Cloakroom

Cloakroom are a three-piece emo/shoegaze/slowcore/post-rock band from Indiana that formed in 2012. The band includes singer/guitarist Doyle Martin, who was formerly in Grown Ups, as well as bassist Bobby Markos, who is also in Native. Cloakroom is quite different to its members other projects, though just as phenomenal. The band creates a monstrous instrumental sound, which is constructed by pounding drums, loud, distorted bass, and a massive, distorted, shimmering guitar sound that recalls the greats of shoegaze. Their droning, reverberated vocals sound downtrodden and apathetic, an essential to the slowcore aesthetic. They also utilize numerous dynamics, constantly switching between clean, quiet, and melodic sections to all-out powerful, noisy, fuzzed-out melancholy. Cloakrom consistently create amazing atmospheres that are equally depressing and euphoric. You could think of them as Pedro The Lion meets Jesu meets My Bloody Valentine meets Have A Nice Life, or something of the sort. Definitely check this band out if you're interested in more modern bands such as Whirr, as well as the current collection of Run For Cover bands that have been dominating lately, since Cloakroom are now a a part of that family. Their small discography up to this point is absolutely blistering, so enjoy!

Infinity (2013)

1. Sedimentary

2. E

3. Dream Journal

4. Bending

5. Mind Funeral

Autumnal Equinox Singles (2013)

1. Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle (Nirvana cover)

2. Never Let Me Down Again (Depeche Mode cover)

Lossed Over (2014)

1. Lossed Over

2. Dream Warden

Further Out (2015)

1. Paperweight

2. Outta Spite

3. Moon Funeral

4. Lossed Over

5. Mesmer

6. Starchild Skull

7. Asymmetrical

8. Clean Moon

9. Sylph

10. Deep Sea Station

Time Well (2017)

1. Gone But Not Entirely

2. Big World

3. Concrete Gallery

4. Seedless Star

5. Sickle Moon Blues

6. Hymnal

7. The Sun Won't Let Us Go

8. Time Well

9. 52Hz Whale

10. The Passenger

Dissolution Wave (2022)

1. Lost Meaning

2. Dissolution Wave

3. A Force At Play

4. Dottie-Back Thrush

5. Fear Of Being Fixed

6. Lambspring

7. Doubts

8. Dissembler

Four Year Strong

Four Year Strong are a four-piece (formerly five) pop punk/melodic hardcore band from Worcester, Massachusetts in 2001. Since then, they've become one of the most well-known pop punk bands of the past decade, and have toured with pretty much every band ever as well. They began quite young, since their band name is derived from their friendship in high school (they lasted for four years, strong). The term "easycore" is often used to describe them, meaning that they mix in heavier, hardcore-influenced breakdowns, and mosh-worthy double bass drum with the typical catchiness of pop punk. They also feature quite a lot of synth and keyboard parts, though they have slightly abandoned that in recent years. They write some insanely catchy songs, which are perfectly executed by the band's dual vocalists. A particular thing to note about this band is how their sound is constantly shifting from album to album, which is rare for a band in this genre to constantly try new things, but something definitely commendable to do. I'm sure most people reading this have heard of Four Year Strong, especially since they get a ton of requests and are so well-known. Below is all of their full-lengths, their cover album, EP's, demos and such. Obviously all their material is worth checking out, but I'd especially encourage you to listen to their early demos, since they are unexpectedly good. And if you're looking for one album to start with them, I'd go with Rise Or Die Trying, but it's ultimately up to personal opinion. Thanks to Jacob Shumaker for the help with this post, and enjoy!

All The Lonely Girls (2002)

1. Run With Me

2. The Strong, The Heartbroken
3. The Eleventh Recalled

4. Dream The Impossible Dream
5. Blue Light Romance

The Glory EP (2003)

1. This Summer Session

2. Easier To Wait And See

3. The Bitter Taste Of Victory

4. One Time Too Many

Demo 2004 (2004)

1. Baseball Bats And Boogie Men

3. Live From The Crime Scene

Note: Track 2 missing

Demo 2005 (2005)

1. Go Long Dad

2. Not To Toot My Own Horn But, BEEP BEEP!

3. So Hot And You Sweat On It

4. Your Song

5. Beatdown In The Key Of Happy

It's Our Time (2005)

1. Go Long Dad

2. Come On Bessie, Slow And Steady

3. Easier To Wait And See

4. Baseball Bats And Boogie Men

5. Live From The Crime Scene

6. This Summer Session

7. One Time Too Many

8. Your Song

9. Vash: The Stampede

10. Put You On

11. I Kiss My Sweetie With My Fist/Hell Is For Heroes

A Tribute to Blink 182: Pacific Ridge Records Heroes of Pop-Punk (2005)

1. Dumpweed (blink-182 cover)

Demo 2006 (2006)

1. Heroes Get Remembered, But Legends Never Die

2. The Bitter Taste Of Victory

3. Societies Quiet Alibi

4. Your Egos Writing Checks Your Body Cant Cash

5. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Hell

6. Badda Bing! Wit A Pipe!

7. Wrecked Em? Damn Near Killed Em

8. Angels With Even Filthier Souls 

Rise Or Die Trying (Unmixed) (2006)

1. Sparkle Motion

2. Heroes Fade Kid, Legends Never Die

3. Death Is The Only Adventure I Have Left

4. Angels With Filthy Souls

5. Your Ego's Writing Checks Your Body Can't Cash

6. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Hell

7. Badda Bing!...Wit' A Pipe!

8. Wrecked 'em? Damn Near Killed 'em!

9. Calling All Cars

10. Gotta Get Out

11. Angels With Even Filthier Souls

Rise Or Die Trying (2007)

1. The Take Over

2. Prepare To Be Digitally Manipulated

3. Abandon Ship Or Abandon All Hope

4. Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die

5. Wrecked 'Em? Damn Near Killed 'Em

6. Catastrophe

7. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Hell

8. Bada Bing! Wit' A Pipe!

9. Beatdown In The Key Of Happy

10. If He's Here, Who's Runnin' Hell?

11. Maniac (R.O.D.)

Explains It All (2009)

1. So Much For The Afterglow (Everclear cover)

2. Absolutely (Story Of A Girl) (Nine Days cover)

3. Ironic (Alanis Morissette cover)

4. Bullet With Butterfly Wings (Smashing Pumpkins cover)

5. Semi-Charmed Life (Third Eye Blind cover)

6. Spiderwebs (No Doubt cover)

7. Roll To Me (Del Almitri cover)

8. Fly (Sugar Ray cover)

9. In Bloom (Nirvana cover)

10. She Really Loved You (Reach The Sky cover)

11. She's So High (Tal Bachman cover)

It's Not The Size Of The 7"... It's How You Use It (2009)

1. It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now

2. Cavalier

Enemy Of The World [Special Edition] (2010)

1. It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now

2. Tonight We Feel Alive (On A Saturday)

3. Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)

4. Nineteen With Neck Tatz

5. Find My Way Back

6. What The Hell Is A Gigawatt?

7. One Step At A Time

8. This Body Pays The Bill$

9. Paul Revere's Midnight Ride

10. Flannel Is The Color Of My Energy

11. Enemy Of The World

12. Bad News Bearz

13. Tonight We Feel Alive (On A Saturday) [Acoustic]

14. One Step At A Time [Acoustic]

15. Find My Way Back [Acoustic]

16. Wasting Time (Eternal Summer) [Acoustic]

In Some Way, Shape, Or Form (2011)

1. The Infected

2. The Security Of The Familiar, The Tranquility Of Repetition

3. Stuck In The Middle

4. Just Drive

5. Fairweather Fan

6. Sweet Kerosene

7. Falling On You

8. Heaven Wasn't Built To Hold Me

9. Unbreakable

10. Bring On The World

11. Fight The Future

12. Only The Meek Get Pinched. The Bold Survive

Go Down In History (2014)

1. What's In The Box?

2. Living Proof Of A Stubborn Youth

3. Tread Lightly

4. Go Down In History

5. So You're Saying There's A Chance...

Four Year Strong (2015)

1. I Hold Myself In Contempt

2. We All Float Down Here

3. Eating My Words

4. Wipe Yourself Off Man. You Dead.

5. Stolen Credit Card!

6. Gravity

7. Who Cares?

8. Here's To Swimming With Bow-Legged Women

9. I'm A Big, Bright Shining Star

10. The Sound Of Your Heart

11. Go Down In History

Some Of You Will Like This, Some Of You Won't (2017)

1. It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now

2. Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die

3. Go Down In History

4. We All Float Down Here

5. Nice To Know

6. Who Cares

7. Let Me Down Again

8. Stuck In The Middle

9. Abandon Ship or Abandon All Hope

10. Your Ego Is Writing Checks Your Body Can't Cash

11. This Summer Session

12. For Our Fathers

Brain Power (2020)

1. It's Cool

2. Get Out Of My Head

3. Crazy Pills

4. Talking Myself In Circles

5. Learn To Love The Lie

6. Brain Pain

7. Mouth Full Of Dirt

8. Seventeen

9. Be Good When I'm Gone

10. The Worst Part About Me

11. Usefully Useless

12. Young At Heart

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Cruel Hand

Cruel Hand are a five-piece hardcore band from Portland, Maine that formed in 2006. Since they began, they've been keeping very active and have certainly set themselves apart with their unique style of hardcore. Their last.fm page puts it best, describing them as "equal parts New York hardcore and west coast thrash". They do still stick to the classic chug of Madball, they go beyond that as they go further into their career. Their intelligible vocals, hard rock attitude, and inclusion of guitar solos are just part of what defines them and has helped them garner such a large fan base that goes beyond hardcore purists. They've worked with labels such as 6131, Triple B, Bridge 9, and Hopeless. Also, if anyone has their Sound and Fury set, please send it to me! Cruel Hand have been requested forever, so here they finally are, enjoy!

FFO: No Warning, Trash Talk, Expire, Backtrack, Bane

Without A Pulse (2007)

1. Without A Pulse

2. Trust Me

3. Fact or Fiction

4. Lack Thereof

5. Severe Character Flaw

6. Crashing Down

7. Nothing Between Us

8. Under The Ice

9. Never Fall

10. The Countdown

Prying Eyes (2008)

1. Above And Below

2. Dead Weight

3. Life In Shambles

4. Begin Descension

5. Motions That Lie

6. Hounds

7. Damaged Goods

8. Heart Failure

9. No Known Graves

10. Prying Eyes

11. House Arrest

12. Wisdom Pain

Life In Shambles (2008)

1. Life In Shambles

2. House Arrest

Cruel Hand (2010)

1. Cruel Hand

2. Still

Lock & Key (2010)

1. Lock & Key

2. Cruel Hand

3. Day Or Darkness

4. Broken Glass

5. Labyrinth

6. One Cold Face

7. Rotations Of Hurt

8. Dismissed

9. Two Fold

10. The Bottom (Of Munjoy Hill)

America's Hardcore (2010)

9. Intro/Face To Face

Vigilant Citizen (2010)

1. Vigilant Citizen

2. Cheap Life

Born Into A Debt, We All Owe A Death (2013)

1. Heat

2. 3's

3. In Time We Strike

The Negatives (2014)

1. Pissing - Spitting

2. Battery Steele

3. Why Would I

4. The Negatives

5. Scars For The Well-Behaved

6. Heat

7. Unhinged - Unraveled

8. Monument Square People

9. Vigilant Citizen

10. Gasoline

11. Still

12. Cheap Life

Your World Won't Listen (2016)

1. Nowhere, Nothing, Never

2. Decompose

3. King

4. Dead Eyes Watching

5. Too Far From That

6. Your World Won't Listen

7. Through With You

8. Deep Six Hole

9. In This Alone

10. Buried Inside

11. Liquid Paper

12. Threes

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Flowers Taped To Pens

Flowers Taped To Pens are a four-piece emo/screamo band from San Diego, California. The band both twinkly emo bits with screamed vocals, all done through a lo-fi recording sound. I suppose you could describe them as Tiny Moving Parts filtered through Teen Suicide, or something of the sort. Their sloppy, melodramatic sound is irresistible, and for an up-and-coming band have already put out a ton of good material. It quite literally sounds like the band cannot hold themselves together, and are rolling around on the floor in emotional anguish (which could literally be happening judging by pictures of their live shows). If you're into Merchant Ships and friends, this is probably a band you'll want to check out, though they are very much a unique-sounding band. Enjoy.

Something... (2013)

1. Well I Guess (rough version)

DadFad Demo (2013)

1. Downstairs

2. Well I Guess

3. Drink Yrself

4. This Year

Nice To Meet You, I Hate You (2013)

1. My Parent's House

2. How Can Hip Hop Be Dead If Wu Tang Is Forever?

3. What The Fuck By Benny Benassi

4. A Little Less Than Half

5. I Wondered What Dying Feels Like

6. Now I Know

7. Chased Through The Woods By George Lopez (the CPS Officer)

Flowers Taped To Pens/Nevasca/American Memories/Daycare (2013)

1. Flowers Taped To Pens - Ghosts In My Bed

2. Flowers Taped To Pens - That Same Street

3. Nevasca - Leaving (This Northern) Town

4. Nevasca - (My) Memory (Always) Falls Me

5. American Memories - Grave

6. Daycare - I Don't Wanna Come Home

Flowers Taped To Pens (2014)

1. Anime Love Story

2. Clever Pessimistic Remarks

3. Jack Snes and Jeff Mango

4. Somber Eyes

5. We Are Standing Right Now, What We Could Be Anything

6. North Migration

Flowers Taped To Pens/Bread Club/Beds/Skull Kid (2015)

1. Flowers Taped To Pens - I Suppose It's Just Our Nature

2. Bread Club - if your song title is "if your song title has the word 'beach' in it, i'm not listening to it," i'm not listening to it

3. Beds - Sweet Dreams

4. Skull Kid - Avenger's Song

Endgame (2016)

1. Fall

2. I Suppose It's Just Our Nature

3. When We Wished For More

4. Nervous Grin

5. Overactive Nervous Center

6. Endgame

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Orchid

Hey guys, sorry I've been pretty inactive this month, I've been really busy with school and such. So in return, here's a band that should have been on here years ago.

Orchid was a four-piece screamo band from Amherst, Massachusetts that were active from 1997-2002, although their influence goes far beyond their tenure. They released three full-lengths (as far as full-lengths go in their realm), as well as numerous splits with other notable bands such as Pig Destroyer and Jeromes Dream. Orchid's sound has become definitive of "screamo". Their punishingly fast, chaotic pace featuring shrieked, unintelligible vocals and dark, dissonant, grinding instrumentation has never been done as well as Orchid did, though has been a staple in many bands within the screamo genre to follow. Orchid also featured slower, quiet parts which often interrupted into frenzies, a dynamic that they had mastered. In addition, Orchid often showed off their intellectual side, making references to numerous figures, whether they be historical, political, or philosophical. I'm sure not much more needs to be said, except for "essential". Some of their members also play in other bands such as Ampere, Bucket Full Of Teeth, Wolves, and Panthers. Here's Orchid's discography, enjoy one of the best bands ever.

We Hate You (Demo) (1997)

1. Consumed

2. 36 Day Syndrome

3. Angel

4. Stagnant

5. A Written Apology

6. Pledge

7. Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover)

Orchid/Pig Destroyer (1997)

1. Orchid - Consumed

2. Orchid - A Written Apology

3. Orchid - Pledge

4. Pig Destroyer - Delusional Supremacy

5. Pig Destroyer - The Alcatraz Metaphors

6. Pig Destroyer - Treblinka

7. Pig Destroyer - Seven And Thirteen

8. Pig Destroyer - Scouring The Wreckage

9. Pig Destroyer - Suicide Through Decay

10. Pig Destroyer - Torquemada

11. Pig Destroyer - Frailty In Numbers

Orchid/Encyclopedia Of American Traitors (1998)

1. Orchid - The Easy One

2. Orchid - Angel

3. Orchid - Notes From A Smooth Talker

4. Encyclopedia Of American Traitors - Sangre Por Pan

5. Encyclopedia Of American Traitors - Pildoras Amargas

Chaos Is Me (1999)

1. Le Descordre, C'est Moi

2. Aesthetic Dialectic

3. In G And E

4. New Jersey vs. Valhalla

5. Weekend At The Fire Academy

6. Framecode

7. The Action Index

8. Death Of A Modernist

9. Boy With No Arms

10. Invasion USA

11. Epilogue Of A Car Crash

Combat Wounded Veteran/Orchid (2000)

1. Combat Wounded Veteran - Economic Downturn With The Kung-Fu Grip

2. Combat Wounded Veteran - Hank Cut Out His Bowels

3. Combat Wounded Veteran - I Talk You Listen

4. Combat Wounded Veteran - Kill The Translator

5. Combat Wounded Veteran - Rocks In A Blender

6. Orchid - Eye Gouger

7. Orchid - Panopticism

Orchid/The Red Scare (2000)

1. Orchid - Lucky 13

2. Orchid - Intelligible Audio

3. Orchid - She Has A Cold Cold Heart

4. The Red Scare - Sequenced For Explosion

Jeromes Dream/Orchid (2000)

1. Jeromes Dream - It's Right Where You Said It Would Be

2. Jeromes Dream - I'm Reminded Of A Kid Who Used To Stomp Bugs

3. Jeromes Dream - A Well Documented Case Of Severe Autism

4. Jeromes Dream - My Most Recent Left Right Brain Argument

5. Orchid - New Ideas In Mathematics

6. Orchid - Beautification Committee

7. Orchid - Ding Dong Dead

8. Orchid - Mono Vs. Stereo

Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow! (2001)

1. Destination: Blood!

2. To Praise Prothesis

3. Lights Out

4. Anna Karina

5. I Am Nietzsche

6. Victory Is Ours

7. Don't Rat Our Your Friends

8. Black Hills

9. Snow Delay At The Frankfurt School

10. ...And The Cat Turned To Smoke

Gatefold (2002)

1. Amherst Pandemonium (Part 1)

2. Amherst Pandemonium (Part 2)

3. Chaos Ain't Me

4. Loft Party

5. I Wanna Fight

6. A Visit From Dr. Goodsex

7. We Love Prison

8. Fashion Meets Passion

9. Trail Of The Unknown Body

10. Class Pictures

11. No, We Don't Have Any T-shirts

12. Dissidents In Love

13. Flip The Tape

14. Anais Nin By Numbers

15. Tigers

16. Let's Commodify Sexuality

17. Discourse of Desire

18. None More Black

19. Impersonating Martin Rev

Totality (2005)

1. New Ideas In Mathematics

2. Beautification Committee

3. Ding Dong Dead

4. Mono Vs. Stereo

5. Lucky 13

6. Intelligible Audio

7. She Has A Cold, Cold Heart

8. Eye Gouger

9. Panopticism

10. Mean S.O.B.

11. 36 Day Syndrome

12. O.S.K.

13. Stagnant

14. Hit The Ground

15. Consumed

16. A Written Apology

17. Pledge

18. The Easy One

19. Angel

20. Notes From A Smooth Talker

21. T-120

22. Halving The Bones

23. September 18th, 1993

24. Weekend At The Fire Academy