![]() The genre had a rough period as it entered the mainstream (but so did so many other genres) but it never vanished. Thursday's final record, No Devolucion, came out in 2011 and in my opinion it's one of their best. I recently said that Brand New's 2006 LP The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me is my favorite emo album since Diary, and Devil and God only came out two years before Algernon's first, 1994!'s first, and La Dispute's first. ![]() But that's only a small sect of the genre as a whole. That sound, which some people bafflingly call "twinklecore," can be heard in late-2000s bands Castevet, Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate), 1994!, and bands who rose more recently, including The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, Dads, and Prawn. Now-defunct bands like Algernon Cadwallader (who have a new band, Dogs On Acid, in the works and whose guitarist Joe Reinhart is now a sometimes-member of Hop Along) and Snowing/Street Smart Cyclist (whose singer John Galm now fronts the excellent garage punk band Slow Warm Death) revived a very specific type of emo in the late 2000s - the math rock-influenced kind done (perhaps most notably) in the mid-'90s by Cap'n Jazz. I do think, to some extent, that at one point the "emo revival" tag meant something. It's an indie record, but one with a heavy resemblance to early Sunny Day Real Estate and similarly emo lyrical themes ("I miss you 'cause I like damage / I need something I can hurt"). ![]() (Not to mention it was released by Polyvinyl Records, home to such emo classics as Frame and Canvas, American Football, Look Now Look Again, and more.) Likewise, no one said it when Cloud Nothings' 2012 LP Attack On Memory got tons of love from indie rock critics upon its release and went on to appear in multiple year-end lists, including Pitchfork, Stereogum, Spin, and more. Nobody was screaming "emo revival" when Japandroids went from a well-liked indie rock band to one of the genre's most beloved with 2012's Celebration Rock, a record full of heart-wrenching lyrics, youthful spirit, and fast, catchy power chords - all common descriptors of emo. They should be survived by the next generation of inspired hardcore rockers.For one reason or another (perhaps because kids who grew up on Drive-Thru Records comps are forming bands now), emo has been sneaking its way more and more into accepted indie rock. Los Angeles Touché Amoré blend jangly post-hardcore with emotionally raw screamo to create a unique sound that turns the influence of bands like Jawbox and Converge into something strangely coherent. ![]() With an LP as compelling as Is Survived By, Touché Amoré’s legacy is secure. As the band breaks out of a vicious bridge, Bolm chants “This is survived by a love / This is survived by a cause,” wondering if he will ever leave a legacy when he is gone. In the closing and title track, Bolm and the rest of Touché Amoré bring it all together with a stirring ending. “Non Fiction,” for example, starts with a long instrumental opening with quiet backing vocals that give way to a crashing finale. Touché still has the same loud drums and clashing guitars as always, but this time slowed down segments with some brilliantly somber guitar work offset the chaos. Whereas 2011’s Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me beat the listener over the head with its barrage of short, intense songs, Is Survived By paces itself much more deliberately. Is Survived By raises Touché Amoré’s musical style to a new, refined level. It was possibly, my loudest cliche But felt better than, just walking. During the frenetic ending of “Harbor,” Bolm wails, “What I’m afraid of is what is certain and / What I’m sure of is that it’s on me / But I’m too tired to be that person / And that person needs to be set free.” The album was Number 6 on Rock Sound’s annual Album of the Year chart, and was also met with critical acclaim from various media charts, just as To The Beat Of A Dead Horse. Just Exist Lyrics I was once asked how I’d like to be remembered And I simply smiled and said I’d rather stay forever. On some tracks, the vocals prove chill-inducing. His screams capture every ounce of his deepest feelings and they contrast sharply with the moments when he winds down the volume for slower, but just as earnest, lines. He lacks the confidence to address his problems head-on, he knows it, and he shows it in strong lyrics.īolm’s intense vocal delivery sets him apart from other singers, even within the post-hardcore genre. On the album opener “Just Exist,” lyricist and vocalist Jeremy Bolm confesses that he often dismisses his mortality. Is Survived By takes post-hardcore’s emotional potency to its extreme. five-piece’s third full-length LP scours the depths of human experience and returns with a chilling tale of personal reflection in the face of total uncertainty. Touché Amoré’s Is Survived By is less an exercise in creating music than it is an emotional outpouring that happened to take place in a studio.
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