This six-song EP is actually
Boy Sets Fire's debut and the reason for Magic Bullet Records to begin, but due to a myriad of problems with record labels, not many individuals could get this until 2000, three years after it had actually been released for the first time. Keeping that in mind is important in understanding the sound displayed and approach the band took in recording the album and presenting their political message. While only six songs long, the album packs emotion, power, politics, and aggression into each second. Song topics include education, political parties, corruption in politics, and more. Vocalist
Nathan Gray takes those subjects and pleads with compassion one minute and yells in anger the next. The music always accompanies him, whether it's an indie rock jam for the slower parts or metallic hardcore for the portions of the songs where a little more power is needed. No matter what the approach, the songs are endearing and for 1997 they marked a radical change in how many approached the hardcore sound, picking up where many bands like
Endpoint and
Split Lip left off and taking things to the next level.
This Crying, This Screaming, My Voice Is Being Born was the beginning of that and is by far one of the band's better releases. ~ Kurt Morris