The Color Of Violence

Youthanize

[4/5]

Side projects offer a chance for experimenting. Thus, most side bands end up as vanity projects, bloated and bland. Yet, the Color Of Violence, made up of Derek Bloom and Travis Richter-From First To Last’s drummer and guitarist/vocalist, respectively-have constructed a focused collection of songs that teeter on the edge of noise/grind and seem to remember a time before “screamo” was a part of our nation’s lexicon. The pacing is relentless, and there’s nary a vocalization that isn’t a throat-bleeding scream, but the overall effect is one of audio collage-individual notes and chords are hard to identify until a distinct melody pops up like a streak of hot pink in a smear of red-orange. In comparison, the grind-heavy “largehadroncollider” and “Christina, Christina” sit opposite the spectrum of the album’s title track and “Create A Merkaba, And Get Me Outta Here!” which allow the guitars to carry the songs with creative melodies. Don’t worry, the album isn’t without experimentation-“crapandemic” features bongos. And yes, they’re used well. (EPITAPH; epitaph.com) Jesse Raub



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