Chore
The Coastline Fire
Sonic Unyon
Just when you thought progressive emo had been choked by its own angularity, along comes Chore, a band that breathes life back into the entire genre simply by means of a few, magic tricks: approachability being one, a tendency to steer clear of its own ass being another.
The album kicks off like a million others, all dreary, bleak, oh-so-dismal, oh-so-progressive. And so on. But by the third track, things start improving, and by the fifth one you’ll be rocking like mad. The second half of this album is absolutely brilliant, and includes some of the finest stuff I’ve heard from this side of the emo-land for a good while now. “American Machinist” is a beautiful expression of resentment with a cause. “Aloha” is one of those rare campfire hardcore moments that actually work without sounding forced ñ and it may be the album’s finest track, as well as its most immediately appealing one. The last song on the set is the most intense, though, and the one that best captures the direct, uncompromising experience that is Chore: “What you know is/aim clear/leave me alone/this family is over.” Revelatory.
Sonic Unyon: http://www.sonicunyon.com
