Monday 28 May 2018

BONEFLOWER

BandBONEFLOWER
GenresPunk / Rock / Post-Rock / Hardcore / Post-Hardcore / Emo / Screamo / Skramz / Experimental
Related artists: Llacuna and Tano.
CountryMadrid SPAIN
Years Active2015-present
Song: "Aching Absence"
Album: "Empty Rooms, Full Bodies"
Year: 2017
For fans ofHurricäde, Viva Belgrado, Respire, Young Mountain, Rinoa, Moving Mountains, Trophy Scars, We Never Learned To Live, We Had A Deal, Continents, Descubriendo A Mr. Mime, Vi Som Älskade Varandra Så Mycket, (early) La Dispute, La Cienca, Devil Sold His Soul, and La Parade aka PROPER SCREAMO.
Label(s): Miss the Stars Records / Lifeisafunnything / Dingleberry Records / Saltamarges / Zilpzalp Records / Walking Is Still Honest / À Fond D'Cale Prod / Unlock Yourself / Tirano Intergaláctico
This post's artist is from the May 2018 Mix. This is track #8.
You can download: the May 2018 Mix#5 right here or get the new June 2018 Mix#6 here.

Chalk up another killer find to Dingleberry Records, cuz when I received my BONEFLOWER 12"s in a recent trade I was fucking floored. Sure, the first 12"EP is decent, but the new 12"LP is fanfuckingtastic. Combining a myriad of influences and fluidly traversing the waters of countless genres, BONEFLOWER's 'Empty Rooms, Full Bodies' is well worth your time and money, trust me. You've got a guy with a throat-shredding scream who also has a ridiculously strong singing voice, lush instrumentals that can go from breezy and hypnotic to wild and violent. Essentially, there is a very hazy and undefined scope of what their band is supposed to sound like. Sometimes the confidence and unrealistic goals can lead to disaster, but in this rare case it pans out beautifully.

The Spanish band released their debut 12"EP titled 'I'll be the Bones, You'll be the Soul' in 2015 with a white cover, which sold out and is now available with a black cover, of which I have the new one (grab it here). There are five songs and all of them are decent, but none come close to the awesomeness that was historically captured two years later. Opener "Land and Sand" is perhaps the strongest track, swirling in the wind with epic atmospheric post-hardcore/screamo. The song feels like more of an introduction to the record, but also the only one I wouldn't have thought to be out of place if included on their new LP. I think the primary difference with the remaining four songs is that they fall much more on the rock/post-hardcore end of the spectrum, using strong vocal melodies and a slightly slower approach to the instrumentals, with the next song "Unfading" being a prime example. Just try listening to "Unexplainable" without humming along to that insanely catchy singing. Oh, just a heads up, it'll be of no use, cuz that shit'll suck you right in. The title track is probably the most diverse song on the album, opting for some heavier moments, fancy guitarwork, ambient bits, spoken word, screaming, singing...and there's more. The finale "Neverending" is over six minutes and is the obvious closer, as it feels the biggest but isn't necessarily the strongest.

As diverse as the debut EP seemed, their newest offering, the 2017 12"LP 'Empty Rooms, Full Bodies', is the fucking shit. Seriously. It was one of those albums, for me, where I was like...holy shit there's a ton of different sounds on this, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. But, being intrigued, I continued to jam it until the songs and sounds really began to reverberate with me, and at that time I realized their sheer brilliance. There are seriously so many genre branches on this sound tree that your head will spin. It's eclectic to the fucking max, as each song sounds like a different band, although the cohesive foundation of screamy hardcore can be found on tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11 and 12.

The record begins with the spoken-word and acoustic guitar introductory track "We’re gonna die, we don’t care." which is a cool song, but one hell of a deception to listeners who expect screaming or a hint of hardcore, and therefore may not bother moving past the opener. Track two's "Aching Absence" wastes no time showing you that it's the complete opposite of the preceding song, blasting off with shrill screaming and spacey post-hardcore that exits the Earth's atmosphere at 40 seconds. The subsequent build swells and expands under emotionally strained spoken word/yelling until its imminent explosion at 1:25 with the line of, "I'm a better person when I'm with youuuuuuuu!!!" Dear lord the nebulae's supernova that follows is something to behold unto itself, so be sure to open yourself to its infinite embrace. Have you ever heard Patton Oswalt scream during his standup comedy? Well, "King" kinda sounds like Patton ranting at you over calm, relaxing music. "City Lights" brings out some obvious comparisons to Young Mountain, Descubriendo A Mr. Mime as well as Vi Som Älskade Varandra Så Mycket's screamy post-hardcore sound, and it pops off at 1:18, ooooo baby. "Sol" is a heavenly acoustic track with male/female, sugary, dual vocals and is a joy to listen to. "Andromeda" has a catchy as fuck intro that blows up just after 20 seconds and is easily one of the strongest tracks on the record, as it is wonderfully constructed and houses the most powerful section on the record (2:40 to its 3:35 conclusion). Jesus, what a side A!

Side B opens with "Love", another short and subdued track with a movie clip over the instrumentals. This is followed by "Elocin (you're not alone)" which coats a bit of additional singing over the screamy post-hardcore. "To pieces" seems to continue where "Sol" left off and combines the male/female singing to sound like Anthony Green, with the song title coming from the line, "I want to burn this city down to pieces." The next track feeds off 35 seconds of soaring singing before the drums pummel you and the guitars whisk you up into the sky in typical BONEFLOWER fashion, with some vocals sounding a heck of a lot like Ryan from Animal Faces. "Sunsets in the Backyard" is probably the most accessible of the hardcore songs, but closer "Purple Dreams" is the least, cuz it's the heaviest BONEFLOWER song to date, complete with a riff so huge it could have been in Top Gun, and it's freakin' awesome.

This is a fantastic work, complete with a storybook-like feel, loads of passion, lots of screaming, angelic singing, excellently crafted lyrics and a dense-yet-inviting mystical aura that has me in awe. Had I listened to this in 2017 instead of early 2018 this would have made my top 20 LPs list for sure. As I kept a copy and have already sold one, I've got one copy left in the ZBR distro so pick that up on two-colour vinyl asap here. Very stoked about their next release!!!

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DISCOGRAPHY

2015 - I'll be the Bones, You'll be the Soul 12"LP (stream/donate/download here) [buy 12" here]

2017 - Empty Rooms, Full Bodies 12"EP (stream/donate/download here) [buy 12" here]

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(2017) BONEFLOWER - "Andromeda" (from 'Empty Rooms, Full Bodies')

(2017) BONEFLOWER - "Aching Absence" (from 'Empty Rooms, Full Bodies')

(2017) BONEFLOWER - "Purple Dreams" (from 'Empty Rooms, Full Bodies')

(2016) BONEFLOWER - Full live set

(2015) BONEFLOWER - "Unexplainable" (from 'I'll be the Bones, You'll be the Soul')

(2015) BONEFLOWER - "Land and Sand" (from 'I'll be the Bones, You'll be the Soul')

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BONEFLOWER additional links
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