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The info sheet calls the music of Mydriasis was “post hardcore with a brain”. I’d rather say that it is music for all those My Chemical Romance fools hose taste is not completely rotten. In a context of what I would call post hardcore this band would not be relevant at all. But one glance at the band list on the german wikipedia entry for “post hardcore” tells me that there is indeed more than one definition of this term. I mean how can you honestly put Thrice, Cursive, Alexisonfire and the elderly Neurosis into one and the same category? Post hardcore as I would define it is music that is based on hardcore both musically and ethically but goes beyond these boundaries. Number one example would be Fugazi whose members were all part of the hardcore scene but together they invented something new. Refused on the other hand were very innovative but till their and their were clearly hardcore and not post anything. Text however, a band formed by former Refused members after their break up are post hardcore in the very sense of the word and by the way their self titled album is absolutely brilliant!
So before I get too far off let’s get back to this band named after a medical term referring to pupil activity. Are they post hardcore? Well, none of the bands namedropped on the info sheet gives reference to their foundation within the hardcore underground and although naming The Mars Volta and Glassjaw as influences was certainly not the band’s idea it doesn’t speak for hardcore activity either. No, I cannot see a reason why this band should be squeezed into this drawer that just ain’t theirs…
However the second part of the above description of the band’s music is much more suitable. The music is intelligent and intelligently arranged. It is far from being bad but unfortunately also far from being unique. It is rather a good second version of Coheed and Cambria with less Mickey Mouse-esque vocals and without the sci-fi trash. The comparison to The Mars Volta is unfair. The Mars Volta is too big and their roots go too deep into 70s krautrock and psychedelia for being even touched by a young band like this. But honestly I don’t see a reason why this band should not be liked by people who like the above mentioned Coheed and Cambria for it is a well done record.
[jan]
www.mydriasis.co.uk
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