Screamo never vanished from the musical landscape, but it’s gained a lot of additional popularity throughout the 2020’s with newer bands offering their unique takes on the style alongside long-established acts. Knumears isn’t brand new, as they’ve been around since 2018 and started putting material out in 2021, but they’re part of the current generation of artists taking screamo and post hardcore from across the 90s, 2000s, and 2010s and putting their own spin on it. This year’s Directions builds upon the raw emotion and soft/loud dynamics of A Shout To See but takes a noticeably denser and more metallic slant. There are more squealing guitars and the entire effort has a darker tone, giving this follow-up a considerable more force behind every note and scream.
Where A Shout To See had a rawness to it where the layers of guitar were the most forward element and sometimes dominated the rest of the mix, Directions goes for a denser approach where there is more weight behind the sound and the bass and drums contribute just as much to the forcefulness as the guitars. The change in sound is immediately noticeable, as it gives off a more rage filled and darker tone compared to some of Knumears’ other material. Stylistically there is still a lot of classic screamo and post hardcore to these songs, as the guitars move between softer melodies that have a more reflective tone and more aggressive ones, but the pauses are spaced out differently and Directions seems focused on giving the listener less space to breathe in between each attack. Knumears also has some slight dips into metalcore/metallic hardcore on Directions, as the way the guitars squeal on the intro and some of the more chug-laden moments give me hints of earlier Converge. But this is more of an additional flourish than a total shift in sound, and it fits with the angrier sound. Admittedly while the first half has a lot of stand-out moments where the band strikes a great balance between the more subdued passages and roaring peaks, once you make it past the haunting sparseness of the title track things are a bit more straightforward on the aggressive side of the sound. This did make some of the later cuts run together, and while I did like the sheer impact of the instrumentation it seemed like after the midpoint things went by in a blur.
With the increased density and metallic sheen of the instrumentals, it makes sense that Matthew Cole has doubled down on screams that cut through the recording with an immense amount of power and emotion. Where some of the earlier material had some slightly cleaner ranges that dipped a bit more into emo, but here the performance remains towards the aggressive end of the spectrum for its entire run. You do get variations, like the backing screams on “Breaking Ground” as well as a guest appearance from Jeromes Dream vocalist Jeff Smith on “Fade Away” that you’ll immediately notice when they come in thanks to the shift in pitch. Sometimes the shrillness of the screams do start to get drowned out by the wall of sound coming from the instrumentals, but that chaotic approach where the vocals seem to go in and out of the noise suits Knumears’ style.
With Directions it feels like Knumears has channeled a lot more aggression into their material, and while there are still natural pauses and sparser moments the listener doesn’t have quite as much time to breathe. It’s an evolution that gives them a bit more of that metallic hardcore type of attack without losing the emotion and melodic flourishes of screamo, and while the second half does blur together for me there’s still a lot to like here. I’d be interested to hear if by the next release the group can bridge the gap between A Shout To See and this album, as it seems like there’s an intriguing middle ground that could be further explored. Directions is available from Run For Cover Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg