MOG Editorial Review

Fans of classical music, beware: Rites of Spring sound like the antithesis of Stravinsky. If you're a fan of adrenaline-pack punk rock, though, you'll find plenty to love about the DC band's only proper album. Showcasing the post-hardcore sound at its finest, the shrieks and top-speed guitar riffs are messy by design to the extent that the lyrics are secondary. At the same time, those very lyrics on songs like "Spring" and "Other Way Around" are what have come to define the band as having helped forge the original "emo" sound, but you wouldn't dare trace the line between this band and Fall Out Boy, would you?