Merchant Ships is a screamo band from Indiana. They play a curious vein of screamo in which the instruments use no distortion. This is a recent development in this genre (at least to my knowledge, someone correct me) that was started by a great band out of Pennsylvania called Swedes. I guess this is a throwback to the sound of early emo bands who played their guitars disgustingly clean all of the time. I’m sure Merchant Ships is sick of people singling this aspect of their band out, but it is sort of a novelty in a genre where bands are so wrapped up in being heavy and gross sounding.
I don’t really want to write up a review of their already released material because I don’t think it showcases their talent as best it could. I would rather mention that they have a new album coming out called Bummer Times that I assume will be released this summer.
*edit (Bummer Times has already been released, it’s a 3 song demo and it has been included in the d/l link)
Download all of their material HERE.
Tags: screamo
