Saturday: The Kindred - An Evolution of Thought

     Let's keep the ball rolling with a little bit of proggy-smelling post-hardcore courtesy of the Canadians Formerly Known as Today I Caught the Plague. (I suppose it's been long enough that we should all probably stop making reference to how they used to be called something else, but hey, I needed an intro.)

     The Kindred's sophomore disc Life in Lucidity (their first under the new The Kindred moniker) is more than a year old already, but it's got an energy and a style that still feels fresh to me. It's hard to describe, so here's the deal: I could name a dozen bands that The Kindred and Life in Lucidity remind me of (for example, I get some Coheed and Cambria, some reined-in Mars Volta, some Protest the Hero...), or you could just listen to "An Evolution of Thought" and check 'em out for your own self.

     Of course, the flipside to me still enjoying your record that's been out more than a year is that no matter how fresh it remains, new material can never come soon enough. So, The Kindred, new record, yes?

The Kindred - A Grand Debate

     Just in case the last couple of days of tech death have left you a little drained, I've decided to ease off the throttle a bit tonight. But don't worry -- things'll still be a little proggy.

     Ottawa band The Kindred are no strangers to the heavy music seen, having been formerly built a bit of a following under the moniker Today I Caught the Plague, but they've only released their debut LP under the new name earlier this year. Nevertheless, all that experience shows: Life in Lucidity doesn't have any debut album jitters or timidity, instead coming across as the work of a band that's confident in its sound.

     "A Grand Debate" is a good example of this, combining some energetic, intricate-but-not-too-intricate guitar work with the dynamic performance of vocalist David Journeaux, who reminds me a bit of Rody from Protest if Rody had a little less range and a lot more raw, unpolished edges. At times The Kindred are musically vaguely reminiscent of Protest the Hero as a band as well, but not at all in a way or to a degree that should prevent you from giving "A Grand Debate" a listen right now. So do it. Go on. Right now.