By Bandcamp Picks of the Week is back and better than ever
Forests – SPENDING ETERNITY IN A JAPANESE CONVENIENCE STORE
Genre: Emo
Favorite Tracks: “Perfect Worst Team, Ya Know?,” “This Town Needs Fun,” “You Must Be Fun at Parties,” “How’s Leaving Coming Along?”
A light, breezy start to 2019 emo, I won’t pretend that the album name itself doesn’t give SPENDING ETERNITY IN A JAPANESE CONVENIENCE STORE a slight boost above the “recommend” line, but any way you slice it, Forests have turned in something fun and captivating with their second full-length. Leaning more on the math-y side of emo (think This Town Needs Guns, as referenced on track “This Town Needs Fun”), Forests have clearly cut their teeth on the greats, with everyone from Mineral to The World Is… to Jimmy Eat World appearing somewhere within as a clear point of influence, but the variety of styles which they’re able to reference and make their own, oftentimes all in one track (“Perfect Worst Team, Ya Know?”), are nothing short of impressive. But any write-up would be remiss to not highlight the absolutely astounding instrumental ability of lead guitarist Adam, who pulls off technical passages that have to be heard to be believed (“Cirrus Clouds”), occasionally even tip-toeing around the outer reaches of prog metal. With plenty of gang-choruses and scream-alongs to go around, SPENDING ETERNITY… is an energetic and effervescent genre outing that will have you wistfully dreaming of summer’s arrival. You can listen to it here. [Thomas Seraydarian]
Mo’ynoq – DREAMING IN A DEAD LANGUAGE
Genre: Black Metal
Favorite Tracks: “Carve My Name,” “Buried By Regret”
DREAMING IN A DEAD LANGUAGE starts off unassuming enough: guitarist and lead vocalist Don Boyd’s guttural lashes and throaty howls ring out from beyond a cloud of doom, enough thrash in the guitars and kick drum to give traces of metal’s admittedly more straightforward past, but with builds and melodic falls that make those growls cinematic. This cycle repeats itself on Mo’ynoq’s second track, “The Collector,” but this time Boyd’s vocals are even deeper and more devilish, the guitar lines feverish and possessed. And for as visceral as the North Carolina black metal group make these two songs, the former a freefall and the latter a hellish, rocky descent, this is only the groundwork—if you’ve made it thus far, Mo’ynoq are here to reveal something beyond their skilled and technically proficient metal. It begins on the scrappy “These Once Tranquil Grounds,” where Boyd’s barks begin to feel further and further away as the drums find themselves in a meditative swing before letting up into a heartbreaking piano interlude. That pensive piano transforms into highlight “Carve My Name”; through closer “Buried By Regret,” Boyd’s gruff aesthetic feels transformatively despondent, lacking the almost satanic gnarl it exuded on “The Collector,” instead comfortingly human. The final minutes of “Buried By Regret” contain release, the guitars winding up with solos from high atop a mountain as the screams become entirely cathartic. As far as black metal goes, Mo’ynoq’s DREAMING IN A DEAD LANGUAGE takes you to hell and heaven and back, but it’s a journey well worth taking. You can listen to it here. [CJ Simonson]
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