Genre : Screamo, Emoviolence, Post-hardcore, Mathcore
Released : May 5th, 2023
Label : Iodine Recordings
FFO : Botch, Touché Amoré, Norma Jean (early), Vein.fm, Birds In Row
As a band, Jeromes Dream's trajectory is quite atypical.
Founded during the late 90's, the San Francisco three-piece are considered to be amongst the pioneers of screamo and left an impactful legacy upon the scene after releasing a series of splits from the late 90's to early 2000's as well as two albums at the very turn of the century.
After disbanding in 2001, aside from the 2005 compilation of their works, the band had pretty much ceased to exist.
That is until the release of their 2019 "LP" which offered a more angular approach to their songwriting as well as a departure from the high-pitched "screamo" vocals which had become iconic, in favour of muffled spoken-word yells following the same intonations, creating a no-wave, monotone feel which was received with mixed reviews.
"The Gray In Between" however, sounds like a fully revitalized version of Jeromes Dream, adopting yet another angle to their sound by implementing bits and pieces of various influences while retaining the essential feedback-heavy, dissonance-relying core of their uncompromising sonic identity.
Attentive ears will pickup on the fact that traces of melodic post-hardcore are much more present than they've ever been before in the band's discography, seemlessly blending in with the harsh, ear-scraping sounds you would expect from Jeromes Dream, while tracks such as opener "Conversations : In Time, On Mute" or "AAEEAA" border on being full-on mathcore or chaotic hardcore.
There's even some (dare I say it) black metal stylistic nods on tracks like "South By Isolation" or "On Holiday With Infinity" due to drummer Erik Ratensperger's feral usage of blast beats as he lays down the rhythmical structure of the ongoing chaos with ferocious energy.
Having opted to return to the more traditional screamo/post-hardcore vocals, frontman and bassist Jeff Smith delivers an appropriately abrasive vocal performance throughout while also providing the low-end backbone for guitarist Sean Leary (who replaced original guitarist Nick Antonopoulos in 2021) to fire-off serrated strikes of feedback-infused panic chords, striking a balance between mechanically calculated and chaotically unhinged.
By the looks and sounds of it, Jeromes Dream are well and truly back with a vengeance and they are far from being done just yet.
If this is any sign of what else is to come from the screamo legends, this could prove to be the best time to consider yourself a fan of the band or hop aboard the speeding train.
But for now, "The Gray In Between" is easily one of the best releases this year when it comes to the realms adjacent to post-hardcore and everything in-between, and it does so in under a mere half hour.
If the motto "quality over quantity" were to be an album this year, this could be it.
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