This six-song outing from Side Over has quite a backstory to it. Formed in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA area in 1989, the band recorded a live demo at renowned venue Unisound in 1991, then did a three-song demo in late-1993 that was carried by the legendary Very Distribution. They were actually slated to record a full-length LP which would have been the first release on Very's new Edison Recordings imprint, but the group unfortunately faded away in 1994 before that plan took shape.
From the '90s recording sessions, vocalist Aaron Ferranti and guitarist Lou Rogai remain, having reunited Side Over last year—with James Simon on bass and Kevin Darcy on drums—to perform at a memorial show for co-founding bassist Neil Husvar, who had passed away that spring, as well as to honor previously lost members Brian Craig and Chris Pawloski (R.I.P. to all). This experience ultimately resulted in the 25-minute Loves You, which consists of re-recordings of the 1993 demo plus three other songs—one of which ("Scars") was newly created from riffs on a 32-year-old practice tape.
The material definitely has that "emocore" type of sound from that era where melodic hardcore was crossing over into something more, and I absolutely love that style and have always felt that it's something sorely missing from today's scene. For whatever reason, not many bands have continued to draw influence from this niche, so it's cool that Side Over has effectively recaptured the vibe of what they were doing over three decades ago. If I assume that "Scars" is the only new composition, I would guess that some of the slightly more rudimentary tracks like "Reaching Out" and "Unchained" might have originally predated the 1993 demo. Still, though, both contain a couple of cool little melodic bits and wander from straightforward hardcore, there's a rockin' undercurrent to 'em, but a slightly more aggressive underlying groove which makes me think "early years." Then again, the latter's almost six minutes and kinda has a jammy atmospheric breakdown in the middle, so I might be completely off-base here!?
Opener "Sorry" carries the classic aesthetic of mid-paced melodic hardcore of the '90s with just the right amount of chugging counterbalance; similarly to "Lust." "Sacrifice" has a Strife-like "ballad" intro before plunging into plenty of those patented arpeggiated riffs so emblematic of '90s emocore; and given its early-'90s roots, "Scars" does stylistically fit in with the other tracks, utilizing a hint more surging force.
Also available as a 12" on a marbled swirl of blue/black vinyl, I was of course gifted my preferred format of CD. The discs are housed in a simple digipak with dedications, credits, a couple of photos of the current lineup, and a collage of old photos from the '90s under the tray. And I will point out that it's a legit CD in a legit digipak—it's not a pro CD-R in one of those flimsy posterboard digis that have become annoyingly common in recent years. So, much respect for that! A portion of the lyrics are present on Bandcamp and seem to deal with topics such as loss and striving for deeper meaning in life.
I'm not sure if Side Over has any plans to continue with new material moving forward, but this is an almost surprisingly effective document of what the band was working toward all those years ago. Very cool to see this come to fruition, despite the tragic circumstances that set it in motion...
Get It
- Bandcamp (CD, 12", mp3)
- Apple Music (stream)
- Spotify (stream)
