Hello, everyone! Welcome to the hub for my Deep Dive project Establishing Screamo Canon: From Chaos to Catharsis! 2025 was the Year of Screamo and, while I didn’t quite get to my goal of covering Screamo from the 90s through 2015, getting through the 90s wound up being a Herculean feat in and of itself. I’m quite proud of this accomplishment! The series will continue indefinitely as I have time for it, but getting it up onto the website was very important. Please refer to the Overview post for more information about the series and the various sub-series within.
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The Crimson Curse - Both Feet in the Grave | Screamo Hall of Fame Class of 1998 Nominee
Release Information:
1998
Three One G Records
San Diego, CA (SoCal)
Runtime: 12:24
Tracks: 9
Band Members:
Justin Pearson (Vocals)
Jimmy LaValle (Guitar, Keyboards)
Christopher Sprague (Guitar)
Damean Alexander (Bass)
Michael Cooper (Drums)
Genres, Influences and Characteristics:
Sass, Screamo, Chaotic, Noisy, Gothic, Spastic
Musical Analysis:
The Crimson Curse's sole LP effort is another entry in the sacred lineage of spastic San Diego Hardcore; the song structures are unpredictable, the dissonant guitars are messy and noisy, the drumming is fierce, precise and dynamic. That isn't even to mention the Gothic synths that harmonically haunt the songs or the manic half-shouted, half-screamed vocal performance from Justin Pearson that ties the album together. Behind the chaotic facade of this release, there are layers of personality and charm.
Historical Analysis:
With ties to San Diego bands like Swing Kids, The Locust and Guyver-One, as well as Michaganders Conststine Sankathi, this brand of playful, frenetic music makes a lot of sense.
Sass was rapidly developing at this point with bands like Brainiac, Blood Brothers and The Locust infusing the genre with Noise Rock, Post-Hardcore and even Powerviolence. Sassy Screamo was coming into its own heading into 1998 with this release being one of the true gems.
Lyrical Analysis:
Cynicism and nihilism are sprawled all over the prose of this album, with decay as the only possible growth humanity has left. Human presence kills nature, pain is routine, the human body is fragile and nostalgia is poison - these are the ramblings of a man who has never seen San Diego sunshine. Paradoxical lines and repetition are used to hammer their points home.