Since By Man – Pictures From the Hotel Apocalypse

www.sincebyman.com www.revelationrecords.com

While the art-punk scene may be growing, and while the return of dirty rock combines in the world of hardcore, and since post-hardcore is a term thrown frequently, I can’t for the life of me keep up with all the sub-genres coming out these days. Thankfully, there are bands that can keep me listening while the copycats of “whatever-core” make their debuts, and one of them is Since By Man. Milwaukee’s most spastic sons put out another AMAZING release. The first thing I noticed when I opened up the case for this CD, was the lines on the inside book “I AM THE LENS, I AM THE LIAR”. And a look through the booklet shows the “truth” and the “lie” dichotomy for certain pictures in the book. It is just another reflection of the art and talent this band has to show the rest of the world. Now that we got through the layout, lets get to the music. While it is organized melodic chaos, Since By Man can pull of art-punk (another damn sub-genre reference), hardcore, dirty rock n roll, post hardcore, and true modern hardcore from one second to the next, this is a record to take in, and more than once. Botch and Converge would be proud of the quality riffing (but not aping) they churn out on this release. I wonder how far they can take this? Time will tell. 9.0/10