AMG Review of Selective Wreckage

Greg Prato
All Music Guide

At one point, the words "melody" and "hardcore" had about as much in common as Felix Unger and Oscar Madison did. But by the early 21st century, the majority of hardcore and punk bands have tempered the fury with singsongy melodicism. Case in point -- the Long Island, NY based quintet, Crime in Stereo. On their fourth full-length overall, 2008's Selective Wreckage, the lads prove once and for all that they are equally admirers of both fury and melody -- following in a path that is not that far removed from Sunny Day Real Estate's early (and highly influential) recordings. For the proof, point your ears in the direction of songs such as "Love" and "When the Women Come Out to Dance." They may not be the most original band out there at the moment (the amount of bands that cover the same sonic terrain is rather high), but Crime in Stereo are certainly rapidly climbing to the top of the very steep mountain, as evidenced by their strongest release yet, Selective Wreckage.