Ria, Piet Onthel, SWHM, Bastos, Children of Boredom – The Breaks (5 Way Split)

Artist: Ria, Pient Onthel, Scenes We Have Missed, Bastos, Children of Boredom

Title: The Breaks (5 Way Split)

Release: Tape / CD-r / Digital

Year: 2020

Label: Longrail Records, Missed Out Records, Mevzu Records, Beach Buddies Records, Dischi Decenti, Les Disques Rabat-joie, Khya Records, Huge Major Label

This record is an international joint effort from five passionate screamo bands and eight truly DIY labels across the globe. Istanbul, Turkey’s band Ria kicks things of with a three-minute track, “Elimizden Alamazlar”, sung in their native tongue. Their sound reminds me of bands like Loma Prieta with their abrasive distorted riffs taking twinkly post-hardcore turns that move the emotionally charged melodies along in a dynamic yet noisy and chaotic direction. Yet they still lack some more depth and heaviness into the mix.

Malaysia’s Piet Onthel then take it of from there with three shorter and classic takes on the emo-violence sound with an awry, fuzzy haze. It’s an emo-violence by the book and you can’t go wrong here. Another Turkish band, Scenes We Have Missed from Izmir, comes up next, with a deep dive into the atmospheric, melodic and mostly mid-tempo paced post-hardcore sound. Their song called “The Bearers Pt II” is a sequel to “The Bearers” from their debut album released a few years prior.

If you’re following along, you probably know Romanian band Bastos by now. Starting off as an instrumental post-hardcore band, their style have changed quite a lot by adding a vocalist, taking it into the raw, fast and chaotic Euro screamo sound of the early ’00s. And now, after a few significant line-up changes, the band’s sound have took another major turn musically, this time towards longer, epic tracks that alternate between heart-rending screamo and slow instrumental interludes. Bastos’ song, “Willow””, on this release exceeds the 9-minute mark with a certain melancholy and sadness contained within its sound, and is definitely a highlight of the record. The last track of the split by Dortmund, Germany’s band Children of Boredom, however, is cheering up the mood again with a sloppy indie/emo sound that feels a bit odd in the overall context. It’s my least favorite track of the bunch. This kind of music really doesn’t do anything for me, especially coming straight after the epic Bastos.

In conclusion, it’s nice to hear screamo bands from less popular scenes like Turkey, Malaysia and Romania teaming up together for a split like this. Nothing really groundbreaking or exceptional but there are definitely some good tracks here.

Source: diyconspiracy.net