Jeromes Dream / Orchid

Jeromes Dream / Orchid [10-inch] (2000)

eatdogs

Jerome’s Dream and Orchid…

Two of the now classic Screamo bands from the past made this

split record and what you can get out of it is the scene cred of actually owning

one if you don’t care about paying very expensive secondhand prices on Discogs.

Oh and the music is aight.

The novelty of the record is neat though. The skull shape

stands out and if you had the scratch to actually buy one of these, you

probably wouldn’t want to just shelve it alongside your other records. No! You

would want to display it proudly because it is awesome and now you own one finally!

Ok, so that aside how is the actual music on here? Well… it’s

Screamo. You know, that loud kind? The kind of Screamo that sounds dirty and

raw? No, it’s not Loma Prieta and no, it’s not friggin’ Touché Amoré. Naw man,

this is Jerome’s Dream and Orchid son!

So first, let us talk about Orchid. They were perhaps the

best example of what the genre used to be besides Saetia. Its chaotic music and

the Hardcore Punk roots are there, but just taken a bit more extreme. It’s a

fine line between acts like say, In/Humanity and Combatwoundedveteran. Orchid’s

music could almost blend a bit between genres, but right when they were about

to step over the line they go back to their own sound. Still it is interesting

though how they did stuff like release a split with Pig Destroyer and play

shows with Grindcore bands.

Jerome’s Dream is a different beast. Not as spastic as

Orchid, but more like a pre-pubescent teenager being choked and forced to watch

re-runs of The Junior Christian Science Bible Lesson Program in a dark room. Yeah,

so what always stood out about Jerome’s Dream was singer Jeff Smith who never

played with a mic on. He would scream at the top of his lungs during live

performances and the result of all that angst was apparently him losing his

voice at their end of their short career. That has been denied though, but if

you check out their final release Presents,

you would think they became a totally different band. Oh, and they also never

faced the audience and never played on a stage, demanding to play on floors

instead.

Not much else to say about this. It’s Screamo! If you want

to dig into the lyrical content good luck trying to understand anything that is

being sung. Nevertheless, as written somewhere else about this release, it is considered

as definitive text for the genre…

It doesn’t last long so that’s nice.

…

Hey, it’s not that bad really. It’s just…

whatever.