Coryphe

Sure, we are all familiar with the ocean, but did you know that Emo comes in waves, as well? 

Now, I say Emo and you may well be thinking skinny-jeaned kids with eyeliner and hair drooped into their face – some might even still have old photos stored in public Facebook albums matching something akin to that description ahem – and you wouldn’t be wrong, but it also wouldn’t quite cover the full extent.

To date, there are five waves of Emo:
Initially, it arose from the hardcore punk scene in Washington, D.C., when bands like Rites of Spring put a moody, raging lyricism to a more melodic sound than their genre counterparts.

Wave two came about when the American Midwest too what the first wave had brought, and exchanged a lot of the anger for angst. You can quasi hear the melancholia of lost relationships seep into the sound of bands like Sunny Day Real Estate or American Football.

Round three is where the genre possibly made the biggest splash, running in parallel to pop-punk bands leading the charts, aesthetics and music leaned into the theatrical for some of the top performers, like Paramore or My Chemical Romance. Though less show-y bands like Jimmy Eat World and Brand New simultaneously populated the space. 

After having peaked in popularity, the fourth wave broke open the field and saw some bands lean back into indie sensibilities, while genres like trap also took some notes from the past and spun in wholly different directions. Modern Baseball is a good listen for the first, Lil Peep a famous representative for the second.

Ok, we’re almost done – hang in there..!

The current wave has broken up the field even more. Possibly taking a lesson from the trap folks’ successes, and armed with home production possibilities thanks to technological developments, the fifth wave has given rise to many new subgenres by artists releasing right from their bedrooms. There’s far too many names to name, but I’d like to mention the shoegaze-y sound of Parannoul, the pop-punk approach of Origami Angel, and the indie, emo, punk sound of the wonderfully named Michael Cera Palin. 

I might have to set out and create a playlist now…

Anyway – Why, you might ask. Why all of that? And the answer is simply that I was interested in the matter and then stumbled and fell down a rabbit hole 🤷 Believe me, I tried to keep this as short as possible, but I spiraled. In fact, this was all meant to lead to an album by one of the bands mentioned above: Brand New and their 2006 album, titled “The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me” in case there was any question about the genre within. 

After the critical success of their previous album, vocalist Jesse Lacey dealt with depression stemming from the heavy weight of expectation he felt resting on his shoulders. He took that anguish to direct his writing towards feelings of finality, contemplating the consequence of death, while looking towards the possibility of bettering oneself.

The band tackles suiting external expectations (“Millstone”), personal crisis of faith (“Jesus Christ”) and the disillusionment with the bible preaching love while followers practice hate (“The Archers’ Bows Have Broken”).

It’s an album that is lavish with ambition that actually manages to put the horsepower on the ground, managing to “[blow] up teen angst to literally biblical proportions” without coming off as insincere or manic. 

Personally, I really love the anthemic nature of “Archers”, but there’s plenty of faves to be found here.

Okay, I am literally running late for an appointment now, so I’ll cut it here 😅

Have a fantastic weekend everyone! And (an early) Happy Birthday to Captain PMM, Cory! 🙂