Band : Todos Caeran
Album : S/T EP
Release Year : 2010
Genre : Hardcore | Screamo | Post-Rock
Tracklist :
01. Comfort In Chaos
02. Lilliputian Heroes
03. The Futility Of The Fight Or Flight Response
04. Answers
05. Questions
Todos Caerán got together for a few practices and then were like, “Huh. We sound pretty screamo.” It seems a willful, intentional act, that screamo; falling somewhere between radio-friendly pop punk and grindcore in terms of accessibility, it’s a brand that’s not necessarily that easy to play. The song structures and vocals are often abrasive as shit and yet the guitar can be, at times, really beautiful and intricate. What I mean is, screamo bands don’t just happen into it. They do it on purpose. Especially now, well over fifteen years since the Lyburnum LP came out.
I’ve got no idea what kind of playbook Todos Caerán is working from. I’ve got no idea if they’re old cats that’ve been doing this forever or young upstarts that have intentionally decided to resuscitate this type of music that’s been considered passé by most punks since well before Heartattack folded. Whatever it is, though, guess what?
They fucking nailed it. This is some of the best screamo shit I’ve heard in a long time.
Yep. Five songs that are ridiculously well-produced(are you guys seriously just putting this out on cassette?) and, more importantly, convincing. Lillipution Heroes brings to mind France’s Fingerprint (one of the best bands ever to play the screamo card, in my humble opinion), while The Futility Of Fight Or Flight harkens back to Hiretsukan’s End States or even The Assistant. Again, it’s beautiful, searing stuff; when it’s done well (and Todos Caerán do it more than well) the timelessness of this stuff comes across. It’s emotional and tough and reaching. There’s a few clunky moments (the spoken vocals scattered throughout Questions diminishes the power of the song) but as a whole, goddamn: these dudes have it down. If this had come out in 1993, there’d be a lot of thirty-something graphic designers out there with embarrassing Todos Caerán tattoos.
Less an aping of a dead genre than an embracing of something they most likely love the shit out of, these songs came as a total surprise. They have this sound down pat and it just reminds me how good screamo can be when it’s done well. This is available as both a cassette and a free download, I believe; vinyl purists may want to start bothering record labels about releasing stuff by these guys. A wonderful collection of songs by a band we’ll hopefully be hearing more from.
