In the beginning of the 21st century, I was in a post hardcore band with some high school friends. The three of us had some pretty different tastes–I had a strong bias toward melodic emo like Further Seems Forever and the Juliana Theory, Travis’ tastes were for almost purely punk bands like Flogging Molly and Against Me, and Seth had a soft spot for nu-metal a mile wide. But there was one album that none of us could get enough of: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 by Coheed and Cambria. This disc joined Thrice’s Artist in the Ambulance and Thursday’s War All the Time to form the triumvirate of albums we all played on repeat.
About nine years ago, a Pedro the Lion fanatic named Calvin added me on MySpace because I looked a little like Aaron Weiss from mewithoutYou (this is true). We became friends through many an AIM chat (nine years ago, remember?) where we discovered that we were both songwriters with a penchant for emo-tinged acoustic music. I was striking out on a solo project after the dissolution of my high school post-hardcore band, he had just started playing Bazan-esque tunes under the name The Foxery. Over time, the Foxery added members and influences until this year when they got signed to Spartan Records and released the emo record of the year, which is no small task in the year that brought the emo revival no one knew we needed.
I’m not sure if there has ever been a record quite like Worship and Tribute. People talk a lot about bands trafficking in loudness and softness, but nobody ever did it quite like Glassjaw did here.
And while their heavy tracks are among the best in the biz (see: the first three tracks, “Pink Roses,” “Radio Cambodia”), the ballads on this album are absolutely unforgettable. “Ape Dos Mil” and “Must’ve Run All Day” pack just as much of a punch at a fraction of the tempo.
And at the end of the day, I’m not sure which is more impressive: that Daryl Palumbo’s keeping up with the band’s fury, or the band matching his mania. But I do know (from singing along in the car as a teenager: this album was essentially my Advanced Vocal Techniques class) that Palumbo’s performance is one of the most physically demanding around.
Hide Nothing gets a lot of crap. And true, I only bought it as a packaged deal with the other two Further Seems Forever. But listening to it again has reminded me of when I was a senior in high school trying to convince my friends that this album actually was worth the time.
Hipster punk that I am, I have long been of the opinion that the first album is always best (Radiohead cured me of that). My view of Further Seems Forever back in my emo days was that Chris and FSF put together one perfect record, parted ways, and limped on without the other. And while it’s true that the first incarnation of the group was a wonderful, singular thing, it is far from the only worthwhile version. Further Seems Forever, mark II is a harsher beast, making its loudest statements during hard hitting rockers, like the title track opener, Against My Better Judgment, Pride War, etc.
I recently stated that I haven’t cared about hard music in something like eight years. While that’s true, there is one exception.
Even as I dismissed the more fist-in-the-air tastes of my youth in favor of more cerebral tastes like folk, electronica, Krautrock, and the like, As Cities Burn’s debut has always been near the top of my favorite albums.
On their second full length, Fugazi decided to keep control of the boards to themselves. The way they tell the story, none of them wanted to offend any of their bandmates by turning their parts down or suggesting second takes, resulting in a very democratic mix and a very safe album.
There’s no point in arguing the matter: Relationship of Command is the best At the Drive-In record, and At the Drive-In was one of the absolute best of the punk/emo/hardcore scene of the late nineties/early oughts, if not the outright best.