The Emersons

Closet Homosapiens (2007)

Joe Pelone

While live shows and the Internets are handy for scoping out new bands, sometimes a good album cover is all it takes. Just as the flying high-fives on Latterman's No Matter We Go..! and the flaming x on X's Los Angeles sucked me in, so too did the rockin' gorillas on Closet Homosapiens by the Emersons. Drawn to the original artwork by online cartoonist Joe Dunn (hit up his site to see his comics. Funny stuff), I stuck around for the Ramones-style pop-punk.

Closet Homosapiens' sound is easy enough to grasp -- if you dig the Ramones, the Queers, Groovie Ghoulies and the like, you'll dig this record. It's pop-punk of the thrashy, searing variety. Sure, it gets a little stale near the end of its 23-minute, 12-track run, but it's still got that classic pogo feel. It's a good pop-punk record.

The production is a little murky, which suits the sound well. There's also some sort of weird effect on frontman Aaronopitheous' vocals that sometimes give him a Rob Zombie sound, especially on opening number "Death Count 48." It's like a guttural whine, if that makes any sense. I don't know if it's just too multitracked or what, making it somewhat distracting, but it also sets the Emersons apart from your average three-chord wonders.

With this style, though, comments and criticisms seem almost irrelevant. Either you're down with the pinhead sound or you're not. Me, I'm digging Emersons tunes like "You're a Rat" and "Total Freakout."