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Paradise

In addition to kickball, writing and grocery shopping, I took a listen to Paint it Black's Paradise. After listening to it a few times, I kept saying this: Wow. I keep saying this as I listened to it again this morning.

I'm still a big Lifetime fan (comprehensive band history here) and really enjoyed Kid Dynamite (who featured Dan Yemin and Dave Wagenschutz from Lifetime) back in their day. Ever since Kid Dynamite essentially split off to None More Black and Paint it Black (even though Dave Wagenschutz is now in both bands), I've enjoyed None More Black more than Paint it Black. Simply, I felt that None More Black rocked more.

When I first heard Paint it Black's debut, CVA, I thought it sounded like Kid Dynamite Part II with Yemin on lead vocals. I wasn't impressed so that's why I gravitated towards None More Black.

Well, after reading an interview with Yemin about how he put a lot of his musical influences (from rap to rock to hardcore) into Paint it Black's Paradise, I was curious. Turns out, Paradise is full of fast hardcore (most songs are about 1:30 long) but there are a lot of melodic breaks that are more in the vein of post-hardcore than in the vein of brutal hardcore. Not something that will make hardcore non-believers into believers, but Paradise is a great album.

On a side note, Yemin has a Ph.D. in psychology and he has his own private practice. I wonder what sessions with him are like. I wonder if he has any old Lifetime or Kid Dynamite posters in his office. Hmmm . . .

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