Pianos Become the Teeth - Old Pride (2010)

“Old Pride” is a fitting name for this Baltimore band’s debut album. They’re a throwback to the days when screamo has yet to be popularized and bastardized by fashionable scenesters but was an outlet for pure anguish. Most mallcore faux-emo bands are about dyed hair and controlled (safe) bursts of aggression. They wouldn’t know true catharsis if it kicked them in the face, let alone came through their Bose speakers. Pianos Become the Teeth, true to those D.C. bands from twenty years ago, are not about pummeling your eardrums until they bleed. Often the screamed vocals are backed by beautiful, melodic guitar work. They frequently mix in mellow, atmospheric passages, which give the music added complexity. In this way, the music represents a wider range of human emotion and just feels more relevant. Sure, these songs are generally bleak, often heavy, and not all that accessible, but they are diverse despite residing within the framework of early emo. Within a given song, the mood changes and shifts, tension builds and is released, guitar melodies come and go. The percussion is intricate and the pretty guitar-based ambient parts, such as on the last half of “Young Fire” are gorgeous. These 8 songs breeze by lasting only 36 minutes, and I immediately found myself needing to relisten just because I hadn’t quite gotten enough. That said, if you don’t like heavy music, or have an aversion to screaming, this is not for you.

For their singer’s explanation of the album title and the meaning behind each of the songs, check this interview.

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