I’m not reviewing records for other sites quite as much these days, but when I did, it was often a huge exercise in self control to not buy ever record I listened to. It’s still a mystery to me how I would decide to buy some records but not others, but it was not a foolproof system, and sometimes I erred.

One of the more grievous errors was to not buy Time in the Lighthouse, the debut of Michigan post-hardcore 84 Tigers, an act whose members’ resumes include Small Brown Bike and Swellers. In fact, I bought this record only after re-reading my own glowing review.

The bit that grabbed me most aggressively was this:

Guitars are razor sharp and spend much of their time playing dissonant lines in a higher register. The bass guitar is thick and overdriven, filling in the space of the missing rhythm guitar without losing the low end. The drums drive forward with the fury of a chariot rushing into battle. Vocals are thoroughly ragged, half-shouting melodies over the storm of noise made by the instruments.

If that sounds like I’m just describing the genre markers of post-hardcore in general, you wouldn’t be wrong, but Time in the Lighthouse nails these conventions with the same conviction as genre heroes like Jawbox, Drive Like Jehu, and Fugazi, as well as newcomers like Plosivs and METZ.

Across an all-too brief 29-minute runtime, 84 Tigers offers up full-tilt angular fury with a deceptive pop sensibility sung through ragged, half-shouted melodies. It’s the sort of record that would have become a generational classic had it been released twenty years ago and been given the prominent Warped Tour spot they deserved.

As much as it scratches that itch though, it isn’t hampered by appeals to nostalgia or warmed over permutations of classic songs. Rather, it taps into the same aspects that made those classics so timeless. And really, that’s all you could ask for. I just hope it isn’t a one off.