Well, it seems that split CDs are all the rage these days, so 2 emo bands
from the Sunshine State jumped on the bandwagon, too.  As is the case with
most split CDs/10"s/7"s/etc., one band almost always comes out on top of
the other and shines.  In this case, it would be Further Seems Forever.


FSF hail from Florida (duh), and has ex-members of Shai Hulud (I think) and
some other emo band (I think too; I lost the promo sheet for it, so it
could be the other band).  And boy, did they rock my ass.  Imagine Cursive
or Quicksand, with a little more structure, with vocals sounding a bit like
a cross between the guy from Quicksand and the guy from Saves The Day
(meaning, sort of high pitched, but not too whiny). Their three songs
will stick in your head for a long time, and will have you waiting with
baited breath (mine is already baited) for their full-length (which they
are hopefully recording soon).


Conversely, we have Recess Theory, also from Florida.  They sure do a good
job of killing the atmosphere on this CD.  They have that Six Going On
Seven feel: they are able to do the task at hand well, but each song is
just missing that right amount of umph, whether it is the climax of
stomping on the distortion pedal and letting the song open up, or throwing
in a weird time change to keep the listener on his feet.  I'm not saying
that Recess Theory is bad, though.  On the contrary, they remind me a lot
of Mineral (partly because they sing about god a little bit).  They're good
at doing their own thing, but they just seem out of place following Further
Seems Forever.


I did find, though, that the CD is great for different moods.  If you're in
that "rage" mood, and you want someone to do the screaming for you, listen
to FSF.  If you just feel like mellowing out after work, skip to track 4
and let Recess Theory soothe you.  Either way, I'll bet my bottom dollar
that one, if not both of these bands will be big someday.