And so my Deep Elm education continues with yet another fine record, this time the newie from Benton Falls, ‘Guilt Beats Hate’. As some of our more seasoned readers may know I hadn’t heard any Deep Elm stuff until I got the new Brandtson EP and so receiving this record in the mail and listening to its delights was a real pleasure. It’s a record that sums up everything about good ’emo’ music – driving melodies, lush segments that co-exist beautifully with the more aggressive moments and perhaps most importantly, it’s fucking emotional. Benton Falls are a band proudly sporting their hearts on their sleeves and I’ll give them a lot of credit for it.
Hailing from Santa Rosa the trio blast out choice cut after choice cut, each four minute epic taking you on a musical journey by painting pictures with a whole manner of colours. From the thrusting ‘The Race To Die’ to the poignant and beautiful ‘Angel On Hiatus’, this is a record that over time gets better and better and has at least suckered me into checking out more of the band’s material. On the basis of this album, Benton Falls are a band full of rich melodies and impassioned screams. And I love it.
With a rasping distorted riff echoing out of ‘This Housecall Could Kill’ into the thumping ‘The Race To Die’, Benton Falls show that whilst they probably fit snugly into that emo bracket, they’re anything but mellow. The latter is extremely clever lyrically, spitefully telling the tale of struggling to cope in the rat-race. “Everyone’s chasing the same fucking thing,” vocalist Michael Richardson spits and it’s difficult to disagree. ‘Bitter By Choice’ again shows Richardson’s vocal strengths while the guitars behind him intertwine and wrap around the vocal fragility, while ‘Trial and Terror’ is slow in pace yet just as hard-hitting.
The bittersweet ‘Angel on Hiatus’ is stunning, melodic and catchy yet seemingly capable of collapsing at any moment. It reminds me of the UK’s own My Awesome Compilation, driving away musically with brilliant lyrics that tell their own story. ‘There’s No ‘F’ In Team’ again starts off at a more thoughtful and considered pace, the drums introducing things softly before the guitars build up into a wall of noise. It’s again cleverly written, almost like Richardson has written a letter to himself. But then this is certainly not a standard or predictable record, it’s an album that has a high standard of musicianship, proving the band are a tight and cohesive unit.
Benton Falls are a great little band that are well worthy of your attention. ‘Guilt Beats Hate’ is a record that is carefully crafted with a lot of blood, sweat and tears and goes down as one of my favourite releases of the year so far. It’s fresh, interesting and certainly a grower. If this is the standard that Deep Elm set themselves, I’d certainly like to hear some more.
www.deepelm.com
Paul