Canadian label Zegema Beach have been knocking it out of the park as of late, bringing out a whole host of fantastic hardcore and screamo releases over the last year (and on some banging looking cassettes too). I covered a few of their EPs a couple of months back, so now it is time to look at one of the full-lengths they released back in August. Enter centre stage, Portland’s Carrion Spring.
Pedalling a darker, heavier style of screamo since 2010, Carrion Spring is the brainchild of multi-disciplinary artist Adam Brock Ciresi. After a series of EPs and splits, including one with France’s Sed Non Satiata, Carrion Spring is their first full length for Zegema Beach (following their first full length, A Short History of Decay, which was released on Sieve and Sand Records in 2012) and, boy, it’s a banger. The record opens with the gentle and eerie “Apparition I”, a simple cello and piano led instrumental before smashing you in the face with “Carrion Spring”. What follows is a hefty chunk of off-kilter riffs, jagged time signatures and Adam’s furious bellow that sounds like a mix of Birds In Row and the now defunct Former Thieves.
The rest of the record barrels along at a hell of a pace, drawing on influences from emo-violence and late-00s metalcore. Tracks like “God Damage” and “Rhizome Recovery” veer between big, punchy riffs and jazzy noodlings, all the while being led by thunderous drumming and pissed off lyrics. However, throughout all this frantic noise, they are not afraid to slow the pace and break the record up with six mournful segues all titled “Apparition”. These simple, but effective, pieces give the listener a short moment of solitude before being thrown back into the chaos. It provides a cool ebb-and-flow effect to the record that keeps the listener engaged.
Carrions Spring’s debut full length is an assured, energetic and crunchy slice of hardcore-tinged screamo. It’s an exciting record that is bound to appeal to fans of screamo, hardcore and metalcore alike. Saying that, they are probably all the same type of person anyways.
Top Cuts: Carrion Spring, Rhizome Recovery, False Dichotomy (Fuck The Bourgeoisie)
Score: 8/10
Available to purchase from Zegema Beach here on fire swirl coloured cassette.
