Ann Arbor, Michigan screamo band Youth Novel had abandoned an unfinished album when they broke up in 2017, but during the pandemic, guitarist Maya Chun and bassist Jon Riley revisited the material with new vocalist Nathan Whittle and the result is a new self-titled album. The album description (written by Fred Thomas) reads:

Michigan based screamo band Youth Novel was active from 2012-2017, putting out a few releases and playing a handful of shows before unraveling. Just before the band dissolved, what was left of a shifting lineup was working on material for a new LP, with recordings being shelved when band members relocated. When the pandemic created unexpected free time, guitarist Maya Chun and bassist Jon Riley returned to the unfinished material with new vocalist Nathan Whittle to refine the arrangements and bring the songs back from their semi-abandoned state. The resulting self-titled album is eleven tracks of chaotic and brightly-burning emotive hardcore, serving as the final capstone of Youth Novel's brief but remarkable trajectory.

The album officially drops Valentine's Day (2/14) via Zegema Beach Records bu we're premiering the full stream of it in this post, and if you're a screamo fan you're definitely going to want to hear this. Like the music Youth Novel released during their initial run, it's frantic, '90s-style screamo, but it's a darker, harsher, and more claustrophobic sounding album than their earlier work. All three members contribute vocals and all have ferocious screams, and the instrumentation is a total sensory overload. It's not all aggressive though; the record also has an EITS-esque post-rocky side (like on the song "XVII"), which makes for a great contrast with all the heavier material. Listen to the full album below and pre-order cassette copies from ZBR (USA, Canada/International).

Last year, Maya Chun's newer band Blue Noise released their very good new LP World of Harm.

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