So I love emo. No, I don't mean the pansy pop punk crap that everyone labels emo or even what VH1 describes as emo...which would be Weezer...yes Weezer, I heard a VJ call them emo last night but back to my point. The word emo has become so watered down now a days that it lost all originality somewhere between hardcore's passion and real punk rock's thirst for ideology is real emo. I love real emo. Old school DC style like Rites Of Spring, Dag Nasty, Egg Hunt, and Embrace. I love bands that take that sound and made their own sound around it. Bands like Native Nod, Ordination of Aaron, Hot Water Music, Small Brown Bike, Funeral Diner and The Shivering. And now my new favorite emo influenced band, Bear Vs. Shark. They might not confess to it because I don't know them personally but they have everything that just screams to be EMO. I am not saying that is all has to be label emo but I just feel that is a another branch in the small (SMALL) emo tree.
Bear Vs. Shark is from Michigan and is that is probably one of the reasons I haven't had a chance to really get into them until now being that I was from PA. As soon as I had that first note from "Terrorhawk" hit my ears, I feel in love with this record. They seriously remind me of a mix between newer Small Brown Bike and older Hot Water Music. They fell somewhere between both bands bridge their gaps and that is not to say that they aren't original. I love when a band can take their influences and totally make their own music that doesn't bleed of their heros. Originality is the key here and they have it all. This will be on my list for top 10 albums of the year. "Terrorhawk" just hit as hard as the first time my needle of my record player hit the Embraced and Rites of Spring LPS. I just said "Wow...this is something different and just plain good."
Other coverage for this album
Decapolis June 2005Reviewed by Peter VenessYou could get into a mighty fine argument over Bear Vs Shark, what exactly are they? Punk, nup, hardcore, I doubt it, metal, ha - it's more like what happened to a bunch of indie rockers who just thought screaming was a good way of getting their point across, it's a good point to. At the foundation of this Michigan five piece is a bubbling rhythm section led by bassist Derek Kiesgen. On 5, 6 kids…Similar sounding releases
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