Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence is arguably the most important album released in the last ten years. I know that's a bold statement, but it's influenced just about every band since. I know there were similar bands like them in the underground, but like Nirvana taking grunge worldwide, Glassjaw was the most likely band to take post hardcore to the mainstream. The only problem was lyrically and at times vocally, they were just to harsh for the mainstream. It just sucks that so many bands do the sing/scream thing now that its impact should be even greater than it probably is. As for the songs, they are all really good, but When One Eight Becomes Two Zeroes and Piano stand out as the two masterpieces of the album. Sammy Siegler of Youth Of Today and Rival Schools makes his only appearance on a Glassjaw record and doesn't disappoint because his drumming is insane on this release. Todd Weinstock and Justin Beck are two of the most innovative guitarists in all of post hardcore and Manny Carrero's bass lines are solid, but this album wouldn't of worked without Daryl Palumbo's vocals. His vocals match H.R. of Bad Brains or Ray Cappo of Youth Of Today when it comes to passion and emotion. I know that's another bold statement, but this album truly is a work of art.

About 2 years ago I gave a bad review for We're Not In This Alone, and after receiving the aforementioned and Break Down The Walls recently, these 2 albums turned out to be great listens after all. Break Down The Walls contains classics such as Make A Change, Thinking Straight, Take A Stand , and arguably their best song Honesty. I definitely recommend this release, but I think We're Not In This Alone is better musically and lyrically so pick that one up first.

Elliott always seemed like they could have been America's version of Radiohead, but of course they broke up so we'll never really know what would have become of them, and in some ways breaking up probably made them gods to underground rock fans. It seems like most of my favorite bands put out a couple releases and then call it quits. Texas Is The Reason, Turning Point, Rites Of Spring, and Saetia are prime examples of this. Although I think Elliott had around 5 or 6 releases so they had a little longevity. Anyways as for False Cathedrals, this is definately the best of the 3 Elliott CD's I own, and it's one of the finer works in the history of post hardcore/emo/indie whatever you wanna call it. The album is much more melodic than their debut U.S. Songs, but it still has a lot of all out rock songs. I also want to add that the vocals are incredible and the drummer is unbelievable on some of the tracks.

Fastbreak is melodic hardcore at it's best, and I can't understand how this band were not more well known when they were out. They featured Luke Garro and Neal St. Clair of In My Eyes, but they sound more like Lifetime or 1208, than the straight edge hardcore of In My Eyes. Regardless this a great release and definately worth buying if your into bands like Lifetime.

Extremely original and influential post hardcore band from 1997-1999 along with likeminded bands You and I, Neil Perry, Orchid, etc. were the inception of a whole new scene in underground music. It doesn't get much better than this collection, and I highly recommend this to anyone looking for something smart and different than the typical emo or metalcore garbage. Saetia is not a screamo band, the screamo label does not make sense because they sound a million times different than the screamo bands of today. As for the music, some of the best songs would have to be The Sweetness And The Light, Corporeal, Ariadne's Thread, The Poet You Never Were, Some Natures Catch No Plagues, The Burden of Reflecting, Venus and Bacchus, and Becoming The Truth.

Great Boston hardcore band from the late 90's, and even better than Ten Yard Fight in my opinion. I'm not sure if I like this as much as Nothing To Hide or their Demo CD, but it's definately worth checking out if you like Ten Yard Fight, Turning Point, Gorilla Biscuits, etc.

One of the first to mix indie rock and hardcore, Falling Forward are pretty much responsible for the sound that Boy Sets Fire and Thursday have made popular. This is not anything like modern post hardcore, but fans of early Boy Sets Fire and Elliott should like this, and for those who didn't know, this was Chris Higdon's previous band before he sang for Elliott. The musicianship is great and the vocals are outstanding, but the production kinda sucks so don't expect it to be as polished as Elliott's False Cathedrals. Cross Salute is definately the best song, but Drought, Character, and Silhouette are also standout tracks.

Turning Point's 1988-1991 complete discography is arguably the best collection of hardcore songs ever released. It's funny because I wasn't really into them the first time I owned this, but I'm glad I gave it another chance because there was no one releasing hardcore songs like this back then, and it was completely ahead of it's time. They've influenced everyone from Lifetime, Texas Is The Reason, Champion, Verse, Comeback Kid, and apparently even Thursday named their band after a Turning Point song, so it shows how severe an influence they were on many punk and hardcore bands. If you want something that rivals Minor Threat and Youth of Today than Turning Point is definatley worth checking out.

Pretty much your typical late 80's straight edge band that were considered the most postive in their genre and sadly one of the most generic . This discography has it's moments, but I would suggest other similar but better bands of that era like Unit Pride, Bold, Side By Side, Turning Point, Wide Awake,etc.

This is the second time I've bought this CD because the first time I had it I really didn't like it, but decided to give it another try and it turned out to be a pretty good CD after all. These guys were one of the first snotty Orange County hardcore bands and definately one of the best. I'm also not sure if anyone has compared Tony's vocals with Chavo from Black Flag because they are very similar, and while listening to this I was reminded of Black Flag's classic Jealous Again EP. I don't think I have to say much more because there's a lot of folks buying this on interpunk lately, and it's just cool to see people checking out quality old school hardcore punk.