Acres.- Silos

1. I've Met My Maker

2. Shoulda, Wudda, Cudda

3. Fortune Tellers

4. Your House Song

emo/screamo band from my not-so-lovely state of New Jersey. This band was pre-Guidelines with most of the same members. It sounds like Midwest emo mixed with Guidelines' first album. Very good. Everything these dudes do is killer. And they have, like, 5 bands altogether.

http://www.mediafire.com/?n2vyy3mnkd2

The New & Very Welcome- Bouquet of Traffic Lights

1. We Wanted The Sky

2. A Statue Of A Girl

3. The Temptation That Was You

This is one of my favorite records ever. Do the song titles seem familiar? If so, good. For the rest of you, the songs on Bouquet of Traffic Lights are all covers of The Saddest Landscape. Now of course, covering such a great band will probably be awesome, but what makes this release so damn rad is how completely different the songs are while still having the same vibe of the originals. The New & Very Welcome (or rather, Jess McDermott) has a really unique style for a solo acoustic musician. There are multiple vocal tracks present on each track and they're either harmonizing or doing completely different things that end up working together perfectly (check the screaming on A Statue Of A Girl). These songs are so depressing. I listened to this a lot after a rough break-up. Buy the record; it's white.

FFO: The Saddest Landscape, depressing music, screamo (it's not screamo, obviously, but you'll probably like it)

bandcamp

mediafire

The Saddest Landscape - You Will Not Survive

Track Listing

01. Declaring War On Nostalgia
02. Torn, Broken, Beautiful
03. Eternity Is Lost On Dying
04. Imperfect But Ours
05. So Lightly Thrown
06. The Shadows I Call Home
07. From All Of Those...

You Will Not Survive is screamo band The Saddest Landscape's effort put out in 2010. The 7 seven song album is full of frantic, chaotic music and gut-wrenching vocals. A short drum intro in the opener, "Declaring War On Nostalgia" gets the album going, it completely takes off from there and does not lose any power. You Will Not Survive has a very somber and almost frustrating feel to it, it can even seem taxing on one's emotions to listen to. The way the songs are put together makes them almost hard to follow, they are relentless, never letting up at all. But even with all of this chaos and power, the record has a very nice polished feel to it, the production is sound, everything has a clearly identifiable presence, and it is all put together very nicely.

The guitars have a crisp feeling to them, but they are still heavily powered and a force to be acknowledged. Mix that in with an out of control rhythm section and the brilliant vocal delivery of the singer, and you have a very strong screamo album.

The lyrics in You Will Not Survive are filled with pain, sorrow, regret, and guilt. Reading them alone is saddening enough, but when you also factor in the singer's absolutely gut-wrenching vocal delivery, the power of the message behind the songs becomes impossible to not feel. It seems that as the album goes on, the clarity of the lyrics for the most part goes down as well, as if the singer become more frustrated with what is going on as the album progresses. There are quite a few stand out chunks of the lyrics that really just resonate with a listen to the record. 

FFO: Pianos Become the Teeth

Recommended Tracks: Declaring War on Nostalgia, Imperfect But Ours

Mediafire

-Ian Williams

Love Lost But Not Forgotten - Upon the Right, I Saw a New Misery (2002)

1. Intro
2. Typical Fashion
3. Headless, Sleeping Soundly
4. Calm And Secure
5. It Never Happened
6. Perfectly Fucked
7. What's Left Of "Shitlife"
8. Happy To Be Alive
9. Nobody's Watching Department 23
   
   Note*: The person who titled the tracks on the songs in the link miss titled most of them. Above is the correct order the song names should be in.
   
   Passionate is a word commonly used to describe screamo (Especially since Doc 8 caught on with alot of people). For the most part this is true. But few bands can manage being passionate without sacrificing what some people call "Not sounding like shit". Love Lost But Not Forgotten are one of the few.
   
   "...was a screamo/emo violence group formed in 1997 in suburban St. Peters, Missouri composed of ex-members of Bend Over End, and The Paxidils. Known for their violence onstage and unique vocals provided by a lineup that sometimes included two main vocalists (Prater and Schmidt both being solo vocals for the band at one time through the bands career.) and a trio of guitarists (Fogelbach and Emerick also surviving the lifetime of the band,)." <Wikipedia
   
   I'm just gonna flat out say it. This is probably one of the greatest screamo albums. Every track is interesting and well-played. The vocals are a top-notch level of 'Grating-As-Fuck'. The guitarists pull off octave chord spam with maximum efficiency and have quiet sections that set the caustic, paranoid, terrifying, and sometimes hopeful mood of the whole album. The drums and bass are no slacks either though. The drums are not only well-played, they are fantastically placed and paced. The bass sections are just plain cool and fairly original (when not backing the guitars). But I think the best part of the album are the lyrics. They are usually melancholic but are also simplistic, unpretentious and sometimes even darkly humorous.
   
   Recommended tracks: It Never Happened, Happy To Be Alive,  Nobody's Watching Department 23
   
   FFO: Good
   
   Even when I'm passionate it's unimpressive.
   
   -Dylanger

Letters in Binary - Pretty and Perpendicular (2006)

Tracklist:

1. Capitain Analog VS Doctor Digital
2. Pink As A Pistol
3. Track 3
4. Doing Pushups With One Broken Arm Is Easier Than With Two
5. Dos
6. Don'ts
7. Cotton Candy
8. Track 8
9. With Barnibus
10. Two Birds Looking One Way, One Looking Another
11. My Favourite Cheer
12. Intro To Photography
13. Open Your Heart Not Your Watch

Shit son, you thought the last album I reviewed (lol) was abrasive?

Well you thought like a commie moron.

By the testicles of the Holy Ghost, I swear that this album will make you say "....uhhhhhhhhh" and "I'll re-listen once my brain stops hemorrhaging." If it doesn't, you're clearly as deaf as I am. I don't even like music. Fuck that nonsense, it's all about unnecessary dissonance and "Jesus fuck, what was that?! It sounds like a bunch of autistic owls have gotten into my house and are having an orgy!" If I'm not crying huddled in a corner by the end on an album, it was never worth listening to.

FFO: Psyopus, DEP, Some Girls and pretty much everything I listed on the Some Girls review.

Recommended Track: Captain Analog vs. Dr. Digital

Fuck. don't even listen to this. You're not ready. Maybe you will be one day. Maybe.

Linky Kong 
http://www.mediafire.com/?2xep965bec8r5f9

Quiet Steps - Think Aloud (2010)

Tracklist -

1 - Sales Rising

2 - Enemy Control

3 - Mirage

4 - Dead Sea

5 - Chateaubriands

6 - Assimilate

7 - Generation to Generation

8 - Exclusion

9 - Measure Reaction

10 - Echelon

11 - Surrounded

12 - One Breath

13 - Vision Lost

Quiet Steps are a three-piece screamo/indie band from Brisbane, Australia. They released their Think Aloud LP last year, and from what I understand they've got another on the way shortly.

Their first EP was somewhat reminiscent of the post-rock / screamo fusion; with mellow melodic passages, cool little jangly riffs and yelled-rather-than-screamed vocals. They went for a bit of a different sound on this LP, which has a healthy dose of indie and punk thrown into the mix. The songs are a bit more upbeat, and rely more on songwriting and rhythm to get the job done. It's a pretty long one – 13 songs over 48 minutes – but it's a fun record and worth checking out.

Think Aloud LP (mediafire)

Quiet Steps EP (mediafire)

- Sean

Age Sixteen - Open Up Finders, Please (2009)

1. Peter Pan Complex

2. As Personal as a Greetings Card

3. Everything is a Tide

4. Fabric

5. Two Seconds

6. Dear Judas

7. Empty Nest

8. Seasick

9. The Lion and the Gazelle

Age Sixteen were an excellent screamo band from Baltimore, MD. They didn't release much, but everything they put out is pretty much gold. This record is concise, moving and memorable. The production is raw, the playing can be a little sloppy at times and it's all over very quickly (with only one of the 9 tracks breaking the 3 minute mark - these dudes don't fuck around) - in other words, unless they reform, this is the closest you'll get to watching this band play without the aid of a time machine. Every song on here is near perfect, with timeless melodies all over the place, a range of gorgeous twinkly guitar tones, satisfactorily noisy drums and desperate, straining vocals which are almost drowned out by the music at times. If you can make them out, the lyrics are perfect too.

Recommended tracks: "Peter Pan Complex" and "Fabric"

Also recommended is this band's split with Wren Lloyd. It's a little heavier, a little better produced, and it features a surprisingly inoffensive (as in, it doesn't make me want to hunt down the band members and punch them all) cover of Sunny Day Real Estate's classic "Seven". So yeah, check that out too.

- Danny M.

MySpace

Mediafire

Guidelines- Rules of The Sife (2010)

1. Insect

2. True Colors

3. Warren

4. At The Sky

5. In Retrospect

6. Vanquish

7. Bison

8. Taken Hold

Guidelines are a screamo band from my area (northern New Jersey).  The first time that I saw that I saw them was in a Montclair living room.  It was my first DIY show.  At this time they had 4 members.  I downloaded Rules of The Sife immediately after the show and fell in love.  They were so energetic and passionate live and the music was so incredible.  A few weeks ago I finally saw them again, this time they had 5 members.  They put on one of the best performances I ever saw.  It was a dark basement with only a disco ball for light.  There were less than 20 people watching them.  They were so crushing and powerful and their vocalist was an enigma.  He was writhing on the ground screaming (at times without the mic).  They had evolved from the cleaner, punk sound of their first album to a monster.  Tonight I saw them again.  They were a 6 piece.  They of course put on a killer show.  My band is playing with them in July and I couldn't be more excited seeing as I consider this band to be one of my favorites.

Rules of The Sife is a great screamo album.  It is passionate, interesting, and just all around well-written.  I highly recommend that all fans of screamo and hardcore download it and eagerly await their next as I am).  I promise the new stuff is amazing.

They also have a demo lurking around the internet.  It is basically a few songs from the album with much poorer quality.

http://guidelines.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/guidelinesnj

-Thom C. 

William Bonney - Good Vibes (2011)

 

1. Leather Empire

2. No Pizza

3. Drug Lord

4. See Ya Later

5. Good Vibes

6. Monsters

William Bonney is a screamo band from Indiana (and surrounding states?) that formed after the break-up of popular screamo legends, Merchant Ships. Featuring two members from 'Ships, Jack Senff (vocals in both) and Michael Gerstein (bass in MS, guitar in WB), WB had a lot to live up to when they released their Fall Demo last year. While it saw some success, a lot of people (myself included) felt it couldn't hold a torch up to MS's last release, the seminal For Cameron EP. However, Good Vibes is a completely different story.

Opening track "Leather Empire" sounds like what the Fall Demo should have been - a healthy mix of jangly guitars, "noodly" riffs, a mix of raw vocals and a batch of group shouts. While it's not the most impressive song on the release, it certainly draws the listener in to the next surprising track- "No Pizza", a rerecording from their Fall Demo. This version is much more visceral and has more of a hardcore vibe, courtesy of cymbal and double-kick heavy drums. However, the opening two tracks pale in comparison to the later portion of the release. The amount of despair and energy that is packed into "Drug Lord", the rerecording of "See Ya Later" (my personal favorite), "Good Vibes", and the incredible closing track "Monsters" is phenomenal. Each track hits harder than the last and they represent everything Merchant Ships wishes it was.

Sadly, WB has announced they're not going on tour and, I believe, are calling it quits. After hearing Good Vibes, I believe that gives everyone reason to be upset. Keep your ears peeled for their split with Droughts, though. One track, "Red River", is streaming already and it's incredible.

Stream Good Vibes (SoundCloud)

Download Good Vibes (Mediafire)

Stream "Red River" (Tumblr)

Download Fall Demo (Mediafire)

- Raphael B.

Suis La Lune - Heir 10" (2008)

 
1. With Wings Of Feathers And Glue

2. September Gave Us Awkwardness, October Gave Us Nothing
3. The Greatest Actors Keep On Acting Offstage
4. Can’t Believe I Spelled It Out To You

Suis La Lune is a skramz band from Sweden, and is quickly becoming one the reasons for me falling in love with screamo. Everything about this EP is so entertaining, from the guitar work to the vocals. The blend of fast pace and slow pace music always keeps me interested every time I listen. The kick in during "With Wings Of..." is a huge reason for my love for this EP, as the emotion this song holds is something I love to hear in music. For skramz lovers, this is a must download. 

mediafire 

facebook 

- Paul M.

Innards - Tracing (2010)

1. Wall

2. Memories Imploding

3. Polynesian Business Ethics

4. Speedvayne

5. S.gze

6. Man, Fuck

7. Clean Cut, Rough Trade

8. Scamming For Underage Hunnies On X

9. Hard to Swallow

Innards is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. They are fairly unique as far as the whole skramz-revival thing goes, if only for some of the guitar work. If you're anything like me, this album won't leave your rotation for at least a few weeks. My favorite songs are 'S.gze', 'Hard to Swallow', and 'Memories Imploding'. For fans of мища or just skramz in general. Check it out.

mediafire

bandcamp

Zach.