Emarosa

Emarosa’s eponymous third album is their second with frontman Jonny Craig from Dance Gavin Dance. Where 2008’s Relativity found Craig trying to fit his powerfully soulful singing into the open spaces allotted by the band’s more labyrinthine song arrangements, here the Lexington, KY sextet has given him plenty of room to drive their juggernaut with his versatile voice upfront. Right from the opening “A Toast to the Future Kids!” Craig powers his inflections to the far corners of his range, proving him to be one of the most talented singers of the post-hardcore genre. Although the band’s knack for hammering out semi-progressive arrangements is deliberately (and perhaps strategically) overshadowed by Craig’s presence, their musicianship is still vacuum tight, especially on the ascending parts of “Share the Sunshine Young Blood” and more noticeably on “Truth Hurts While Laying On Your Back,” where a locked-in rhythm section serves as a foundation for continually climbing guitars that vine and twist upward and around Craig’s crooned crescendos.