Subterranean Music Index: #3. A Long Winter- I’m So Bad With Goodbyes

Year Of Release: 2002

Label: Tribunal Records

Lineup: Dave Stahl (vocals), Adam Staszewski (lead guitar, pedals), John Roth (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Mike Senatore (bass), Owen Staszewski (drums, backing vocals)

Genre: Emotional metalcore

Tracklist:

1. Razel Got Her Wings (4:17)

2. She’s Gone But Her Ghost Still Haunts Me (3:31)

3. Her Delicate Yearning (4:30)

4. The Boy From Judecca (3:28)

5. If Everything Ends, Please Don’t Leave Me (3:53)

6. What Runs Through (3:56)

7. Juliet (3:03)

8. Summers Seem Like Days, And The Days Seem Like Seconds (3:27)

Back in the late ‘90s up to the mid ‘00s, there were a bunch of bands that fused metalcore with emo, post-hardcore, and melodic hardcore. Think of bands like Poison The Well, Hopesfall, 7 Angels 7 Plagues, Misery Signals, and Skycamefalling. I call it “emotional metalcore,” but “emo metalcore” and “emotive metalcore” work just as well. Whatever you want to call it, I’d love to write a genre guide for this particular style someday, but today is not that day. Today, I’m here to spread the gospel of perhaps the greatest release from this movement.

This has everything you’d want from an early ‘00s metalcore release, and much more. Powerful riffs with hardcore energy? Check. Sick breakdowns? Check. Melodramatic sentence-length song titles? Check-check-checkaroonie! But it’s the emo elements and post-hardcore rhythms that make it special. Although a metalcore release, this shares a kindred spirit with iconic late ‘90s and early ‘00s poppy scene post-hardcore bands like Thursday, Grade, and Finch. Angelic, melodic clean vocals perfectly complement the aggressive screams. In fact, these are some of the best cleans I’ve ever heard in metalcore. Add in some twinkly, Midwest emo-style fingerpicking and heartfelt poetic lyrics, and you have a monumental artistic statement. Many hardcore albums try to be aggressive, in your face, pissed off, but this one is instead heavenly. It’s elegant, it’s contemplative, and I love it!

There were plenty of emo/metalcore crossover acts during this time, but A Long Winter gave us THE perfect embodiment of the entire movement. In terms of early ‘00s hardcore, it doesn’t get much better than this.

FIND IT HERE-

YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ktqtzA-y4nLASYiHQhfJNP2e84aVFbaik&si=kykwjNGk02DMsx_2 and also https://youtu.be/u7yCKpe-Vdk and there are a few other full album uploads as well.

Bandcamp: https://tribunalrecords.bandcamp.com/album/im-so-bad-with-goodbyes (and there are other uploads on Bandcamp as well)

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4j5VAufQOYhORdm328e8cf

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/im-so-bad-with-goodbyes/451997646

Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/artist/a-long-winter/im-so-bad-with-goodbyes/ALVfcxwvkxcVwgq?

Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/album/1194765?

iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/artist/a-long-winter-45455/albums/im-so-bad-with-goodbyes-94699692/?autoplay=true

Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/Im-Bad-Goodbyes-Long-Winter/dp/B005E4O7RE

Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/ALW-ISBWG-2002

Amazon (physical): https://www.amazon.com/Im-Bad-Goodbyes-Long-Winter/dp/B000066HJ9 (extremely pricy)

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/4266061-A-Long-Winter-Im-So-Bad-With-Goodbyes-?srsltid=AfmBOoodT5ZaN2mCBt0xmmBPCCn3iEK5NxCYC0N9XfumNd8gMqVhciwR