Sunny Day Real Estate

The Rising Tide

Time Bomb

"This wintertime/ to waste your life/ you reign/ you die/ you wait/ you cry … "

Jeremy Enigk screamed these lyrics and the hairs on my arms stood up like a first-year cadet in the military. The band was Sunny Day Real Estate, and as I watched them play at a bar in San Diego, I truly believed I was witnessing musical genius.

I nearly pitched a tent when TWS asked me to review their new album and fourth recording The Rising Tide. If you like music, more specifically emotional rock, buy this album. If you buy it and for some reason don’t like it, come to Mammoth and I’ll buy you a new CD. Then I’ll break it over your head because you don’t know a thing about good music. Well, maybe I wouldn’t go that far, but not enjoying this album would indicate some underlying socio/psychological problems.

On songs such as "The Ocean" and "Rain Song," Dan Hoerner’s melodic guitars combined with Enigk’s high-pitched screaching vocals create a sound whose beauty could only be compared to this month’s Maxim cover. "Snibe," "Killed by an Angel," and "Tearing In My Heart" are emotionally driven hard-rock melodies, which left this listener looking for a cigarette.

It’s all about emo (emotional rock) these days. Just watch, pretty soon Blink 182, No Doubt, and Metallica will be screaming and crying about their last breakup. (To Blink’s credit they already do, but just watch.) Emo is the only genre of music that’s coming out with truly great stuff nowadays so if you haven’t already, start combing your hair forward and prepare for the emo onslaught.–Gabe Taylor