Recommendation by qwertyy:
Pianos Become The Teeth - Old Pride (2010)
This album was recommended to me because apparently it's a mixture of post-rock and screamo which are two genres i'm quite fond of. Let's see how this plays out:
Filial: So, right off the bat I'm struck with confusion as I was told this was a mixture of post-rock and screamo but it sounds like a traditional screamo band to me. Easily a track I'd hear on an Alexisonfire album or something else. Not blown away yet. Not bad by any means either, but where's the post-rock?
Quit Benefit: Alright, next up we have Quit Benefit, and again, I'm not hearing the post-rock and screamo connection. It sounds like a traditional screamo band. Maybe I'm missing something here? I mean, the screams are great, and the music is pretty much what I'd expect in screamo, but...post-rock? At least it's a 3 minute track.
Sleepshaker: So Sleepshaker starts off with a distorted post-rock sound and continues on for about 30 seconds until it gets back into the screamo. Seriously? Is that all I get? Not even a full minute of it and it goes back into the traditional screamo formula. This track sounds just like the last two, nothing that's particularly blowing me away. Maybe the next track will change me? I hope so.
Prev: A little over 2 minutes for this track, and it starts off with a post-rock sound as did the last one with some vocals creeping behind not even 20 seconds into it. At least those don't last long and we finally get some actual post-rock going on, first time in this entire album so far. Unfortunately, this track only lasts about 2 minutes so that enjoyment is short lived. Oh well.
Pensive: Getting a bit of a math-rocky vibe out of this one, nothing too spectacular, but then it's ruined by the unnecessary vocals that really don't fit the track at all. This guy sounds better with the heavy instrumentals behind him. I'm probably going to skip this as it's making me sick to my stomach.
Cripples Can't Shiver: Sounds like something I would make with the "in the tunnel" effect opening the track. At least this one sounds a bit more like post-rock and it's a 7 minute track, so maybe it'll be good. Gets a bit heavier much like a I Hear Sirens track, so I guess that's a plus. Then it's right back into the screamo formula that ruins it all. God damn it. But I guess the post-rock instrumentals make it through still and you can at least hear the post-rock screamo formula that I was told about. But....i'm already more than halfway through the album. That's not entirely promising. At least it stays that way throughout the whole track so it's at least enjoyable but again, it sounds just like the rest of the album which doesn't say much about it.
Jess And Charlie: Onto the second to last track, and so far, this album hasn't exactly blown me away, but I guess as a screamo album it hasn't disappointed. However, going into it thinking it was something else is where the disappointment would shine. This one just gets right into the traditional screamo formula again, much like the first few tracks. Getting some heavy riffs here but it's nothing too spectacular. Decent enough track, but at this point, the vocals are starting to bore me. I mean, they're fine, but that's the most I'm going to say about them. Track is decent enough I guess.
Young Fire: Onto the final track, and given it's an 8 minute track, I'm hoping this one at least has the decency to end the album on a strong point. Starting off it begins with a nice instrumental that allows the track to grow, and continues to grow for the next minute, which is quite nice. Why couldn't they do this for the whole album? This is quite good.
Past the minute mark, and it still continues on with the nice easy listening instrumental, definitely the strongest track so far. Nothing too overpowering, just simple post-rock that is hard to hate. They're definitely trying some different things in this section of the song, but it still leads back to the standard post-rock which is cool.
At the two minute mark, the tempo changes a bit, but it still is a very nice post-rock track, no vocals yet, which to be honest is kind of nice considering I grew tired of them in the first half of the album.
After a little bit of silence, the real stuff starts to come out, and it's growing into a pretty good post-rock track that I would probably hear in the middle or near the end of a standard post-rock album like I Hear Sirens or even Explosions In The Sky. Drums get a bit heavier, but still easy enough that it doesn't ruin what the track has going for it.
Seems the track continues on with this same formula, and it's easily the best track on the album, by far.
Final verdict: I'm disappointed. I was expecting a mixture of post-rock and screamo and what I got was 7 tracks of pure screamo, and 1 track of pure post-rock. Hardly counts as a mixed genre for this album.