When it comes to jocking, there's no place better to be jocked than Northern California. This magical place is blowing up like an infirmary the day Ebola hits the streets. Their roster includes bands like Hella and Xiu Xiu, bands like Ceremony and Look Back and Laugh, bands like Funeral Diner and Bullets In, bands like Sabertooth Zombie and Burial Year...I think you get the idea. Now that Loma Prieta has plastered five songs onto compact disc as Our LP is Your EP there's one more reason to buy a plane ticket to the West Coast.
Loma Prieta sounds like super intense screamo. While they are pretty, there's this feeling that your speakers are slowly moving towards you and when they reach you, their three guitar assault will sink deep into your hide. If you were to put Neil Perry, She Notes the Chariots and The Number Twelve Looks Like You (minus the metal) into a cage for a full year, the end result's offspring would speak in the melody and rhythm that Loma Prieta does.
Each song will drive your mind into an adventure filled with musical imagery. As "It Went Down Like on an Episode of Law & Order," folds out, you start scribbling a math equation on the ceiling. Within twenty seconds you're jumping on the couch like you're the Easter Bunny. AND THEN, after another minute, you're painting the most beautiful portrait with a tulip as your brush. You finally finish up diving head first into the bathtub, very frenetically.
Band members Davy, Derrick, Sean and Val have previous experience (Get Get Go, Archeopteryx and Sailboats) which might explain why this EP sounds so tight. Loma Prieta has the intensity that so many metal and hardcore bands strive for without sounding metal or like 80's punk/hardcore. Instead of sounding amateurish, I find myself calling the hospital due to the jaw no longer connected to my face and the tongue rolling into the kitchen. Is this "The Mask" or am I being blown away?
It might not sound as powerful because I just finished reviewing La Quiete and giving them a high score, but lately I'm finding less and less quality screamo bands. Loma Prieta isn't just another 90's worship band; they sound fresh and are progressing in a manner that is quality. Here's to hoping that the next release by Loma Prieta will contain more than seven minutes of music.
