Remains of the day

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Remains Of The Day's previous album An Underlying Frequency was pretty impressive gloomy heaviness. This new one is even better. I'm also happy to notice that on this one the band seems to have found a new channel in the dark & heavy stream. It might be surprising, but quite often, forcibly, this reminds me of Rites Of Spring. There is similar emotional charging and there are also some similarities in song structures and vocal style to be found. I guess many people who nowadays listen to the popular heavy school hc probably only sniff scornfully when they hear the word "emo". However, I'd like to remind that before people started for some reason or other to call all kind of sad plucker college rock/pop bands as emo, emo was not light and easy sissies' stuff. Neither is this record, the nearest comparison could be Tragedy meets Rites Of Spring. And it sounds magnificent. Not so much speed, but power. What also separates Remains Of The Day from other present-day representatives of heavy hardcore is the violin. When it is audible it sounds truly great. I think it's a pity that the violin remains so much in the shadow of the noisier instruments. I really wouldn't mind if it had a bigger part in this record. I criticized the same thing already with their previous one. The back cover of the CD lists 12 songs, but because of some problems and mistakes made there are only 9, as many as on the LP version. The lyrics are at any rate not uncomplicated: if one wants to understand what is being driven at, one really has to stop and think. A strong, heavy, emotional, magnificent record from which one is able to find something new with time and again. This record will stand the test of time!""Someone told me about this band and I expected them to be my favorite, somehow I've gotten to this point not really being familiar with them, though this is I believe their 2nd full length. I think they were described as being in the Tragedy camp but with a violin and that sounded enticing. After numberous listens I find myself almost at a loss to really describe them because they mix up styles in a different way. One part Tragedy meets From Ashes Rise but another part with elements that remind me more of the weaving guitar melodies that never quit, while the heavier underlying hardcore pushes forth underneath. There are dual vocals one of a more screamed style and one much deeper. The melodic guitar patterns keep this different, as do the little bits of violin and piano. And the melodic overtones keep this from being some gutturaly heavy power rock a thon, and yet thiat is precisely what makes this refreshing. A hundred more listens and I'll still probably be at a loss to adequately describe this Portland band, and I think that is a good thing cause it's hard to be so different when you're working with such familiar elements. Check this band out."