Reviews

New Knee

After the Fall Afaksaakan cassette

Oh, hello dear new/old friend. Five pieces of brutal Northern California emotive metalcore recorded in 1998, Afaksaakan is what this subgenera should be (or should have been). The songs are pure power, from the soft and quiet to the desperate devastation (typically in the same song, like “Bridge”). Redding’s AFTER THE FALL sounds like a scene and a time more than an emulation of any band or genre…and if there were ever a reissue to take you back to that scene and that time, then it’s this one.

Caged View Demo 2022 cassette

San Francisco’s CAGED VIEW has released two volumes of online demos from 2022 together here on one single tape, totaling seven songs of melodic post-hardcore. The band lists a number of heavy bands from the late ’80s and early ’90s as influences, but to my ears, it’s mostly FUGAZI-worship with a few detours here and there, which isn’t a bad thing! “Back Light Reflection” stands out in particular, featuring a feedback-laden opening complete with creeping bass line before the full crunch of guitars and nasally yelping vocals kick in, leading to a chorus that is surprisingly catchy. “Push” is cool as well, with a fairly punky direction that sounds like DAG NASTY and other Revolution Summer bands. Not my usual thing, but I dig it.

With Arms Still Empty Discography cassette

With maybe the best emotional/melodic hardcore band name ever, WITH ARMS STILL EMPTY puts out all twenty songs from their tenure of 1998 to 2002; the sweet spot of the genre. Think of bands like DEATH BY STEREO, THRICE, DROWNINGMAN—fast, technical guitar riffs, probably a drum kit with a million pieces, call-and-response screamo vocals that shift into sung harmonies, you know the deal. I can only digest this type of music in small doses, indulging my angsty inner teen, so listening to the whole discography in one shot was a bit of a slog. But for fans of the genre, and the band, who apparently had a good run in their heyday throughout the Midwest, this may land as an important piece of history. Again, I think they really nailed the band name, and the songs are just as good, with titles like “Even With Warrior Screams,” “Every Goddamned Butterfly,” and “Lunar Fuck, ”and while I may be laughing, you know these dudes were dead serious. Jump in with both feet or pass on by.