Back in the late ’90s and early ’00s, I was engaged with the screamo scene. For those not familiar with the genre, it’s basically screamy emo hardcore, made popular by such noteworthy bands as Heroin, Saetia, and Light The Fuse And Run (you’re welcome, Chris Terry). It often mixed in starts and stops, and soft-to-loud explosions. Besides the names already dropped, Jerome’s Dream was an important band in that scene. With so many acts putting out this style of music, though, I don’t think I ever checked in with Jerome’s Dream until now. Presents was the band’s second LP and this is the first time the album is on vinyl. It’s pretty short, with eight songs on side A and one on side B. The whole thing clocks in at under twenty minutes with many songs less than a minute. One of the things that makes Jerome’s Dream unique is that unlike some of their compatriots, vocalist Jeff Smith yelled his vocals as opposed to screaming them (in the live setting he would often forego using a mic). The drumming and guitars are also more reminiscent of acts like Dillinger Escape Plan, with a good number of time changes. Strangely, where Jerome’s Dream excels is on their longer tracks, “Double Who? Double You!” and “35.” The music there is discordant but has more of a groove than the other songs, which are so abrupt it’s tough to get into them. It’s cool to see a release from that time period finally released on vinyl, but I’d say this is one that’s strictly for the fans. –Kurt Morris (Iodine, iodinerecords.com)