In
Burn Out Your Name's liner notes, the members of
Screamfeeder mention the Afghan Wigs, Tad,
Kyuss,
Matthew Sweet, and
Soul Asylum as influences, but it's pretty clear from the album's first song that the group has put in some serious hours listening to Hüsker Dü records. From the ringing distorto guitar to the throat-slashing, top-of-the-range Bob Mould-esque vocals, Screemfeeder has the Minnepolis trio's sound down better than anyone this side of
Overwhelming Colorfast. That fact is actually pretty impressive, considering that the band hails not from the great angst and strip mall-ridden American Midwest, but from the down under land of kangaroos and Crocodile Dundee. Unfortunately, like almost all Hüsker-obsessed bands,
Screamfeeder chooses to base its entire style on full-power songs like "I Will Never Forget You" (from Zen Arcade), ignoring the heart-on-my-sleeve ballads and Grant Hart straight pop sensibilities that helped make the Minneapolis power trio so influential. The Aussies also don't have much of a knack for memorable melodies, though the lost love-obsessed lyrics are a definite step above the vague, pretentious "those who have absolutely nothing to say...do it anyway" style that infiltrated indie rock in the mid-'90s. Overall,
Burn Out Your Name is a great find for hardcore fans of early emo and the like, but doesn't really have much to recommend it otherwise. ~ Pemberton Roach