Loma Prieta- Self Portrait #CantMissIt

Loma Prieta

Self Portrait 

Deathwish Inc. 

The San Francisco based Deathwish Inc. is famous for discovering and promoting some of the best hardcore acts coming out of the Bay Area. However, their acts are usually more than just your traditional punk or post-hardcore acts. Most of their acts challenge genre labels while retaining their abrasive aggression and unrelenting pace. No artist or album is a better representation of that idea than the most recent effort from Loma Prieta, “Self Portrait”. This record finds the noisy post-hardcore act take its first stab at elements of melody, post-rock, and oceanic layers of guitar work. 

“Self Portrait” is hardly a risky record for Loma Prieta, but the band undoubtedly has pushed their sound and stepped out of their comfort zone on their fifth record. Their fourth record “IV” was a spiraling record of noisy chaos and catharsis, but on the new record the band goes for more melody. The vocals are still mixed lowly, the noise is still pounding, and the vocals are still aggressive, however; the band gives the listener more to cling on to than on any of their previous work. Within most of these blistering two minute tracks Loma Prieta creates a maelstrom of distortion, heavy guitars, and pounding drums before adding a bit of harmony or a quality guitar riff with a tone opposing yet not entirely dissimilar to the prior pandemonium. The tracks will shift from total havoc to a punk rock rallying cry. “Roadside Cross” has its listener caught in a swirl of havoc before shouting along the lyrics akin as if it’s a song by Sham 69. “Self Portrait” is constantly towing the line of the dissonance the band is known for with post-hardcore that sounds more like Alexisonfire, but containing enough of both that should please fans of the poppier and more hardcore sides of the genre. “More Perfect” has a beautiful guitar piece in the middle along with a distorted vocal effect that could be off a Brand New record.

Loma Prieta also throws in tracks that reach the four and six minute marks such as “Nostaligia” and “Satellite”. Rather than trying to stretch their noisy punk sound for an extra two minutes the band uses building intros, breakdowns, screaming vocal repetition, screeching guitar tones, and noisy fade outs to effectively create a more varied song structure and thus a more varied record as a whole. Many punk bands can fall into the trap of refusing to lay off the breakneck speed or the blasting distortion. Loma Prieta uses its brief softer spots to build drama as well as give these wonderful interludes the attention they deserve. Some of these guitar riffs are truly pleasing on the ears and truly deserve center stage. When these slow but beautiful passages exist between all the mayhem Loma Prieta normally creates, their power is that much more effective. When the album’s last track “Satellite” closes it feels like the close of an exhausting experience, but there was enough beauty in the record that you want to revisit “Self Portrait” again. This track offers a massive buildup before vocal cord ripping screams of “I’m losing touch with how much it means to be alive.” The touching lyrics and beautifully supportive bass line fading into soothing static leaves you unsure if you just heard a punk band attempt to create a Godspeed You! Black Emperor song or even more astoundingly, they actually may have done just a good job of it.

This will undoubtedly be one of the best punk rock records to come out this year because it is so different from what comes out of this scene and even more so what was expected of Loma Prieta. The combination of genres and influences is seamless, the song structure is unpredictable and exciting, and the sound is energizing. Quite frankly, this record does everything a good punk record should do while doing things a conventional punk record does not do. Loma Prieta is a band at the height of its powers sounding as bold and powerful as possible. With “Self Portrait”, Loma Prieta have mastered the ability to derive wonderful harmony from utterly destructive clamor.

9/10 

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TJ Kliebhan

10/13/2015

Check out lead single "Love":