Cyber-Emo
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| Salem's Coryalis - "The Lion who shot back" Label: BSDJ / Party Mouse Records |
"Genre-bending Emo". If somebody told 16-year-old me, who just discovered bands like JIMMY EAT WORLD, THE GET UP KIDS and SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE that this should be "Emo", I'd either declare this person a fuckin' poser or a silly weirdo. But it's 2023 and today's me already had his fair share of experience with the Bedroom Skramz & DIY Jamz-community...
Sam already started SALEM'S CORYDALIS before the Bedroom-scene was even a thing, sometime back in late 2019 or early 2020. "The Lion who shot back" is already the 4th album and it's a special one, cause Sam calls it the best SC-work yet. It's a kind of collaborative album between SALEM'S CORYDALIS and friends from the community. Among the featured artists are acts like SUBURBAN APATHY, SO LONG... PARTNER or POORLY WROTE SUICIDE NOTE. Jacob R. West (SUMMER 2000) also helped out with playing the cello on one of the new tracks. It's still mostly SALEM'S CORYDALIS and all the helping hands (and voices) were integrated smoothly.
Everyone into the Bedroom-sound will definitely spin this to hell 'til Christmas the least, as it's one of this year's highlights in the sub genre. There are two things that stand out to me tho and I'd like to talk about it:
First, it's the melancholic sentiment of the record. Besides all the distortion (though not as heavy as on other genre releases), and the skewed screams and the electronics, the harmonies and melodies are pure Emo. Take that moment in the closer "Crying Cliffside" for example: Sam sings "If you try to justify that again, I'm gonna kill you, I fucking kill you", in a calm an nearly dozy way. That's not just effective, it's also a freakin' contrast I really love. Eventually some screaming is added later, but it doesn't spoil that moment before and the song neither. Or take the reduced "To the Ground" and the airy "My Nightmares were animated in Eastern Europe", where the soft vocals of FEELSREEL add a different flavor. Also, the electronics (though I'm not alway the biggest of fan generally) are done in a soulful, sensitive manner, it's not always the "boom boom" weird kind, in fact the electronics are pretty moody in songs like "Black Mold Anthem" or the instrumental "O, the Rotting Leaves". To put it in a nutshell: "The Lion who shot back" is Emo, after all.
Speaking about nutshell and stuff. The second thing that stands out to me is that SALEM'S CORYDALIS manages to put Bedroom Emo into a nutshell over the course of 24 minutes. "Genre-bending" that is, indeed. From the already mentioned, mellow moments to scream-y outbursts, from the 8-bit-stuff to moody electronics to up-beat electronics to Avantgarde, from heartfelt to silly, this covers a lot of what's going on in this vibrating genre right now. So "The Lion who shot back" could indeed be a perfect starting point for everyone new to SALEM'S CORYDALIS or Bedroom Emo/Skramz in general. Or to put it in another way and give you some much needed clarity: This is something to write home about or in your diary...
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