Review: Roman Candle’s Discount Fireworks Rivals Hardcore’s Latest Anthems
Photo courtesy of @romancandlex on Instagram
Released just last year, the Las Vegas four-piece wrote one of the most densely powerful suites in hardcore. Opening the five track EP with “Oh Dreamer,” complementing their inspiration of early 2000s screamo, with sound notable to Love Lost but Not Forgotten or even other Vegas Idols like Curl Up and Die, Piper Ferrari on vocals reaches out with soul-aching lyrics, backed with melodic guitar, and heavy, heavy drums. Listening to this track is like living a pain that isn’t even yours.
The femme-fronted band has opened for legends like Boundaries, Dying Wish, and Varials, and “Mad Girl’s Love Song” can make any new listener understand why they’re a band to watch. Feeding on ideals of phantom romance and perhaps unrequited love, lyrics like “I think I made you up inside my head, I close my eyes and the world drops dead ... I should have loved anyone else instead,” leaves listeners enthralled in Roman Candle’s softened approach to fundamental violence.
Playing our hearts like strings on their guitars, Roman Candle has some of the best lyrics I’ve witnessed in a while. Still on “Mad Girl’s Love Song,” the transition from Ferrari screaming chest-beating on top of choruses more than halfway through the song, to then La Dispute or Saetia-style talking, hallmarks the band’s vice of meticulously arranging the workings of their songs around tempo changes and seemingly new, melodic riffs (the fundamentals of this track)– ultimately wringing in listeners with sheer aggression to be brutally blown away at Ferrari’s angelic voice and skilled lyricism.
Keeping similar yet still forward momentum with track #3 titled, “Gaslighting Isn’t Real (You’re Just Crazy),” the variant time signatures and overall darker sound is what really stood out to me, the track feels as though it’s paved in sorrow, and the apparently obvious theme is just as catching. The last two tracks, although being less recognized by fans, reflect the disavowed emotional rawness that contributes to Roman Candle’s signature sound.
“Survivor’s Guilt,” is a full-volume and noisy assault comparable to peer releases from Wristmeetrazor or To Be Gentle, taking on a more hardcore approach to a screamo backdrop. “Spit in Their Faces,” closing out the EP, somewhat forgoing hardcore aesthetics, asks for only 1 minute and 43 seconds of your devoted time, you should listen. In 2022, Roman Candle’s release would attract followers to rush the stage, yell in unison with backing vocals, and devolve into violent pits, don’t wait to participate. Stream Roman Candle.