Slower Than Seasons

 Slower Than Seasons were a band from Massachusetts, formed in 1998 from members of V.Card and Everdown (which also gives them a connection to The Burning Paris). The band appears to have only existed for a couple years, putting out a 7" EP and a CD that may be another EP or an album, I can't find any information on what the band considered it to be. However, it's just over thirty minutes long, so I'm going with LP for now. They went dark after 2000, and presumably broke up then.

Their sound was a cross between emo pop and midwest emo, heavy on the latter, with a lot of influence pulled from Mineral's The Power of Failing and Christie Front Drive's Anthology, especially true on the 7". I admit that when I was initially collecting their discography, I assumed the 1999 7" would be 90s emo and the 2000 CD would veer straight into mall emo, like so many of their peers. I was wrong. Their sound is pretty consistent across both releases, and while I feel the 7" is stronger overall as it's great all the way through, the CD is still some excellent emo.

For whatever reason, the 7" has made its way to streaming while the CD has not. My rip here of the 7" is comparable: The files on streaming were audibly recorded from vinyl, not the original masters.

songs for the disheartened ep + soon to be ex-girlfriend

Avast!

 I can't prove that Avast! were a major influence on Crash of Rhinos. I have no evidence that anyone from the latter band knew the former existed. But listening to Avast!'s one and only album, it certainly seems possible, if not downright likely.

Avast! were from Dundee, Scotland. Half of its members were also in Stapleton, making it something of a side project. Avast! was formed in the mid-aughts and active for an unknown amount of time. They released their only album on their own label in 2006, and I haven't found evidence they put out anything else, though there are some unreleased live tracks on Youtube. There's also another recording from 2014, after the band reunited following a three year hiatus, presumably calling it quits for good sometime after that. I would put them in the same category as a band like Up Up Down Down; not so much musically (though there is some commonality there) but as a likeminded forerunner of the emo revival, ahead of their time by a few years.

As stated above, they sound a lot like a gentler Crash of Rhinos, landing somewhere on the softer side of Knots (the title track sounds uncannily like something off that album). However, this is not to say they don't have any edge at all, as that isn't true. While most of the album isn't very aggressive, it has its moments. I'm a huge fan of Crash of Rhinos, considering Knots to be a personal favorite. Needless to say, I think Avast!'s Faultlines is just fantastic. Give it a listen.

Faultlines

Avast! on Bandcamp