Her Breath On Glass

Her Breath On Glass are a two-piece screamo band formed by members of The Saddest Landscape during their hiatus (2005-2009). They sound as you would expect them to, I suppose. It's basically TSL minus a second guitarist and bassist. However, HBOG comes off as much rawer because of that. The passion, intensity, and aggression that TSL put forth is stripped down and worn wide open. They're also a bit darker, if that makes sense. Since TSL are now fully back, I don't quite know the status of HBOG. Whatever it is, they left a ton of great material for our pleasure (or pain, depending on how you look at it). You're welcome:

Her Breath On Glass/We Were Corpses (2005)

1. Her Breath On Glass - We Were Never Innocents

2. We Were Corpses - When You Said You Crossed Your Heart Did You Mean With Clay

3. We Were Corpses - Black Book, Black Shoes, Black Coat, White Lies

Building Monuments For Survival (2006)

1. Dirty Is Pretty

2. You Have Her Eyes

3. The Kiss Before The Crash

4. Scars On Porcelain (Theta)

5. Take It On The Mouth

6. A Casket To Call Our Own

The Emo Apocalpyse (2006)

6. Untitled

Her Breath On Glass/Danse Macabre (2006)

1. Her Breath On Glass - Gradually And Then Suddenly

2. Danse Macabre - Ich Habe Keine Ansteckende Krankheit Ausser Besoffski

Championship/Her Breath On Glass (2007)

1. Championship - An Unexpected Parcel

2. Championship - String Or Twine

3. Championship - Protruding Wires 

4. Championship - Excessive Postage

5. Championship - No Return Address

6. Her Breath On Glass - Our Love Is Ours To Define 

7. Her Breath On Glass - Having It Out With Distance

8. Her Breath On Glass - The Desperate Things I Blame On You

9. Her Breath On Glass - Ballerinas For Hearts

Her Breath On Glass/Sofy Major (2007)

1. Her Breath On Glass - Mercy, You Sold Us Out This Time & Our Love Is Ours To Define (Cadavers Ver.) 

2. Sofy Major - Oui

Her Breath On Glass/Khere (2007)

1. Her Breath On Glass - Dying Is An Art

2. Her Breath On Glass - My Sweet Recovery

3. Khere - Un Fiore

4. Khere - Intermittenza

5. Khere - Misantrope

6. Khere - Papalagi

We Aimed Straight Down (2008)

1. ...And Then We Grew Wings

2. Memories Of A Life On Fire

3. We Will Make It Look Like An Accident

4. The Reason I Fight The Darkness

5. Dark As A Threat

6. We Wrote Our Names On The Sun

7. When They Stop Calling You'll Know It Was Me

8. Let's Make Death Afraid To Take Us

Her Breath On Glass 6" (2009)

1. Everything Wasn't At All

2. Calling All Dark Forces

The Brass/Her Breath On Glass (2009)

1. The Brass - Triggers

2. The Brass - Sleep, City, Sleep

3. Her Breath On Glass - Memories Of A Life On Fire (Fallen Ash Version)

7.18.08 (2009)

1. When They Stop Calling You'll Know It Was Me (Live)

2. Memories Of A Life On Fire (Live)

3. My Sweet Recovery (Live)

What We Left Behind (2009)

1. Dying Is An Art

2. My Sweet Recovery

3. Everything Wasn't At All

4. Calling All Dark Forces

5. Memories Of A Life On Fire (Fallen Ash Version)

6. Mercy, You Sold Us Out This Time (Instrumental) / Our Love Is Ours To Define (Cadavers Version)

7. Gradually And Then Suddenly

8. Gothic Cajun (The Show Is The Rainbow Cover)

9. Having It Out With Distance (Singles Club Version) (Instrumental)

10. On The Edge Of A Very Bad Idea

11. We Were Never Innocents

12. When They Stop Calling You'll Know It Was Me (Live)

13. Memories Of A Life On Fire (Live)

14. My Sweet Recovery (Live)

Note: This is their discography excluding their full-lengths, split with Championship, and their song on The Emo Apocalypse comp.

More info on their albums, etc.

The Saddest Landscape

So it's Valentine's Day, therefore today is best spent with the saddest and loneliest band of all: The Saddest Landscape. For every broken, saddened, lonely person out there, for every person who's ever had to watch the most amazing girl in the world get into Marlin's car, and for Keith who's too sad all the time ("Bone white hips, paper thin, you are the dream for an outcast", you know what I mean Keith. I'm sorry she rejected your flower, but Kegan will survive!), here you go.

The Saddest Landscape are a screamo/emo/post-hardcore band centered in Boston, Massachusetts, though its members are spread out in different locations in the North Eastern U.S. They began in 2002 and stayed really productive until some point that they become inactive, but never officially broke up, since two of their four members had other things to attend to. During this time, the two remaining members (Andy and Aaron, singer/guitarist and drummer respectively) formed another band called Her Breath On Glass. Around 2008/09, the two picked the band back up under the name The Saddest Landscape, though with two new membes to replace the original ones that left. Since then, they've remained busy by signing to Topshelf, putting out a bunch of new stuff, and resumed touring.

The Saddest Landscape are known for taking influence from practically every screamo/emo/whatever band ever. A few of particular note might be City Of Caterpillar, Portraits Of Past, Funeral Diner, Neil Perry, Saetia, Indian Summer, and Rites Of Spring. Despite this, they have a very distinctive sound that has prevailed throughout their existence (not in a terribly repetitive way though). They make excellent use of the classic formula: quiet, melodic, arpeggiated guitar parts to blistering explosions of octaves and noise. But they find ways to change this up and keep it interesting. That's one thing I really like about them. They're one of the few bands that are able to retain a very unique, recognizable sound without every song seeming to blur together and sound the same. This can also be attributed to the vocals. Andy's voice is unmistakenable, both because of the tone of it and because of his singing style. His singing sounds broken and fragmented, and almost resembles a strained, wounded bark rather than the usual screeech of more violent screamo bands. It is this emotional, cathartic aspect that makes them so great. This also comes through in the lyrics, which I personally love. They're super open and heartfelt, and when matched with their delivery and the passion put into every instrument... Damn.

Cover Your Heart (2002)

1. Fourty Four Sunsets

2. Kiss Like A Miracle

3. The Sixth Golden Ticket

The Sound Of The Spectacle (2003)
1. Enough To Stop A Heart

2. Wishlist For The Drowning

3. We Were Dancing An Hour Before We Met

4. ...The Stars In January

5. We Wanted The Sky

6. It Is Well Past The Point Of Going Home

7. The Temptation That Is You

8. ...The Stars In January (Part 2)

The Saddest Landscape/Funeral Diner (2003)

1. The Saddest Landscape - Spring (Rites Of Spring cover)

2. Funeral Diner - Deeper Than Inside (Rites Of Spring cover) 

The Pine/The Saddest Landscape (2003)

1. The Pine - Rainclouds

2. The Pine - Down Below

3. The Saddest Landscape - Weighing Out The Desirables

Lift Your Burdens High, For This Is Where We Cross (2004)

1. The Fashion Magazines Have Succeeded

2. A Statue Of A Girl (May 15th)

3. Weightless Is The New Black

4. He Died Among Dreams

5. Forty Four Sunsets

6. Kiss Like A Miracle

7. The Sixth Golden Ticket

A Promise Was Made... (2005)

1. With You I Could Never Be Alone

2. The Seduction Of Alabaster

3. Sin And Sin Again

4. The Weight Of The World And Every Dress You Ever Wore

All Is Apologized For. All Is Forgiven (2009)

1. With You I Could Never Be Alone

2. The Seduction Of Alabaster

3. Sin And Sin Again

4. The Weight Of The World And Every Dress You Ever Wore

5. The Fashion Magazines Have Succeeded
6. A Statue Of A Girl (May 15th)
7. Weightless Is The New Black
8. He Died Among Dreams
9. Weighing Out The Desirables
10. Spring (Rites Of Spring cover)
11. Enough To Stop A Heart
12. Wishlist For The Drowning
13. We Were Dancing An Hour Before We Met
14. ...The Stars In January
15. Weighing Out The Desirables (Alternate Version)
16. We Wanted The Sky
17. It Is Well Past The Point Of Going Home
18. The Temptation That Is You
19. Fourty Four Sunsets
20. Kiss Like A Miracle
21. The Sixth Golden Ticket
22. Weightless Is The New Black (Alternate Version)
23. Accident Prone (Jawbreaker cover)

Note: This is their full discography up until this point, everything above is also on here

I Don't Want To Miss You Anymore (2009)

1. Eternity Is Lost On The Dying

2. John And Jimmy (Modern Life Is War cover)

The Saddest Landscape/Trophy Scars (2009)

1. The Saddest Landscape - So Lightly Thrown

2. Trophy Scars - August, 1980

Connections Part II (2010)

1. Suis La Lune - In A Deep Hole With Clay And Remorse

2. Suis La Lune - Postlude To 5 Years Of Hurting

3. The Saddest Landscape - The Actress And The Funeral

4. The Saddest Landscape - The Temptation That Is You (Forgiveness Version)

5. Captain, Your Ship Is Sinking - Always Giving Parties To Cover The Silence

6. Kias Fansuri - Apa Yangtinggal Hanyalah Kiasan

7. Kias Fansuri - Kabus Ribut Datang Menjemput

8. Kias Fansuri - Satira Politik Dunia

9. Kias Fansuri - Hati Plastik, Nafsu Serakah

10. Isaiah - Qu’ils Crèvent Enfin …

11. Isaiah - … Et Nous Laissent Décider

12. Adorno - Missing A Warm Light

13. Adorno - Connections

The Saddest Landscape/If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (2010)

1. The Saddest Landscape - Raisans (Dinosaur Jr. cover)

2. If Footmen Tire You,What Will Horses Do? - Naking 37-38

  

You Will Not Survive (2010)

1. Declaring War On Nostalgia

2. Torn, Broken, Beautiful

3. Eternity Is Lost On The Dying

4. Imperfect But Ours

5. So Lightly Thrown

6. The Shadows I Call Home

7. From All Of Those...

The Saddest Landscape/Pianos Become The Teeth (2010)

1. The Saddest Landscape - Death Becomes Us

2. Pianos Become The Teeth - New Normal

The Saddest Landscape/We Were Skeletons (2011)

1. The Saddest Landscape - Shifting My Clarity

2. We Were Skeletons - No Funeral

3. We Were Skeletons - Medication

After The Lights (2012)

1. In Love With The Sound

2. This Heals Nothing

3. The Urge For Permanence

4. When Everything Seemed To Matter

5. The Comfort Of Small Defeats

6. Days Of Punched In

7. Desperate Vespers

Redefining Loneliness (2013)

1. Redefining Loneliness

Exit Wounded (2013)

1. Those Yet Lived

2. Redefining Loneliness

3. Heartbroke And Fear Sick

4. Coffins Like Ours

5. Breath In A Darkened Room

Live At New Alliance (2013)

1. Desperate Vespers

2. Eternity Is Lost On The Dying

When You Are Close, I Am Gone (2013)

1. My Fictions - You Never Stay

2. The Saddest Landscape - Loss Will Find Us

3. Saddest Landscape & My Fictions - When You Are Close, I Am Gone 

Frameworks/The Saddest Landscape (2014)

1. Frameworks - Fell In Love With A Girl (The White Stripes cover)

2. The Saddest Landscape - Burning Fight (Inside Out cover)

Souls Worth Saving (2015)

1. Souls Worth Saving

2. A Season of Goodbyes

Darkness Forgives (2015)

1. Once We Were Immortal

2. Souls Worth Saving

3. 'Til Our Ears Bleed

4. Trimmed And Burning

5. You Never Asked

6. All Grace Intact

7. The Fire Between Heartbeats

8. Archival

9. A Heaven of Amplifiers

10. Admitting You're Alive

Doused In Mud, Soaked In Bleach (2016)

13. Downer (Nirvana cover)

Note: Full comp here

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Gray Matter

Gray Matter are a punk band from Washington, D.C. that formed in 1983, broke up in 1986, got back together in 1990, broke up again in 1993, and played a one-off show in 2008. They're often regarded as being one of the founding "emo" bands as a part of "Revolution Summer", alongside Rites of Spring, Embrace, Beefeater, etc. They, like the bands mentioned, began to progress and experiment with the hardcore sound that the D.C. scene pioneered just a few years before. They retain the energy and intensity put into every second of every song, but are much tighter and value melody over sheer speed (though they are still quite fast-paced). These melodic sensibilities are evident in every aspect of the band, and become more evident the more their career lasted: the lyrics have more of a flow to them and touch upon personal subjects, the vocals are cleaner and actually sung, the bright, duelling guitars play off of each other (especially on Thog), the bass lines are clean and rhythmic, and the drums are played with some sense of skill. I don't know, they're just a really good band, one of my favourites from this era, and just do what they do really well.

  Food For Thought (1984)  

1. Retrospect

2. Oscar's Eye

3. Fill A Void

4. Give Me A Clue

5. Gray Matter

6. Caffeine Blues

7. Crisis And Compromise

8. Flash In Time

9. Phobias

10. I Am The Walrus (The Beatles cover)

Take It Back (1985)

1. Chutes & Ladders

2. Burn No Bridges

3. Walk The Line

4. Take It Back

5. 4. A.M

6. Head

4 Songs (1990)

1. Bite The Bit

2. October

3. Shiver Boy

4. Slow Grind

Thog (1992)

1. Thog

2. Second Guess

3. The Disinclined

4. Bite The Bit

5. Song In Threes

6. I've Just Seen A Face (The Beatles cover)

7. Killing Direction

8. October

9. Snare

10. Slow Grind

11. Smoking Hole

12. Drain

Birds In Row

Birds In Row are a three-piece hardcore/screamo-tinged band from Laval, France. They've been around since 2009. They're an amazing band, fucking passionate, dynamic, melodic, abrasive, crushing, visceral, what have you. I don't know what I'm saying, this is from their Last.fm, and it sums them up much better:

"Too straight forward and too filthy to get back to the so-called hardcore fanbase that bloomed on Modern Life Is War’s grave, too kind to belong to the crust/sludge scene, the three hardworkers from BIRDS IN ROW seem to avoid their city as much as labels.Then you can still wonder where do they take place between Modern Life Is War, Kylesa or Cursed. The first ones for the guts unpacking and their heartbreaking spleen, the second for their punk roughness and their abilities to enlighten dirt and the last ones for the urging adrenaline discharges. But it is certainly not that. It is hardcore as it is supposed to be played. Period. With passion, deprived of any splendor and made so they can go stuff some asphalt half of the year.And yet, according to the 3000 miles they’re dealing with in a twelve months time, if you haven’t seen them less than 20 miles from your home, it can only mean two things : you have no friends, or no taste at all. And if there’s not much we can do about the first reason, we can sure work on the other one."

So, yeah, here's their discography to date. Two kickass EP's, which are included on the Collection compilation in addition to one other song ("Phoenix"), and an amazing full-length, You, Me, & The Violence. You're welcome:

Rise Of The Phoenix (2009)

1. The Letter

2. Die Testosterone Die

3. Orange Disease

4. Actus Fidei

Cottbus (2011)

1. Among The Ashes

2. Colossus

3. Words Of Astaroth

4. The Ace Of Fools

5. Chat Noir

6. A Kid Called Dreamer

7. Outro

Collected (2012)

1. Among The Ashes

2. Colossus

3. Words Of Astaroth

4. The Ace Of Fools

5. Chat Noir

6. A Kid Called Dreamer

7. Outro

8. The Letter

9. Die Testosterone Die

10. Orange Disease

11. Actus Fidei

12. Phoenix

You, Me, & The Violence (2012)

1. Pilori

2. There Is Only One Chair In This Room

3. Cages

4. Guillotine

5. Walter Freeman

6. Last Last Chance

7. You, Me, And The Violence

8. Grey Hair

9. Cold War Everyday

10. The Illusionist

11. Police & Thieves

12. Lovers Have Their Say

Birds In Row/WAITC (2015)

1. Birds In Row - Can't Leave

2. Birds In Row - Can't Lie

3. Birds In Row - Can't Love

4. WAITC - Empty Decade/Saturnism

5. WAITC - Veiled Ax

6. WAITC - Empty Mailbox

Personal War (2015)

1. Intro

2. Torches

3. O'Dear

4. Weary

5. Worried

6. Snakes

7. Marathon

We Already Lost The World (2018)

1. We Count So We Don't Have To Listen

2. Love Is Political

3. We Vs. Us

4. Remember Us Better Than We Are

5. I Don't Dance

6. 15-38

7. Triste Sire

8. Morning

9. Fossils

Gris Klein (2022)

1. Water Wings

2. Daltonians

3. Confettis

4. Noah

5. Cathedrals

6. Nympheas

7. Grisaille

8. Trompe L'oeill

9. Rodin

10. Winter, Yet

11. Secession

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