Category: Emo
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Arm’s Length ‘Never Before Seen, Never Again Found’ (2022)
Never Before Seen, Never Again Found feels like a breath of fresh air for anyone who grew up loving emo but got a little tired of all the self-importance that came with it. The band pulls together the best parts of that elder emo energy—heart-on-sleeve lyrics, crashing guitars, and melodies that actually stick—with none of…
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Charmer ‘Downpour’ (2025)
It’s relatively rare nowadays that I listen to an album from a band that is 1) Completely brand new to me 2) Was found organically and not recommended by a friend 3) Impresses me so much that I listen to it for a week plus before writing an article about it. Charmer’s Downpour is the…
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Story Of The Year ‘Page Avenue’ (2003)
Every millennial knows “Until The Day I Die”, but not many (including myself until this week) are super familiar with their entire album Page Avenue. Which is a shame cause holy hot damn does this entire album MF’ing rip. The dueling guitars of Ryan Phillips and Philip Sneed go so damn hard sometimes it’s easy…
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Michael Cera Palin ‘I Don’t Know How to Explain It’ (2018)
I Don’t Know How to Explain It is actually relatively easy to explain. Tightly written emotionally charged emo-pop punk that plays to the genre’s strengths that blends catchy melodies and Midwest emo guitar noodling in its punchy runtime. The unexpectedly awesome cover of Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy” show off their knack for…
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Senses Fail ‘Let It Enfold You’ (2004)
One of my buddies was a huge Senses Fail fan back in high school and while I never really got too deep into their discography, I certainly listened to a ton of Let It Enfold You. Their hit single “Buried A Lie” was everywhere during the emo heyday, a real mainstream success, which in retrospect…
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Fiddlehead ‘Between the Richness’ (2021)
Between the Richness explores the stickiness of trauma without ever getting lost and succumbing to the overbearing weight of grief. A blast of hardcore energy filtered through the melodic shine of ‘90s alternative and the heart-on-sleeve intensity of emo from the mid-80’s.
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Origami Angel ‘Somewhere City’ (2019)
Origami Angel burst onto the modern emo scene with a fastball-down-the-pipe energy which blended rapid-fire math rock with hyperactive skate-punk and added in a dose of unshakable optimism. Somewhere City is a nod to a world where childhood comforts like all-day Danny Phantom marathons and Happy Meals serve as legitimate forms of self-care (shoutout to…
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Further Seems Forever ‘The Moon Is Down’ (2001)
Pretty much everyone in my elder millennial age group remembers Chris Carrabba for his work with Dashboard Confessional in the early 2000’s. As I wrote about in my review of Dashboard’s 2001 album The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most, Carrabba single-handedly made the introverted kid lacking self-confidence blessed with a penchant for…
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Casey ‘Love Is Not Enough’ (2016)
I dearly loved Casey’s 2024 comeback album How To Disappear, and their debut album Love Is Not Enough from 2016 is equally special albeit in an entirely different way that harkens back to one of my favorite albums from the mid-2000’s. Imagine for a moment two brothers separated at birth, adopted and raised by two…
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Joyce Manor ‘Never Hungover Again’ (2014)
If you’re looking for an album that is a masterclass in brevity, you’ve come to the right place. Never Hungover Again packs an emotional punch into its 19-minute runtime that most albums twice its length struggle to achieve, and marked a turning point for the band which saw them refinine their punk-rooted sound into something…
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The Promise Ring ‘Nothing Feels Good’ (1997)
As a certifiable emo kid in my teens there were a few albums that had an outsized impact on many of my favorite bands. I didn’t know it at the time, but some of my favorite artists like Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional, and Jimmy Eat World owed a ton to Nothing Feels Good by…
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The Fall of Troy ‘Doppelganger’ (2006)
The Fall of Troy was an underground favorite of mine during high school– their innovative blend of post-hardcore, math rock, and progressive metal was a dynamic addition to my musical repertoire that coincided with my love for post-hardcore bands like Underoath. Doppelganger is by far their best album in my eyes, and features all the…
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Pianos Become The Teeth ‘Keep You’ (2014)
I first heard Pianos Become The Teeth a few months ago and was immediately taken by their sound. It’s moody, somber, introspective, and brooding in a way that reminded me a lot of some of my favorite albums of all-time– the dark storytelling and enunciation of Jesse Lacey on Brand New’s The Devil & God…
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Taking Back Sunday ‘Tell All Your Friends’ (2002)
If you were a dude in high school during the mid-2000’s, Taking Back Sunday was a defining band in the era that defined the emo genre. Lead singer Adam Lazzara’s impeccable swag was the stuff every friend I knew wanted to emulate. His carefree long hair, impeccable vocal range, and stage presence that included him…
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Touché Amoré ‘Stage Four’ (2016)
One thing I’ve always loved about American post-hardcore is the genre’s willingness to tackle difficult subject matter head-on. Cancer kills almost 10 million people per year worldwide, and yet it’s rare to find songs (let alone entire albums) which directly reference the disease and detail the visceral impact it has on the families and friends…
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Hot Mulligan ‘Why Would I Watch’ (2023)
Hot Mulligan is the natural evolution of the mid 2000’s emo and pop punk movement, a band whose creativity and songwriting can both probably be safely described as being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, pinwheeling between chord breaks and rhythmic staccatos at a frenetic pace. As a songwriter myself it’s pretty apparent that what these…
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The Movielife ‘This Time Next Year’ (2000)
Anyone familiar with emo and its various offshoots during the mid aughts can immediately recognize that distinctive Long Island sound– sugary sing-a-long pop hooks with a deliberate nod to the hardcore roots that dominated the scene in the mid-to-late 90’s. Bands like Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, and Glassjaw effectively defined that Long Island sound…
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Pierce The Veil ‘Collide With The Sky’ (2012)
Pierce The Veil’s third studio album Collide With The Sky saw the band take their brand of post-hardcore and screamo to new heights, incorporating power pop hooks and massive arrangements into their torrent of guitar hooks. This album has everything that’s fun about the emo genre– high pitched vocals, massive drums, and abrupt dynamic changes…
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Dashboard Confessional ‘The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most’ (2001)
Chris Carrabba was the poster child for emo music during its formative years. He single-handedly made the introverted kid lacking self-confidence blessed with a penchant for observational insights cool, and doubly so when that protagonist was armed with an acoustic guitar and an earnest approach to telling his story. This Holden Caulfield from Catcher In…
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My Chemical Romance ‘The Black Parade’ (2006)
The Black Parade was emo’s answer to The Who’s Tommy, a concept album that sounded more like a Broadway musical production than a standard rock record. From soaring guitars to a rollicking rhythm section to Gerard Way’s distinctive gritty falsetto and dramatic enunciation, The Black Parade was Vaudeville on steroids and one of the most…
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Terminal ‘How The Lonely Keep’ (2005)
Terminal is one of those deep cuts that I’ve forgotten about as the years have gone by. It’s been about 20 years since I’ve even thought about them, let alone listened to them. By happenstance I just stumbled upon them a few months ago and ended up taking a spin of their lone album 2005’s…
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Spitalfield ‘Remember Right Now’ (2003)
Spitalfield is one of those emo bands that you sort of had to go to high school in the mid-aughts to really appreciate. They were the hip emo band that influenced a ton of bands in the scene but never really had their big break like fellow Midwest emo bands The Get Up Kids and…
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Plans For Revenge ‘Burns, Scars, And Memories’ (2004)
In high school I was in a band called The Days of Stillness (awful name, yes). We were marginally successful in a high school garage band sort of way– played 10+ live shows in the local area, recorded a four song EP, and had our crowning achievement by playing at a rally in front of…
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The Get Up Kids ‘Something To Write Home About’ (1999)
Something To Write Home About was one of my first introductions to emo and pop punk as a middle schooler. At that time they were just another band in the lineup that comprised my burgeoning love for music– emo and pop punk in particular were just beginning to take off, and I was jumping on…
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