Code Orange Kids
Love Is Love // Return To Dust

On stage are four eighteen-year-old kids. They scream into the microphone, playing their hearts out for months now. They've already performed hundreds of concerts across the States, traveling far and wide, climbing onto the small stages of underground venues. And each time, they give their all, emanating incredible energy until the end. Below them, at the foot of that stage, people jostle, mosh, do stage diving, have fun and get excited. Among all those sweaty people, there's a figure smiling contentedly, nodding his head to the rhythm of that frenzied music. His name is Jacob Bannon. Among the crowd enjoying the concert is the hero of that young band of kids, the one who inspired them, the one who gave them a reason to pick up a guitar and play hardcore music. At the end of the concert, Jacob approaches the band to congratulate them. "You’re really good, you impressed me," he says to the girl in the group, a petite red-haired girl full of energy. Overwhelmed to have their personal idol in front of them, they thank him almost embarrassingly. Jacob Bannon himself shaking their hand, complimenting them, saying how much he liked them on that stage. "How about coming to my recording studio in Boston?" Jacob asks. The kids accept, thrilled and surprised by the proposal.

Thus, approximately, Love Is Love // Return To Dust was born, the first full-length by the Code Orange Kids, a band of high school students from Pittsburgh who joined the great family of Deathwish Inc. in 2012. A fiery, violent debut, produced by Kurt Ballou (guitarist of Converge). A debut that laid the foundation for a new era of modern hardcore. It all starts with "Flowermouth (The Leech)", a track with a leaden rhythm and tarry screams from Reba Meyers alternated with the vocal violence of drummer Jami Morgan. The following are short and massive pieces, with Joe Goldman’s bass liquid and muddy, tearing the limbs.

The first real surprise of the album is "Liars // Trudge", which has the metallic taste of blood licked from a deep wound. The slow pace of the track echoes the monumental and angry grunge of Nirvana’s In Utero. But halfway through, time seems to stop. No explosion, but an implosion. Reba’s voice turns clean, melodious though spectral and distant. The languid guitars echo a sick and deformed shoegaze. And here lies the strength of the Code Orange Kids, the power to introduce moments like this, moments coming from other musical worlds to infect and innovate hardcore. Even in the next track "Colors (Into Nothing)", there is that desire to break away from the classic setup. An post-rock track, disorienting and exhilarating, close to the sounds of their labelmates Deafheaven. A breath of fresh air in the black magma of metalcore.

The claws and slashes inspired by Converge return to demolish eardrums and break down every wall, like the seismic "Roots Are Certain // Sky Is Empty" an extremely brief and violent moment that sinks into sharp and furious darkness. Fury not only sonically, but also lyrically. Adolescent anger and frustration, the rage of an eighteen-year-old American living in the gray of a metropolis like Pittsburgh. Post-apocalyptic lyrics, texts that cry out despair and pessimism. In the deafening "Choices (Love Is Love)" Reba spits into the microphone I watched your spirit break, I felt the collapse of my mental complex as my head hit my hands.[...] In this bed I buried inside of your house, a hollow hole that I have dug for myself. An emotional depth that disturbs and makes you think, that fascinates and hurts. In "Bloom (Return To Dust)", a track that closes the album suddenly halting, there is all the desire to pull out every thought and furiously vent the uncertainties of a modern teenager. Put a gun in the mouth of the sky and just (breathe) or to where I can bathe in my own conscience.

The charm of this debut by the Code Orange Kids lies in its variety. A variety that starts with the music, not just hardcore but also grunge and post-rock and shoegaze. A variety that extends to the vocals, three voices (in some tracks there's also the growl of guitarist Eric Balderose) always well alternated and linked to each other. Then there are the lyrics, already intense and meaningful despite the young age of the four kids from Pennsylvania. There's great hope for this band, there's great expectation (the second album is due next September and already promises great things). And in Code Orange Kids there are also the signs of the beginning of a new era of hardcore. New names, new faces, and new sounds in a hardcore rapidly evolving. Along with Loma Prieta, Oathbreaker, and Birds In Row, Code Orange Kids have the future of hardcore in their hands and we're all watching (and savoring) the taste of this fresh breeze.