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Over a decade after their breakup, the Portraits of Past discography CD was just recently released. This CD, which is the first time PoP have released something not on vinyl, collects their self-titled LP (also known as the less economically titled 0100101110100011100100100), two compilation tracks, two tracks from their split 7” with Bleed and five live tracks.

For a band that only existed from 1994-1995, the progression between the early stuff to the LP songs is phenomenal. Oddly enough, the album starts with their later recordings and works its way back. The songs from the LP redefined emotional hardcore. Ever since this LP took off, nearly every screamo band has been trying to rip off PoP to varying degrees of success. Honestly, the first seven songs on the discography are essential for everyone into the screamo / emotional hardcore genre. The first compilation song sounds similar to the previous songs, though on a less epic scale. The other compilation song and the songs from the split with Bleed are still great, though they definitely resemble the less dynamic early emo stuff like Heroin and Antioch Arrow. The down-side to the second compilation song, “The One with the Slow Part,” is that the recording sounds slightly fuzzy and muddy when compared to the rest of the songs. Surprisingly, the live tracks on the CD sound great. I had assumed that the tracks would sound awful since they were recorded in 1995, but since the recordings came from a radio show, everything comes through clearly.

Anyone who is into hardcore should own the Portraits of Past LP or this CD. I would not say that it is absolutely essential to buy the CD if you already own the LP, though the other songs are definitely worth checking out.

In short, this CD compiles everything from one of the most important emotional hardcore bands to have ever existed.



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    Posted by tick16 on 2008-12-02 17:22:27
    My Score:

    wow,ppl dnt really knw good old fashion scremo.
    now these days theres gay ass bands...i wished there were bands like these... fcking stupid kids and there UnderOath i got nuthing against them though...
    The album is geat,this is scremo not new gay sht from this time

    Posted by xote on 2008-10-13 23:44:15

    haha well you fucks missed it. They took it down and took down the blog about it also. But if you look at their comments you will see that there was an unreleased song (not a new song) up there.

    Posted by paris_in_flames on 2008-10-13 21:53:12

    What the shit? I dont see any new city of caterpillar song

    Posted by CCSummers on 2008-10-13 18:23:01
    My Score:

    score is for the fact that im on the CoC page right now and I dont see a new song
    boo

    Posted by SilentStorms on 2008-10-12 09:20:31
    My Score:

    I have everything but the two comp songs, is it really worth me shelling out the money for them? Liked these guys, but the drummer's next project was even better, RIP Funeral Diner.

    Fuck! I'm in Korea and can't access that new CoC song! Is there anywhere else to access it, or a direct link or something? Goddamn you Korea.

    Posted by theyounginfluential on 2008-10-11 02:29:17

    oh fuck yeah i heard that new song yesterday it is fucking NUTSSSSSSS

    Posted by xote on 2008-10-11 01:32:00

    I don't think PunkNews is going to post my news story about this probably becuase of my poor writting skills but I figure anybody reading these comments would be into the fact that CITY OF FUCKING CATERPILLAR POSTED AN UNRELEASED SONG ON THEIR MYSPACE!!!!

    Check it...
    www.myspace.com/cityofcaterpillar

    Posted by SloaneDaley on 2008-10-10 13:39:55

    want.

    Posted by feeeding5000 on 2008-10-10 11:18:10

    I. Love. This. One of the greatest emocore bands ever.

    It deserves the 10/10. Only minus is the sparse packaging, but it beats the fuck out of mediocre-sounding fileshared mp3s.

    Posted by mattramone on 2008-10-10 11:10:52
    My Score:

    Score is for drugs.

    Posted by eazyd2 on 2008-10-10 11:10:15

    the sound of gay. 5 stars you must be fuckin retarded

    Posted by sugarfull on 2008-10-10 02:34:26

    Glad to see this reviewed on Punknews

    Posted by xote on 2008-10-10 00:48:32
    My Score:

    I also give my score for Heroin the band and the drug... PoP were fucking awesome though.

    Posted by mikexdude on 2008-10-10 00:09:03
    My Score:

    Score is for heroin.

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