As Friends Rust - Won
(Doghouse)
Sometimes, sitting with my package from fakejazz, I’m wondering if a joke is being played on me. Say a few positive things about a couple decent emo bands, and this is what you get in return: a paper leaflet containing the new CD by As Friends Rust, on Doghouse Records. Bring on the emocore, boys. They realize how much I hate this shit.
Let’s start with the press sheet, because right now I don’t feel like talking about the music. Here’s how it begins: “Dear Fan of Rock”--okay, I know I’m in trouble now. This is either going to be a lame punk band, hardcore, a bad 1980s throwback, or, even worse, a bad 1970s throwback. Continuing along in the press release, I come to this statement: “On Won, AFR perfectly meld their various punk, hardcore and emo influences into one unified melodic hardcore rock sound.” Hey, that’s super. If these guys were a local act the kids here would eat them up. No joke!
Anyway, this album is really bad. The first song was actually alright, with vocal processing on parts and a rather likeable melody, but things disintegrated pretty quickly. It’s not that Won is bad, per se, it’s just that it takes from the entire genre stereotypes that emo and hardcore come attached with. Emoting vocals, punctuated by screaming, somewhat political lyrics, ugly sounding drums, and a guitar tone that sounds so very familiar. I guess that last one is a shot below the belt, but still! This could sound like any one of ten different bands coming out of Gainesville, FL, right now (they’re from Gainesville, by the way), and it doesn’t even begin to compete with the actually decent emo/hardcore bands from there, groups like Hot Water Music and Clairemel. Imitators can never beat the originator.
There’s nothing much I can say positively or negatively either way. It’s just so unoriginal; I don’t know what they want with this record. Scene love? They’ve probably got it. Actually, it’s kind of funny, at the beginning of track three, there’s the sound of a can of soda being opened. It’s funny because they’re thirsty, see? Thirsty because they’ve been rocking so hard! Rocking hard because they’ve got to let their hearts bleed on the surface of the world because they’re so empty because their girlfriends left them and they need to scream their frustration about how no one but them understands!!! And then after the show the kids can buy their merch and give the band high-fives. Right on, As Friends Rust!
What else is there? Nothing much, really. If you’re desperate to buy an emotional hardcore album, let me suggest these bands to you before you try out As Friends Rust: Hot Water Music, Clairemel, At the Drive-In, Twelve Hour Turn, I Hate Myself, Small Brown Bike, Coalesce, Radon, Blacktop Cadence. The list goes on. There are just so many of these bands it’s impossible to name them all.
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