Tuesday 14 February 2017

PREGNANCY PACT

GenresPunk / Hardcore / Post-Hardcore / Emo / Screamo / Skramz
Related artistsCrowning and Nigel Thornberry.
CountryChicago, Illinois USA
Years Active2016
Song: "You'll Get Used to the Cold"
Album: "A Better Hill to Die On"
Year: 2016
For fans ofPeople's Temple Project, Polina, Crowning, Dowager, Loma Prieta, Youth Funeral, Youth Novel, Foxmoulder, Logs, Carrion Spring, Calculator, Dikembe, Terry Green and Matsuri aka PROPER SCREAMO.
Label(s): Self Released
This post's artist is from the February 2017 Mix. This is track #2.
You can download: the February 2017 Mix#2 right here or get the new March 2017 Mix#3 here.

So the Crowning cassettes are now out! Pick them up right heeeeeya. But, before there was Crowning there was PREGNANCY PACT. In March of 2016 Justin Orr of PREGNANCY PACT emailed me in hopes for a write up about his new band's EP 'A Better Hill to Die On'. This more than peaked my interest so I told the band I would love to do a review but alas I was greeted with the following email:

"lol, just kidding. our bassist just got a job in san diego and is moving there in like 2 weeks. pregnancy pact is dead, long live pregnancy pact. the other 3 of us are starting anew thing asap though, so we'll send it to you when we get something recorded."

And then they did.

As much as I love Crowning, I would be at fault to not go back and push this release before it falls into internet obscurity. PREGNANCY PACT was, for the most part, a poppier Crowning. That is to say, PREGNANCY PACT was not poppy. Not even close. The screaming, blazing guitars and lightning quick drums are all there, but the songs always take a step back from the chaos to dabble in other genres that sometimes work great and sometimes feel forced. Let me explain.

"You'll Get Used to the Cold" is the opener, and what an opener! Busting outta the gates Logs and Carrion Spring style, the mixture of melodic and heavy guitars are wrapped up hoarse screams that fit everything perfectly. By 30 seconds shit gets even more intense and begins dripping of Youth Funeral and Loma Prieta before the peculiar but fitting mathy emo build that never quite reaches the power and commanding nature of the first two thirds of the song, although from 2:13 onward is pretty intense. Next up is "PK Love". To be honest the first minute doesn't really do anything for me with the gruff/clean vocals and almost twinkly emo sound, but the remaining two minutes is more than worth a listen because hot damn that's some good shit. "Charles Barkley Shut Up and Cry" begins just like the previous song and sounds like something from the derivative depths of NDE, but the emo style persists for the duration of the song, hence its absence from the embeds below. Closer "Moot" makes a point (ha) of getting back to what the band does best, and does so with additional instrumentation from trumpets by the end, which fit like a goddamn glove...Ace. At 30 seconds in the song goes bananas and swirls around with a fucking sick bassline and generally playful screamo not far from the likes of Matsuri and Polina.

This EP is definitely worth the download. Also, fucking Crowning, holy shit.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2016 - A Better Hill to Die On digitalEP (stream/donate/download here)

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(2016) PREGNANCY PACT - "You'll Get Used to the Cold" (from 'A Better Hill to Die On')

(2016) PREGNANCY PACT - "Moot" (from 'A Better Hill to Die On')

(2016) PREGNANCY PACT - "PK Love" (from 'A Better Hill to Die On')

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PREGNANCY PACT additional links

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