Screamingangel The Inner War
by Justin Gaines
Staff Writer
This one is kind of a mess, honestly. The New York City act Screamingangel bills themselves as “emotive punk metal”, and their choppy EP The Inner War does bear some resemblance to emo, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. The occasional growled vocal line might qualify this as metal…but that’s a tenuous connection at best. The EP does have more in common with punk, in that it has atonal, apathetic vocals and sounds like it was recorded in a garage. That’s probably not what the band was shooting for with this angst-ridden effort though.
You do have to give the band some credit for bearing their grief and emotion for all to see. No doubt it was cathartic for them, but at the same time Nirvana pretty well covered this territory nearly 20 years ago.
Even bad punk rock can be fun under the right circumstances, but The Inner War is, to be blunt, just not enjoyable on any conceivable level.
Label: Independent
Lineup:
Jonathan – Vocals, Guitar, Piano
Shawn Tremblay – Bass
Track Listing:
1. Life
2. Beat the Boy
3. Inner Voice
4. Bruises
Online: Official
HRH Rating: 2/10