Doomsday Student's debut record A Jumper's Handbook came out n November of last year, but I saw them for the first time last week at 285 Kent, opening for Ed Schrader's Music Beat and Dan Deacon's ambient side project Pardilince Bird. Next door, at Glasslands, was a show with Perfume Genius and Parenthetical Girls, and due to a miscommunication between the venues (usually they coordinate to make sure no overflow gets through the walls) and the fact the Doomsday Student is some of the loudest shit ever, a LOT of disgruntled Glasslands customers had their romantic evening ruined. Sorry!
But the fact is that Doomsday Student is an amazing take on post-hardcore. Sure, they sound a lot like their previous band, but if it ain't broke, why fix it? Eric Paul is one of the most incredible frontman of any band ever, self-flagellating all over the stage, eyes bulging out of his shaven skull and screaming. (Side note: Paul has also recently released an interesting cassette of spoken word on Bathetic.) They have really nice equipment, and they aren't just playing: every screaming guitar note and drum beat is not only turned up to 11, but maxed out on every channel. They wear all black, except for their orange shoes. I highly recommend checking them out live if you can, but if not, here's a track off the record for download – make your ears bleed for maximum authenticity.
