This split EP is the work of Los Angeles rock bands Saline & Collective Fear.
Saline mix alt-rock, emo, hardcore punk and grunge to create a slightly retro-leaning hard and heavy sound that is also extremely accessible. Their music drips with emotion, feeling and creative freedom.
With a blend of sweet melodies and sometimes scathing sonic textures, Collective Fear creates a unique brand of alternative rock that is distinctly theirs. Incorporating aspects of shoegaze, post-punk, and electronic elements, they have a unique sonic identity that feels familiar but at the same time individual.
The EP opens with two songs from Saline. Each hits as hard as the other, with opener Spider-Man having a decidedly grungy feel and almost veering into Deftones and emo-adjacent territory. It’s unrelenting in its audible assault and is pedal to the metal from beginning to end. Track two – Bodega Weed – continues in this vein, keeping the energy up, the tones dirty and the instrumentation epic (special shout out to the distorted bass and the refreshingly unusual use of synths).
As the Saline songs give way to Collective Fear halfway through the EP, it’s notable how much the two have in common. There’s definitely more of a shoegaze vibe here, although with what feels like a higher tempo than you might expect from that genre. The first track—Fuzzy Logic—is bursting with energy and passion and is similarly epic to the previous Saline song. Collective Fear definitely understood the assignment.
The fourth and final track—Unbound—feels poppier and is the most commercial-sounding moment so far, with the song almost verging on pop-punk vibes at certain moments (albeit heard through a wall of distortion). About halfway through the song, the guitar tones get a bit cleaner, and we’re reminded a bit of The Gaslight Anthem but with a more post-punk, almost goth-rock bass sound. This is a fantastic juxtaposition that works impecccably.
We’d love to hear more from both of these bands and going forward, we will keep our eyes on Candlepin Records, which sells tape copies of the EP here.
Collective Fear
Saline
Written by Kinda Grizzly
