a couple months ago. Top shelf stuff indeed.

Have Mercy takes a slightly (okay, significantly) poppier approach to the post-hardcore / emo stuff that I've been all over lately, and believe it or not that's not at all a bad thing. They crank out lots (and LOTS) of melody, with catchy lines all over the place and hook after hook (I've had "Let's Talk About Your Hair" stuck in my head for days) and some especially-powerful choruses (just check out the end of "Hell", it's fantastic!). It's in no small part thanks to having lots of really great dynamics; the album runs the spectrum from heavy pounding sections to quiet, introspective, almost post-rock parts (not to mention a neat little departure into alt-country for "Living Dead", which works really well).

Surprisingly, the vocalist is the shining star of the album by far—while the instruments are all quite good, he really carries the music to extra heights. His style is quite diverse, from almost-murmurs to emotive and powerful screams; and sure, maybe the lyrics are a bit cheesy (it's emo, after all) but damn if it isn't great to listen to.

Sure, maybe it's not a masterpiece, and some songs are definitely better than others, but this is an album I love all the way through. I can only hope they keep up this staggering momentum; but even if not... damn has it been a good time for emo lately.

8

The Phantom Carriage – Falls

February 28, 2013 • Throatruiner Records / Braincrushing Records / Theatre Records

Genre boundary lines when it comes to modern heavy music are so blurred nowadays that it's become really difficult to describe some albums nowadays. What is Falls? I suppose you could call it a combination of black metal and screamo with a bit of Converge-style metalcore thrown in for good measure, but it's tough to say. Regardless, it's pretty safe to say that you'll know if you might like it from that description alone. It's not bad, but I'm not a huge fan.

Granted, the music can be pretty interesting. Complex arpeggiating guitar riffs, intense drumming (blastbeating and otherwise), the occasional breakdown; it's all there, with a suffocating atmosphere evoking the cover art well. Sometimes the music gets a bit too technical for its own good, though, and it's all too easy to lose focus as the riffs pile up on each other into a cacophonous wreck (take "Mistakes & Fixes"' frantic ending). At the same time, though, there are plenty of really awesome bits that stand out—for instance, I really like the slow burning feel of "Dreamers Will Never Stop Dreaming"; it gives the song something a bit more interesting above all the blasting.

On the whole, though, I'm not really feeling Falls too much. Maybe it's just my taste—after all, I've never gotten into Converge, and this band has a lot of similarities; this sort of super-chaotic songwriting simply doesn't resonate with me. For fans of this style, I suppose I can see this being a hit. But I'll give it a mild pass for now.

5

Old Gray – An Autobiography

March 11, 2013 • Broken World Media

I've been keeping my eye on this band for some time now, especially since they've released such a strong sequence of EPs (including their demo), each of which has been better than the last. I admit, I doubted at first whether they were capable of topping Everything I Let Go & the Things I Refuse To, but I have to say that they might have done just that.

Old Gray's sound is something of a combination of old-school screamo with hints of the new Midwest emo scene and a dash of post-rock. It's a good combination, one that's been used to great effect by other bands; however, I think I preferred the style of the older EPs, which had a much larger focus on the post-rock side. An Autobiography is definitely more screamo-focused instead, and is a bit more wild in its sonic approach as the songs whip back and forth from softer sections to full-on skramz spaz-outs. This makes the album feel a bit disjointed and unfocused at times, though often the contrast does work fine.

On the other hand, it's hard not to like the songs regardless. Old Gray is emotive and passionate as ever and many songs are masterfully written, such as the touching intro to "Emily's First Communion" and the calming yet sad sound of tracks like "Show Me How You Self Destruct", with its melancholy violin part and spoken word. Contrast that with plenty of intense and pounding parts like "The Graduate" or the cathartic second half of "I Still Think About Who I Was Last Summer".

While it took a while for me to warm up to An Autobiography in light of their other stuff, I can confidently say that Old Gray is as good as ever and have settled into the album format quite well. Maybe they are even ready to settle in with the rest of the great bands of the emo revival; we'll see.

7

Anger House – Loss

May 4, 2013 • self-released

The new wave of emo rolls on and on, and the world is all the better for it. Especially because it's growing not just in the twinkly heights of midwest emo; heavier stuff is getting its due as well. Anger House is a band out of Texas playing some old-school Rites of Spring-style emocore, and despite being the sort of stuff that could have easily come out nearly thirty years ago, this stuff still sounds fresh and awesome.

Like any good emocore, Loss's strengths lie in good songwriting that sounds simple at first but has layers of intricateness under the hood. Each track has one or two basic yet well-crafted melodies taking the foreground, with some skillful drumming and rhythm guitars holding it all together. And not one single track is bad, each one has its own memorable riffs, and the EP never gets boring or repetitive. (Okay so maybe it gets a little repetitive, but I'm enjoying it enough that it doesn't matter at all.)

And like I said with Eiskalt I don't have a problem with a band re-treading a well-established style if they can make it good, and Anger House has made emocore more than just good. Here's to hoping they keep the momentum going.

7

The Appleseed Cast, Muscle Worship, Ease the Medic, The End of the Ocean

April 17, 2013 • Kobo Live, Columbus, Ohio

Just another Columbus rock show, nothing terribly spectacular. Although The Appleseed Cast is apparently a much more popular band than I was aware of. Not that that's a bad thing, but there's little to be said for an overcrowded, tiny venue like Kobo was. Still an enjoyable show, I suppose.

The End of the Ocean

A local post-rock band, the sort of emotive crescendocore in the vein of Explosions in the Sky with more compelling songwriting, better riffs, and a slightly heavier feel. One of those sets where nobody else in the audience really seemed to care (they were all asleep most of the whole show anyway), but I quite enjoyed them. Lots of energy for this sort of band, and fun to watch even for an instrumental band.
8 • Tiniest Keyboard Award (Although This Moment in Black History's Might Have Been Smaller, It's Hard to Say)

Ease the Medic

Another local band, this time with a more emo-meets-post-hardcore sound, a bit like Brand New with a poppy and emotive edge. While their songwriting and riffs were a bit generic, leaving not a whole lot to say about them, they definitely weren't bad. Outstanding bass work, as well, especially considering it was the bassist's first show with the band.
6 • I Honestly Can't Think of Any Single Award

Muscle Worship

I quite liked this act as well; they have a sound reminiscent of Bear vs. Shark (apparently I can only come up with comparisons to describe this whole show) with more of a garage rock/math rock feel to it. (As I'll never see BvS live, this is probably as good as I'll get.) Special props to the drummer, who was especially talented and had a really neat complex style. At this point, the show started to get too loud to the point where things were sounding muddy (especially the bass)—not sure if that was Kobo's fault or what—so I didn't enjoy them quite as much as I should have. Still a good set, though.
7 • Best Use of Pedal Loops Award

The Appleseed Cast

Apparently it's been a while since I listened to this band, because I definitely don't remember them being so much post-rock and so little midwest-emo. Not that they're bad, but there were definitely some bits that dragged on and on, especially the instrumental pieces (then again, I was really tired by this point). The older tracks (e.g. the encore ones that everyone seemed to know) definitely performed better live. Still, a pretty neat show; their music is obviously still quite nice. Clip (warning: shitty vertical video—I saw the person filming this, too, she obviously had no idea what she was doing)
7 • Most Useless Keyboard That They Only Used on Half of One Song Award

Circle Takes the Square – Decompositions:​ Volume Number One

December 21, 2012 • self-released

Time for a long-overdue followup. I reviewed the first half of this album way back in November 2011 and found it a bit tough to get into. The whole thing finally came out this past December and I have to admit that I'm enjoying it a bit more now, but ultimately it's probably not for me.

I'd probably chalk it up to my tastes changing a bit over the past couple of years; after all, I've been listening to a lot more of this "extreme punk" sort of stuff lately so Circle Takes the Square fits in a bit better with my normal music listening.

Obviously a lot of what I said in the first review still applies, as it doesn't seem that the first four songs were reworked any. The band's style is still very chaotic and polystylistic, making most of the songs a bit hard to grasp. But the album's complexity is still very interesting to me, and it's fun to pick out the various intricacies it has.

But, as I predicted, forty-plus minutes of that (if we ignore the closing track) gets to be too much for me. Albums like this verge on sensory overload and eventually my brain just gives up trying to follow along. Which is unfortunate because there are some genuinely really cool parts to the album, like the majority of "Singing Vengeance into Being", which a good track but one that it's tough for me to even get to.

So I dunno—I guess this sort of music still isn't quite for me, though I can see its appeal to some. In any case, the band is gracious enough to put the digital version up for free download, so it's no cost to check it out for yourself.

5

Holding onto Hope – Of the Sea

2009 • self-released

Of the Sea is another one of those albums that just magically showed up in my library (I probably ultimately got it from a blog somewhere), but it was a pleasant surprise to find in light of my recent emo binge. It's not the greatest album like it that I've ever heard, but it's up there somewhere.

Holding onto Hope is one of the few emo-influenced post-hardcore bands that doesn't completely suck—in fact, they're quite good. Their music has a blatant post-rock and ambient edge to it that gives it a bit more depth and pleasantness than their contemporaries. They're kind of like a softer and lighter Touché Amoré (the vocalists sound almost the same, as well). It's the perfect balance of melodicism and aggressiveness for my taste—you get both heavy, crunchy breakdown riffs and more intricate lines to balance them out.

But while it has those nice guitar parts and the songs are generally well-written, the album on the whole does drag a bit about halfway through. There are a few "pure" post-rock/chamber music tracks to pad things out, but I still feel like the album is a bit lacking when it comes to diversity. The lyrics and vocals, in particular, are kind of silly and get a bit tiresome. They fit the music, though, so maybe that's just me.

Fortunately, the music is good enough to recommend the album on alone. It's nothing really groundbreaking or revolutionary but it's definitely a pleasing listen when it's on.

6

Tigon – Infinite Teeth

August 11, 2012 • The Ghost Is Clear Records

Is it metal? Is it punk? Is it math rock or emo... or what? I dunno, but all that matters is whether Infinite Teeth is any good. It's a bit of a strange album, to be sure, and takes time to get used to but I think it's pretty good.

Stylistically, Tigon is doing a lot on this album—there are as I mentioned elements of math rock (most prominently) but also emocore, sludge metal (mostly in the guitar riffs), and even some mathcore ("Whale Maker" and maybe "Plague Apparatus"). Somehow it doesn't feel totally disorienting, as the band manages to meld everything together well into their own unique sound. It's a sound that may take a bit to get used to and some elements tend to not gel terribly well—mostly the spoken, atonal vocals alongside the heavy, gritty guitar lines, and the very dissonant and even random-sounding melodies. The album's aesthetics weren't at all appealing whatsoever the first time I heard it, but they grew on me and I'm enjoying what they're doing here.

but the mood and atmosphere of Infinite Teeth is definitely good. The melodies and rhythms can get very tense and depressive, making the music seem very burdensome (if that makes any sense). But it can also become uplifting, with hints of that twinkly indie-emo sound (or is that post-rock?) during more quiet parts. Nothing ever sounds out of place, though, and though the album throws the occasional surprise at the listener it still all fits together well.

It has its flaws, of course—few of the songs are particularly memorable, it's a bit anticlimactic, and as I mentioned the vocals don't always fit the music well—but all things considered it's not bad at all. It's probably not going to top anyone's list of math rock or emo albums anytime (the songwriting is good but not fantastic) though Infinite Teeth is an impressive start, and hopefully we can see something improved in the future.

6

City of Ships – Look What God Did to Us

2009 • Translation Loss Records

You'd think that City of Ships would be right up my alley—a neat mixture of post-hardcore and sludge, with some mathy riffs and atmospheric tendencies. I even saw them live supporting Rosetta and enjoyed them quite a bit then. But no matter how many times I listen to Look What God Did to Us, it flatly refuses to click with me.

It's odd because City of Ships does a lot of things right—the instrumentation is good across the board: nice gritty bass lines, interesting and appropriately-complex drumming, great guitar lines that alternate from pretty clean bits to heavy jamming. The vocals are probably the weakest link soundwise; they're definitely not bad—he's a talented singer—but they don't mesh with the music terribly well. They seem too intrusive (vocals come in when it sounds like they shouldn't) and I feel like, stylewise, something grittier and growlier might fit better, like early Mastodon vocals. Still, the overall sound is really good and I like the direction they took there, especially the little things like the organ stabs in "Complacence in the Nest" that make the song. Subtleties like that can really make a difference.

My biggest issue with the album is definitely the songwriting. As I mentioned, there are a lot of cool riffs and grooves to be found throughout; the problem is that they're put together poorly. The different sections of the songs don't lead into each other well, making the music often difficult to follow and thus less memorable. It's like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle by finding pieces that only sort of fit and just jamming them together. The end product won't be very pretty, even if the potential to create something nice is there. There are exceptions; "March of the Slaves" is mostly well put-together, as are others (like "Grandfather Paradox" and the aforementioned "Complacence in the Nest"), so it's not an epidemic but it's still a noticeable flaw.

Well, maybe it's not. Perhaps they actually put a ton of thought and time into crafting the arrangements (at least I hope they did), and the end result just isn't for me. Obviously plenty of people still enjoy it, and still the musicianship and sound is good, so my reasons for considering Look What God Did to Us to be just average are very subjective. So I won't necessarily recommend it but it's probably worth looking into for some fans of the genre.

5

Frodus – F-Letter

1996 • Double Deuce Records

There is little to say about Frodus, sadly, as they are sadly not very well-known and I simply don't know much about the band. But I do know that they have a pretty impressively-sized back catalogue of quality post-hardcore, despite their first few albums being almost totally unknown. By this, their third, they have pretty much solidified their sound into as it would be on their two well-known albums (Conglomerate International and And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea); this one is just as good.

Frodus plays a relatively heavy and crunchy brand of post-hardcore here, kind of like a less-bombastic Refused, but with nice big solid riffs and really nice songwriting. There are some sections of clean mellow guitar, some grooving, head-bangable breakdown riffs, some dissonant noisy bits, etc., and they are masterful at fitting it all together. They also manage to make it a pretty fun experience as well and there isn't much, if any, filler to speak of; the quality remains high throughout and the band's skill at their instruments is also really good, especially the drumming; it's very dynamic and the rhythms have a lot of nice things like brief tempo modulations that sound cool.

One interesting thing about this album is that I've only listened to it a handful of times (maybe two or three) but it already feels very comfortable and familiar. Maybe it's because they sound a lot like other D.C. hardcore bands I enjoy (Fugazi, anyone?), but the music also just feels very honest. By this I refer to elements like the relatively simple songwriting, very real-sounding vocals, things like that. They don't throw any surprises at the listener; F-Letter is mostly very straightforward, and that's not a bad thing—it's actually exactly what this kind of music needs in order for it to be good.

I'm still pretty shocked that this album is still quite obscure as I think it ranks among Frodus' best (although their stuff is pretty consistently good) and this is a band that definitely can compete with Fugazi et al. for post-hardcore stardom. I guess it didn't happen, but at least they left us a lot to listen to and they're still around, so who knows?

7

Circle Takes the Square – Decompositions - Vol I, Chapter 1: Rites of Initiation

August 23, 2011 • Gatepost Recordings

I've never heard Circle Takes the Square until recently (and had only barely heard of them), and I had at first brushed them off as just another generic screamo/post-hardcore band. As it turns out their sound goes way beyond that, if the long track times on this EP weren't a big clue, so I was quite surprised by this release, and although it's nothing mind-blowing, it's a very interesting listen.

Rites of Initiation fuses a surprising different styles together during its short run: atmospheric sludge and post-rock at the start, math rock, perhaps some metalcore, and a weird sound that I can only describe as "progressive screamo" which is the bulk of the EP. Lots of jagged riffs, unusual time signatures, layered vocals, very complex drumming; it sounds messy but it's definitely very focused and the band has a good handle on what they are doing. However this genre-hopping and chaotic riffing gets to be a bit jumpy for my tastes and it's hard to follow what's going on most of the time since there's so much chaos; by the time the third track rolls around it has just gotten to be overwhelming overall. Things calm down a tiny bit for the fourth track as far as the thrashing goes; it's still a pretty intense piece but easier to follow.

The four songs here are supposedly a teaser of sorts for their next full-length album, but interestingly here they all flow together into one long piece (there's that progressive thing again). I don't think it works particularly well for the reasons described above; it's just too much going on and too much to take in all at once. Fortunately, it's an EP so it doesn't last long enough to get fatiguing, but if the full-length is going to be like this EP I will have some doubts about its quality.

Regardless, it's not a bad little EP if this style is something you're familiar with and interested in. It's pretty alien to me so I'm having a tough time getting into it and finding it enjoyable, but I can't say it's bad.

5