May 29th - NEIL PERRY was the fucking greatest

This post's artist (NEIL PERRY) is from the April 2013 Mix, this is track #21.

Think of a picture that begins with a mess of colours splattered on the canvas - NEIL PERRY could get to work on that sheet of chaos and have the colours spread and mixed beautifully - well, as beautiful as a violent mob trashing a city could look. The prodigious amount of crazy, dizzying and downright punishing bursts, from 20 seconds to upwards of 3 minutes, are intertwined perfectly with a sense of melody and repetition that are nearly unparalleled in 'hard' music nowadays.

NEIL PERRY was a screamo band birthed in New Jersey that existed from 1998-2002 and released material on the now defunct, but extremely influential, Level-Plane Records. This band was the amalgamation of a few younger bands - specifically You & I and Joshua Fit For Battle. After splitting up, the NP members went on to form a slew of other bands that are listed below.
Hot Cross
The Now
Welcome the Plague Year
Track of Monarchs
Get Fucked
A Life Once Lost
Superstitions of the Sky

If you have ever heard of Level-Plane Records or any of the other bands mentioned above (with the exception of A Life Once Lost and Superstitions of the Sky, who are metal and acoustic, respectively) then I don't need to explain their sound. For those of you unfamiliar with NEIL PERRY, they played a very melodic brand of screamo and grind music that incorporated some soft/clean grooving instrumental jams with epic, orchestrated destruction. The three stringed-musicians all tackled vocal duties, sometimes simultaneously, and each had a variation on the typical post-hardcore scream; with one being high-pitched (John Marinari - bass, ex You & I), another being on the raspier end (Josh Jakubowski - guitar, ex Joshua Fit For Battle) and the final one being somewhere in the middle (Chris Smith - guitar). The impressive interplay between the two guitarists is mathematical and very thick, creating a complex skeleton for the wall of sound that is solidified and reinforced by very distorted/catchy bass riffs and some of the best drumming heard outside of a metal band (Justin Graves - drummer, joined a metal band after NP - big surprise).

NEIL PERRY has splits with the following bands, and they also had some solo releases that are all compiled on their 40 song Lineage Situation 2xcd:
Usurp Synapse
Joshua Fit For Battle
Kaospilot
A Satellite Crash
A Days Refrain

Their style evolved rather quickly over the 4 years as a band. What started out as very chaotic and screamy grind music mutated as the band began to introduce more structure, soft elements that led to some really epic buildups, and incorporated more melodies and even some clean singing on their final recordings.

I would recommend downloading the substantial portion of their discography =>here<= . Try focusing on the first 7 tracks. They are the most accessible and have the best recording quality. Plus, NEIL PERRY hung up their jackets at their peak, so this stuff is the most representative of their overall sound.

I tried to be a unbiased as possible, but I must say - NEIL PERRY was the fucking greatest screamo/grind/hardcore band ever. I love this band, so I hope I did them justice. I could gush a whole hell of a lot more, but then I'd never stop. The fucking greatest, one last time. Holy shit I have goosebumps.
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2003 - Lineage Situation 2xcd (40 songs + documentary video + in the studio video)
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mp3 downloads
NEIL PERRY - Lineage Situation + Unreleased material (44 tracks)
All 44 tracks here.

youtube video links
NEIL PERRY - Documentary part 1
NEIL PERRY - Documentary part 2
NEIL PERRY - In the Studio

youtube audio links
NEIL PERRY - Fading Away Like the Rest of Them (their classic song)
NEIL PERRY - Nine Minutes of Non-Fiction (their all-encompassing song)
NEIL PERRY - Looking Back on the Way You Want to Be in the Future (primary example of a 'hard' NP song)