CommonSound
Melodic hardcore has absolutely dominated the indie and alternative punk scenes the past few years, and California’s My Iron Lung has made sure they won’t get lost in the sea of similar post-hardcore bands with their newest release Relief. Taking their influence from melodic legends like mewithoutyou, there isn’t too much that separates My Iron Lung from many of the other bands taking their cues from the same places, but the angst and passion in Relief is tangible, making it well worth the listen.
Relief opens on “Commonwealth,” a powerful entry point into the record, giving listeners a taste of the best that My Iron Lung has to offer with catchy guitar work that will get stuck in your head for hours after. The only real let-down on the record occurs on tracks like “Hard Season” when the vocalist is just a bit too out of tune without strong enough screams to cover it up. My Iron Lung still has a few strides to go before catching up with their melodic hardcore heroes, but luckily this is a rare occurrence. “June” is a highpoint on the album, with some of the most effective screaming. It leans into the hardcore side of their sound, something they as a group should expand upon in future releases.
More and more bands are sprouting up and adapting a melodic or post-hardcore sound, and it is rapidly becoming one of the most creative and enthusiastic genres in music. In its current state, not everything has been done yet and we, as a punk community, have not gotten entirely sick of the sound yet, so an abundance of similar sounding bands isn’t entirely a bad thing. But if 2014 is any indication, the exponential rate at which these bands are forming and producing records is a sign that we may soon need to hear something a bit different from bands for us to care. Relief is a fun, emotion driven record for all the rainy days we’ve had lately, but if My Iron Lung wants to remain relevant, they will have to do something to stand out from the crowd sooner rather than later.
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