I hate buying, listening, and reviewing compilation albums and Asian Man Records new compilation album pretty much sums up why I hate them. The "Underground Screams" compilation combines two things that should never be mixed together. A compilation is like a mix tape and making a good mix tape is basically an art form. When you take a broad style of musical genres that make no sense of being together in the first place and mix that with the fact that most of the bands are unsigned and should remain that way, you are asking for a musical disaster that no one should be forced to endure.
There were a few good bands on this record. Please don't think that every one of these bands were horrible. The following bands deserve to be excluded from my criticism: Laydig, The National Pastime, 9 Miles 2 Go, Scout You Devil, Charlie Brown Gets A Valentine, The Arcade Version, and Cast Of Thousand Murders. Now you're probably thinking, "Well, that is seven bands right there, how can the compilation be that bad then?" Well, seven out of twenty-six is not that good at all. That is only a 27% success rating. Asian Man laid an egg on this one. I am all for giving unsigned bands a chance to get their name out there but please be selective and don't combine a play list of some of the worst ska I've ever heard with a pretty decent emo band.
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