Loma Prieta

Loma Prieta: IVIV (2012)
Deathwish Inc.

Reviewer Rating: 4.5

User Rating:

Contributed by: SilentStormsSilentStorms
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on January 20th 2012Ever been sucker-punched? I have. It sucks. One minute you're talking to your friend and the next you're on the ground trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Loma Prieta's fourth studio album, aptly titled IV, gave me pretty much the same experience, only in a good way. I have been fol.

Ever been sucker-punched? I have. It sucks. One minute you're talking to your friend and the next you're on the ground trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Loma Prieta's fourth studio album, aptly titled IV, gave me pretty much the same experience, only in a good way.

I have been following Loma since their phenomenal 2006 LP, Last City. If you have ever wondered what Converge and Orchid would sound like if they had some crazy babies, this it is. Loma started out as more of a traditional screamo (sorry for using the term, but it does apply) band that could have been likened to Usurp Synapse for the heavy portions and La Quiete for the quieter stuff. Over the past five years their sound has morphed into a much heavier and hairier beast than most would have imagined after their demo release in 2005.

Nearly abandoned are the soft jazzy interludes. This album is thick. It is chaotic. At times, it's a little confusing because there is so much going on in such a short period of time. An average Loma track is about a minute and thirty seconds of nonstop noise. This noise, at first, seems pretty random, but with each repeat spin the listener can pick up on the "melodies" and timing of the riffs. Be warned, this is not for most listeners, as this is one of the heaviest albums I have heard in a long time.

The album starts with "Fly by Night," which is a perfect example of how this band can shred like crazy, yet retain and incorporate a catchy solo riff that meshes with the noise and propels the entire song into a two-and-a-half-minute epic. Each track is 100 percent screamed, with no clean or gang vocals. Some songs have a call and response structure with the vocals, most notably "Trilogy 4: Momentary," which is quite possibly the heaviest song on here. The high points on the album include the openers, "Uniform" and "Biography", as these tracks are much more distinguishable due to the less somber and more unconventional instrumental arrangements (Orchid's "Tiger" comes to mind).

The small stain on this otherwise fantastic record are the similarities between some of the songs. This isn't such a bad thing when those songs are all pretty great to begin with, but I could understand someone saying, "It all sounds the same".

Although the entire album clocks in at less than 25 minutes, this is still the record to beat in 2012 for any heavy band. I have the feeling that these guys are relatively obscure at the moment, but with this amazing release on Deathwish, I don't expect that to last much longer.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

xherojuanax (March 3, 2012)

Fantastic album. Hardcore at its most compelling. "Biography" is stunning.

SloaneDaley (January 23, 2012)

telegraphrocks first chance to weigh in with his bland and middling taste for 2012.

encorp (January 23, 2012)

God damn. Fly by night is probably one of the best songs I've heard in a long fucking time.

telegraphrocks (January 22, 2012)

First really overrated album of 2012.

wentz_equals_death (January 20, 2012)

love the production, want to make my band sound like that

SloaneDaley (January 20, 2012)

I caught them with Punch last year and I have to say: While Punch are a really good live band, Loma blew them out of the water. Seriously one of the best live performances I've had the pleasure to witness. As for the comments about them being a "cool band", I'm not sure why anyone would think they were "uncool". I wish them all the popularity in the world.

eatdogs (January 20, 2012)

awesome band. glad this got reviewed and i assume this will be the album that their fans will claim forever.

gugl0003 (January 20, 2012)

Really diggin' this shit so far. These dudes set the bar high for 2012.

SilentStorms (January 20, 2012)

"I'll start off by being on-topic. This is the new "cool band" to like, so get ready for a few months of douchebaggery regarding them.
Ok, now for the actual thing, 25 minutes is short for a hardcore record? About half of my top 10 favorite records of all time clock in at about 14-18 minutes. When did 25 minutes become a drawback? What are you comparing this record to? What would improve if it was longer?"

Hmmm... I've never even met anyone who knows this band, so the "cool band" comment I'm just going to disregard because it's an opinion and I don't agree with it. As for the length, yeah I guess 25 minutes isn't exactly short, but I've been listening to a lot of records as of late that are heavy and clock in at around an hour. So I guess that comment wasn't exaclty relevant. I never said the length of the record was a drawback though. I love Ampere and Neil Perry and their songs are short as hell ... and amazing.

givemeamuseumandillfillit (January 20, 2012)

I'll start off by being on-topic. This is the new "cool band" to like, so get ready for a few months of douchebaggery regarding them.
Ok, now for the actual thing, 25 minutes is short for a hardcore record? About half of my top 10 favorite records of all time clock in at about 14-18 minutes. When did 25 minutes become a drawback? What are you comparing this record to? What would improve if it was longer?

preston (January 20, 2012)

The production on this is crazy. Good record.

SilentStorms (January 20, 2012)

"The high points on the album include the openers, “Uniform” and “Biography”, "

The opener, as mentioned earlier, is Fly by Night. Uniform and Biography are 2 other songs that appear later on the album.

I'm glad to see this was posted so quickly. Maybe I'll do a few more reviews and see how they fare.

SloaneDaley (January 20, 2012)

Great record. Early front runner as one of my favourites of the year.

peheme (January 20, 2012)

It is at the same level as "As the roots undo" and "Jane Doe". I couldn't think of a better heavy music album this year. Rarely mentionned in the reviews, but I LOVE Trilogy 6 "Forgetting".