Myriad [NY]

Demo (2007)

Brian Shultz

Long Island, NY's Myriad totally slipped by my radar, but they seem new enough to forgive my nearsightedness.

The band seems to vaguely claim At the Drive-In and Cursive as influences and that's a likely reality. While pretty raw and underproduced, their three-song demo here shows a ton of promise despite a lot of obvious similarities with the Sirens era of their fellow LIers, On the Might of Princes. Granted, Myriad aren't nearly as accomplished, but they share a lot of the same traits. They have a keen ear for flying delicate but bizarre, melancholic instrumental passages through the speakers, at one point sauntering with them before abruptly breaking into an up-tempo, anguished roll, as in "Forced Armory," whose intro actually recalls Thursday's Full Collapse. Otherwise, there's a song like the math-y "Semantics and Pressures," which drags by with squealing guitars, Midwest sincerity and a buildup into angsty screams that somehow completely avoid being forced (sort of like, well, OTMOP).

The important word to mention here is potential. Likely being the first three songs Myriad have ever laid to tape, they have it in spades. They've got some excellent influences and (slightly elder and/or defunct) peers they're taking the right nods from, and all they need is time and songwriting development. The next thing we know, we'll have an indie-post-hardcore powerhouse on our hands.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD
Demo