I’m going to be honest with you. Most of the alt-revival happening in hardcore and its neighboring cousin subgenres bores the hell out of me. I’m not part of the older millennial generation that grew up on nu-metal in my adolescent years.
I don’t have anything other than a passing interest to Hum and the Deftones. But what I do miss, is when hardcore and emo where one and the same in the '90s.
Texas is The Reason’s collection is still on regular rotation for me. "Back and to the Left" is a perfect pop song. Gravity Lock, a band from the Philippines, is at least feeding that desire to me today.
The guitar’s are heavy, but not in a mastabutory way that makes me wary. The songs are catchy, even if I have no idea what they’re saying. Yes, I know the lyrics are displayed on their Bandcamp page, but I think it's better to just imagine it as a hodgepodge of melodic nonsense. Melody is still king in my opinion anyway.
All of Saudade Ultra is worth your time but "Disco Spider" is my favorite:
Its opening guitar line is the closest thing I’ve heard to the swooping tone of "Johnny on the Spot." But the guitars sound even bigger given that we’re now twenty years in the future. And for it being a long track in hardcore terms, it certainly doesn’t feel that way when you’re listening to it.
There’s enough happening in each section to warrant the 4:26 minute runtime.
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Tagged: gravity lock
