Search - Caterpilla Tracks :: Caterpillar Tracks

Post-hardcore has come a long way since Fugazi issued their first two EPs in the late 1980s, but don't tell this to CaterpillarTracks. Much like New Jersey's Rye Coalition and Chicago's Haymarket Riot, this Cincinnati based band has a weakness for angular guitars, propulsive rhythms and almost tuneless scream-sing vocals that can be directly attributed to Ian MacKaye and Co. circa 1990. Tunes like opener "Just Here ToVisit" and the anthemic "Article 2 Section 2.15"...simply demand an audience to sing along..."Proper Method Of Display" and "Last Desperate Move" manage a little bit of restraint before exploding. Although they inhabit a relatively narrow sonic spectrum, Caterpillar Tracks explore every micrometer of it. The twin guitars are pitted against each other in a complex interplay, and sometimes one drops out of the arrangement altogether to throw a pick scratch or feedback hand grenade. The twin vocals recall Fugazi and Braid, equal parts yelling and singing.The drums stay out of the way when necessary, which isn't often?these songs are headstrong, full-speed-ahead affairs. They work because there's no clutter; CaterpillarTracks has stripped their music of anything extraneous and left us the best parts. It's not that these songs are simple, because they can be big?listen to the hugeTrail Of Dead riffs and drums on "Big Guns"? just that they're not overproduced. Of all the terrible clichés to come out of post-hardcore, the most admirable is a re liance on the music to make its own case. Caterpillar Tracks do that with aplomb, despite their dependence on tried-and-true formulae. They've proven their mastery of the style here, and it now remains to be seen if they can open it up a little without losing the energy that makes them so vibrant. It would certainly be a shame for them to fall prey to another infamous post-hardcore cliché: stagnation.