I heard nothing of this band for a while, so I had given up hope of ever hearing new material by them. Fortunately for me, here we are with their new album. It continues right in line with their previous album and ep's. This means you are in for a treat of fast and highly melodic punk. The band takes a couple of clues from the French OI! scene which only makes it more catchy. Considering how often I played this record it more than deserves to take the top spot in this list.

When browsing the discography of a label I recently discovered I pushed play on Underneath's From The Gut Of Gaia. I was shocked. What a record! The band plays mathcore that reminds me a bit of The Red Chord. It also made me realize I used to like this kind of music (well, I am very picky in this scene, but there are a couple of releases that I really, really like!). I admit to giving The Red Chord a couple of spins again and enjoying it a bunch. This record however got at least as much playtime. It is great example of everything I like about this particular scene. It is technical, but not for the sake of technicality, it is aggressive, it is memorable. Great stuff!

Shortly after writing this review I went on a weekend trip to Brussels. There I visited the Magritte museum. I saw a couple of paintings there that must have inspired the artwork of this album as it plays with perception in exactly the same way. Anyway, emo is having a great year as far as I am concerned. I have listened to a lot of great releases already. Cancionero De Los Cielos is the best I've listened to so far. The only release that could challenge it's status is the new Regarde, but with only seven songs, I consider that an EP. This album really sticks out for how it combines influences and styles into one coherent album.

If you look for Desert Lily in you're music app, the first thing the app presents is probably the Make Do And Mend song this band is named after. I am stating this as if I know it for a fact, but I don't. However, considering how Desert Lily very clearly is heavily inspired by Make Do And Mend I would be surprised if I am wrong. Like Underneath Desert Lily made me realize I miss a certain sound. Like Underneath Desert Lily made me relisten the older records I hold dear. Also like Underneath, Desert Lily proved itself to be a worthy heir of those older bands. Trapped In My Thoughts is a great record I keep coming back to. It makes writing incredibly catchy and emotive tunes sound so easy!

The second Spanish entry in this top 5. You might conclude the Spanish scene is very vibrant at the moment and I would definitely agree with you. Svdestada drinks from a bit of a different well than Viva Belgrado though. This is deeply rooted in the neo-crust scene. Spain has given us a whole lot of great bands already and Svdestada show they are ready to take the torch and run with it. Their sound is urgent, fast and they have a knack for coming up with those melodies I associate with the Spanish scene.