I don’t know whether I should be angered by the obvious pretentiousness of MILEMARKER, or if should just ignore it and rock out to the music. Immediately noticeable on this disc is that no song titles are listed, no liner notes are made, and the pinkish color of everything makes me nauseous. But after slipping this thing into the stereo, the seven tracks of powerful post-hardcore influenced emo takes hold, and I’m driven to delirium by the sonic swirl of dual keyboard twists. Normally, I’m not a fan of this stuff, but MILEMARKER contain a few key ingredients that are essential to any band that wants to be “experimental.” Number one: they keep the guitars heavy with a thick, syrupy sound, and number two: their vocals soar above all without getting whiny. Some stay this stuff is “sci-fi,” but i’ll leave that description to the boys in CAVE IN. This is a tad less powerful, but probably more rich in texture. Pretty cool, though not something that I’d beg to listen to repeatedly.

Jade Tree

www.jadetree.com