posted 11/14/2008 (Fri) @ 04:07 pm
>>> Music Reviews
Loma Prieta - Last City (2008)
Screamo / Hardcore / Prog-Punk
Measured Once, Cut To Ribbons
- Worn Path
- Careful Subliminal
- Trilogy 1 (Sick Cities)
- Trilogy 2 (Planar Analysis)
- Trilogy 3 (Fall Days)
- Armor
- Bridges
- David Fung
- Script
- Last City
Screamo’s likely to be a dirty word for most music listeners. The new kind, anyway, co-opted by mainstream journalism to include bands more aptly described as alternative rockers that howl a lot. To an uninitiated parent, especially, the term itself even sounds scary. Hey, who wouldn’t be afraid of a guy named Bert vomiting on their child during a concert?
But what about what screamo used to mean? Don’t lose those earplugs, Mom and Dad—there’s a lot scarier stuff out there. Loma Prieta, a San Francisco born screamo troupe, stylistically abrade elbows with erupting volcanoes, and, at times, excellent Italian screamo torchbearers Raein.
Loma Prieta’s tone tends to be much more corrosive and noisy, unfortunately. While there are spare moments of reprieve (whoa, some singing at the beginning of “Last City”?), much of the album is an exercise in trying to drown out any nearby jet engines with tenor vocal cords alone. This fits the genre label in a literal way, at least, but ultimately, it’s disappointing. The screams themselves aren’t particularly unique, especially when held up against the likes of The Blood Brothers, for instance. The lyrics, literary and poetic or not, are entirely indiscipherable. The interesting instrumental moments, colored by shades of prog-rock at times, are overshadowed by dire, neverending howls. It’s like trying to listen to Dark Side of the Moon with someone performing Castaway self-dentistry the next room over.
Supported by terse, nervous cycles of drums and clean guitar, like the repeating motif in the earlier bits of “Worn Path,” the screams go a step beyond merely “coloring” the compositions. They ruin them. Screaming is a hammer—a useful tool when it’s called for, but don’t go swinging it around at everything like a damn fool.
They say a poor workman blames his tools. Loma Prieta aren’t poor workmen; they just haven’t gotten the hang of using their screams professionally. “Worn Path” is worth a listen, but only as a demonstration of the band’s ability, mostly masked on Last City, to compose.
Links
Download (Spreading Neurotoxins) (support the artists—pay the band if you like it)
Myspace
Tags: grindcore, hardcore, last city, loma prieta, prog, punk, screamo
