Hi, everyone. Time for another. Send music shit to [ fosterhildingmusic@gmail.com ] or DM me on Instagram.
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| photos courtesy of journal. |
While journal's self-titled EP seemed like an endpoint, like the final stages of a long, winding evolution, 3 Song Demo is our wake up call--the arrow shot from a blistering haze of war into a newfound fury of revival. It's the band's sobering rebirth without passing.
Don't Say It's A Fine Morning Or I'll Shoot Ya starts in that whispering haze before we are urged to wake, finally called to don the sword once more. Jack's doubled chugs paint a crunchy tapestry along Zander's slowly rising beat. When we crescendo to a climax, Love pelting flames through his gargles, the song is still bursting at the seams. Chords slide up and down the neck like a threatening blade and juggle between elephant chugs and screaming intervals. Then we fizzle into a rest, a single guitar crawling its way back to focus from peripheral like a swarm of sewer rats come to reclaim the streets. Its nasty, pulsating with fury, and carries us into more of the same--though this time with more of a melodic tinge.
Sorry For The Mess feels like a return to form, more of that sweet juicy stuff we've heard before--riffs that ebb and flow between feedback and chugs over Zander's grooves as Love screams to heaven and back in search for some bastard savior--all coming together in moments of synchronicity. Jack plays this speedy equestrian riff before Zander bubbles and bubbles us back on course with rattling toms like the car come to replace the carriage. Melody returns in troves like its finally been let loose in this massive culmination of guitar layers and throbbing drums.
My Feathers is my favorite journal song--probably my favorite song of the year so far, sprinkled with the exciting ambition of the band's own expansive possibility--melody, some twisted tranquility, and a bittersweet aftertaste. Jack starts us off in a descending guitar line like some pirate jig, Love's bass crawling upwards to contrast, and Zander shuffling along with exacting grooviness. Its truly addicting. Then we come back to what we know and love: those big band hits before drops in dynamics, Love's rants circling every motion until we drop off, wading on into a spiraling pool like roaches down the drain. The mixture of guitar tones here is just beautiful, and the part that follows is indescribable. Screaming "destruction," over melodies that feel like childhood into pulsing hardcore. When we return to those childlike memories, they're sweeter, bolder, growing wings, and taking on their own lives. It puts our past into new perspectives, Jack and Love singing like two destitute birds with want only to go back in time.
I realize we've only really been reviewing the best releases possible this year, but man there's nothing but good stuff coming out--and as always, journal is at the forefront.
9/10
Stream 3 Song Demo.
-Foster
See journal live at Your Renaissance at The Bellwether on May 25th
Also see them with Knumears, Othiel, My Stuffed Rabbit, and My Friend My Urn at The Nile Underground on June 5th.
Also see them with ...And Its Name Was Epyon, Rosemary Nods Upon The Grave, and Not Nearly at The Rosetta Room on June 11th.
Also see them on the same run with Shortstop, Gxllium, and The Names of Our Friends at Constellation Room on June 13th.
Also see them at California Kicks 2 at Neck of the Woods on June 15th.
Also see them on their run with Epyon with Patina, After Tomorrow, Acantha, and Dick Bertelli at DNL Studio on June 17th.
Also see them with Missouri Executive Order 44, Deathdotgov, Taciturn, and Washed at The Nile Underground on July 15th.
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