Album Review: Slow Warm Death - Slow Warm Death

Album Rating: A

I was completely heartbroken when Snowing broke up. Their midwestern emo revival was a crucial part of my adolescence, and frontman John Galm was a genius in my mind. So you can only believe my excitement when I found out Galm had formed a new band called Slow Warm Death, and was putting out music again. I put the headphones on and prepared to fall back in love with one of my favorite lyricists, but instead of the intricate, emo-punk I expected, I was hit with a wall of sound. Slow Warm Death hit me like a ton of bricks. It was cacophonous, muddy, and Galm's delivery had transformed completely. I couldn't believe what had happened, and ended up turning the album off after just a few tracks. A few weeks later, I decided to give it another try. I thought perhaps I still had some resentment from Snowing calling it quits. I entered into the world of Slow Warm Death with open ears this time, and experienced something that I could have never imagined.

Snowing: A Brief Retrospective

When John Galm took the stage with his three bandmates on November 25, 2011, he found himself surrounded by hundreds of his best friends - most of whom, myself included, were complete strangers to him.  As the Lehigh Valley foursome played through nearly their entire discography to that point, the band often drowned out by the flannel-clad throng that sang along, everyone came to realize that this really was the end of Snowing and that it would be okay.  Snowing's final moments were exactly as anyone would have expected them to be, concluding with a gratefully intoxicated but hopelessly choked-up Galm hoisted atop the heads of his fans and friends, his consenting frame hovering gracefully around the basement of First Unitarian to the backdrop of Vera Lynn's 'We'll Meet Again'.  Even though it seemed as if Snowing had left every last bit of themselves in downtown Philadelphia that night, posthumously releasing one final 7-inch was the real nail in the coffin and their farewell gift to fans.