Review Summary: A Screamo album so ripe with talent and passion that it breaks the wheel.
What really is…A greatest album of all time? It could be something subjectively opinionated and personal, leading to people categorizing and debating about an album “among” the elites. The problem with lumping newer albums into this prestigious category is because it is possible for it to age in a subpar way or one could be so in the moment that it heightens the enjoyment. However, there also exist albums that break down barriers, reformat how we think about music and genres. They might even be so bafflingly masterful that it’s hard to imagine it being made by human hands. For example, Pink Floyd’s
Wish You Were Here, The Beatles
Abbey Road, Radiohead’s
Ok Computer and Godspeed You Black Emperor’s
Lift Your Skinny Fists are often in that objective conversation.
With all of that in mind, State Faults gifted listeners with
Children Of The Moon. Merely released in 2024, it’s easy to imagine being too soon judging it is one of the greatest albums ever made. At its base form, this lunar album is a work of screamo. Easy to scoff at knowing the genre’s reputation. It’s not exactly the most affecting or graceful of genres when talking about this conversation. Then the album is heard, opening up a whole new world of what screamo can be. Obviously influenced by older bands like City Of Caterpillar and Envy, for over an hour State Faults manages to inject copious amounts of emotional, sensitivity, emotional intelligence, poetry and primal passion into their work. This makes it feel like a final battle or the climax to a long journey. Enter, the greatest Screamo album ever made.
It’s perhaps the “Looming” to “Transfiguration” stretch that says it all, with the odyssey that is “No Gospel” sandwiched between. “Looming” sets the stage as a chilling intro and massive chords come in to commence “No Gospel.” The first half is a cacophony of vast harmonics, energetic rhythms, pained vocals and a potent atmosphere that is gorgeous. It’s all topped off by these insane guitar squeals that take over, bringing to mind something alive and animalistic. The first half is propulsive, unexpected, never making the listener feel the song’s ten-minute length. After passionate gang vocals exclaiming, “The only holy book is the one inside your heart,” the band brings the heavy section full circle back around to the incredible harmonic chords. This brings the listener to a sublime place.
The second half of the song is a magical ending filled with breathy vocals, dreamlike guitar tones and drumming that keeps everything ground. Its tearjerking ending fades away into "Transfiguration," keeping this momentum going. This song brings to mind the style of Circa Survive and State Faults combining their talents. At once, it gives way to a foray of memorable riffs and fantastic drumming. This run of tracks solidifies
Children Of The Moon as a diverse array of unforgettable works.
From the intense blast beats of “Nazar” to the pinnacle of chilling energy on “Divination,” the band never fails to deliver something unexpected around each and every turn. “Nazar” pummels the listener with intense vocals and horrific dread in its atmosphere, showing the album is not afraid to showcase a foreboding destruction in their sound. Meanwhile, “Divination” possesses a shocking downfall into doom, with the bass and guitar giving the sound a nightmarish quality. The album starts in such a wonderfully catchy place with “Blood Moon” and “Palo Santo” so the album’s stampede-like evolution to “Wind Song” feels gratifying and earned. “Wind Song” sees the guitar and post rock style build up in the percussion symbolizing feeling to your knees, reaching up and longing wistfully with tears. It’s these songs that show the album’s unpredictability and songwriting ability on full display, as well as a fearlessness in falling deep into desperate vulnerability. While sitting in this atmosphere, we’re blasted with “Bodega Head.”
“Bodega Head” starts with acoustic guitars so foreboding and sorrowful, but coupled with the undeniably self-revealing lyrics this makes for a powerfully moving intro. This makes the evolution of “Bodega Head” so gratifying and shocking when State Faults ends the album with massive strings uncharacteristic of screamo. It’s a song so big that it feels like a genuine swan song for the band. This remains to be seen, but all of these qualities come together to make this album a sure contender for greatest screamo album of all time or the album of the decade. It’s so much more than that though.
Children Of The Moon is so ripe with talent that it could easily fit into the conversation of one of the greatest albums of all time. At the very least, each genre has their own, with this being Screamo’s. If this flew past any listener’s radar, trust that this album makes people who don’t even love Screamo love it.
