4 EPs

It’s probably just a weird coincidence, but for the last few months a lot of the stuff I’ve been reaching for again and again have been EPs, so let’s take a look at these 4, two metal(ish) releases and two reasonably popular up and coming emo bands.  The two emo bands have since released full lengths, and they are both pretty good, but nothing beats that first stuff you heard, right?

Moose Blood- Moving Home

With as little hyperbole as I can muster, this is the best emo release since, like, The Devil and God. It's got that simple emo-tinged rock and roll sound (nothing twinkly here), with some fun guitar work. The full-length doubled down on the dad issues lyrically, but the EP focuses more on the experience of being a directionless 20something, which I definitely cannot relate to at all in the slightest, no sir. Drinking coffee, listening to American Football, and wondering “where our lives went wrong,” delivered with a charming accent and absolute sincerity.  This is a gem.

Beach Slang- Who Would Ever Want Anything So Broken?

Pour one out again for Grantland, RIP. Definitely the best find I got from their music guy, Steven Hyden, back when this EP came out a couple years ago. A full feature on the band would later be his final column for the site.

Beach Slang play even simpler and rawer style rock than Moose Blood. Every song sounds like it came straight from that dingy bar right on the edge of the cool part of downtown that always puts on the coolest shows for 12 bucks. 4 simple but impossibly earnest songs about being young, being in a band, and life on the edge of nowhere. Singer James Alex has that “whisper-sing” style vocal down to a T, and delivers the lyrics with all the sincerity they need and then some. The drums are given a lot of room to breathe, and the hazy guitars carry everything along.

The full-length LP is definitely worth a listen, but start here (their other EP Cheap Thrills on a Dead End Street is more of the same as well). It’s four songs, 11 minutes to make you believe that rock ain’t dead and never will be.

Grey Waters- Below the Ever Setting Sun

A depressive rock/ blackgaze collaboration between D. of Woods of Desolation and Tim “Sorrow” Yatras of many bands, but most notably Germ (you might also recognize the name from his feature on the 2013 Thy Light album No Morrow Shall Dawn). Based on what I’ve read this one is almost certain to be just a one-off. It’s a shame, but let’s not lament what could have been and instead enjoy what we have right? This is mid-paced depressive rock drenched in distortion, with clean vocals throughout. This is what propels the EP to the top of my favorites list, as the vocals really set it apart from a lot of other current blackgaze bands like Cold Body Radiation or An Autumn for Crippled Children, who I like but still aren't doing anything any better than Austere already did. I find this has a lot in common with Jesu, both stylistically and thematically. In the past I’ve burned this and Opiate Sun to one CD for playing in the car at night. This is a great entry point for anyone interested in the “gazey” sound but turned off by the shrieking vocals of DSBM bands, or interested in depressive music in general.

Gallowbraid- Ashen Eidolon

A one man black metal band with a triumphant, symphonic sound that dials down the cheesiness and turns up the intensity. The EP only has two proper songs, with two interludes alongside, but the two main tracks combine for 26 minutes and stretch through multiple movements. Jake Rogers has an excellent singing voice, and sticks mostly to black metal rasps for much of the EP, and he is remarkably decipherable. This is great news, but the lyrics are excellent. They tread some well-worn black metal paths (death, sorrow, the end of mankind, and so on), but are a stellar example of the form. 

There is a clear downside to the EP in the iffy production job that often comes with the territory of a one man demo EP. The acoustic guitar tends to be too high in the mix, and the cymbals sound terrible. But it’s a nitpick, and the overall quality on display here far outweighs the downsides.

It’s been more than a few years since this EP was releases, and there’s been little news of anything else in the works. Rogers has recently found success with Visigoth (who released a very good classic heavy metal album last year), so hopefully Gallowbraid is just on hiatus and will return at some point in the future.