These guys are pretty good. They are not doing anything really original here, yet what they do, they do well. Those of you who have really been into the whole emo/indie rock thing lately should really dig this release. What kind of stood out with this band is their use of two vocalists, often at the same time, which helped add a good sense of texture to their sound. As far as the music goes, they have more of a jangly dual guitar sound, similar to what you might hear in a lot of today's indie rock bands. Some of their songs, such as "To Be An Anchor" and "Philadelphia or Reading," had more of an emo-rock feel to them, while songs like "No Van Gogh" and "Weatherman" had more of a laid back, almost ballad feel to them. As far as the song "Philadelphia or Reading" goes, isn't this band from Florida? They must really be up on their major and minor league baseball, I guess. I have really been impressed with Take Hold Records lately. I definitely expect more great releases from both Recess Theory and Take Hold Records as a whole.
B
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #79Reviewed by Doug Van PeltEmo, emo, emo! How many emo bands have you heard lately? You know what's great about this scene? I just haven't heard any signed emo bands (indie or "major") that stink. Anyway, Recess Theory, while jumping on the emo and the "use the word 'theory' in your name" bandwagon, are very good. John Ralston's vocals are very melodic yet raspy. The two guitars give the overall sound a real fullness.Decapolis 1999Reviewed by ConradEmo Rock. I don't think you can get more emo than this band, but they are good at what they do. Although the singer has the typical emo-whine, the vocal melodies are quite good. The instruments do their part in creativity to make this interesting to listen to. This album keeps up the rock, and doesn't get boring. I wish more emo was like this. If you're into emo, I really think you should check…Decapolis 1999Reviewed by TimI met Recess Theory at their house in West Palm Beach, FL. I had never heard of them then, and they hadn't crossed my mind until I got this album to review. I have to say that for this style of music (I won't use the name because from what I recall, the band hated being called emo....oops), this album is very good. The song writing is wonderful, the guitar work is great...but I just cannot get…Decapolis 1999Reviewed by Matt AI like Recess Theory's effort on this full-length a lot more than their songs on the split with Further Seems Forever. There's some really good emo/rock here. At times this reminded me a lot of Braid, who are one of my many favorite bands, so I can't complain about that. Check out "Philadelphia to Reading." It's one of my favorites on the disc. B+Decapolis 1999Reviewed by Matt R.The song "Reading or Philadelphia" that appears on this record is a perfect analogy for how I feel about this band based on this record. The song's lyrics mention baseball, referring to the minor leagues in Reading and then the major leagues in Philadelphia, relating it all to girls of course. How this relates to the band to me is that they are in Reading right now, playing in the minor leagues,…Similar sounding releases
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