Saosin

With the recent flood of screamo bands, a new one that doesn't sound exactly like Thursday — who are already starting to sound tired — is a cause for celebration. SoCal quintet Saosin is one such band. Their debut five-track release is an interesting and exceptionally well-executed hybrid of chugging emo and big metal. The band takes the common-place trade-off elements of loud/quiet, hard/soft music and singing/screaming vocals and uses them to showcase their strong songwriting and musical skills. Add to that guitar riffs and drum fills that sound like they were lifted off Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast and you have one rocking good time.