Cementing The Seams

Currently Loma Prieta are my favorite band, pretty much. You might recall I briefly covered 2008's amazing "Last City" a while back. Loma Prieta are a talented mix of dudes from the Bay Area of California who play an exciting and emotional brand of hardcore. It seems necessary to say that "Last City" might just be one of my favorite albums, certainly one of the best records of last year and, in my opinion, a stand-alone release in the field screamo. So, when I first heard "Dark Mountain" I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it. At first I didn't think it had quite the compositional fortitude or the raw hook of "Last City". But the more I listened to it, the more it grew on me. "Dark Mountain" showcases a matured Loma, as just about every release of their's has. I realized after listening to this record (a lot) that one of the things that makes me love this band so much is that with every record there is a marked movement toward something greater and more their own. Loma Prieta has evolved from being just a good screamo band (On "Our LP is Your EP") to something truly monumental. To me anyway. "Dark Mountain" may not be as good "Last City", but it might be better. I can't decide and I fucking love that. Either way, better or worse, it's genius.

Bonus content: Recently a Japanese label released a CD containing Loma Prieta's entire discography (although Dark Mountain wasn't included). It contains every song they ever released formally, including their half of the upcoming split 7" with L'Antietam (Let me pre-order this already Slave Union), along with some unreleased tracks which (I think) were supposed to end up on a split with Mexico's Arse Moreira. It also includes their original 3 song demo, "Our Lp Is Your EP" and "Last City"

For fans of: Raein, Cease Upon The Capitol, Funeral Diner

Loma Prieta on Myspace

Dark Mountain

Discography 05-09

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