Between Home and Serenity

Sure, most of the expected screamo trademarks make their presence felt on Between Home and Serenity's full-length debut: bloodletting shrieks, hyperventilating guitar, and themes of hope and heartbreak that occasionally feel cribbed from an episode of Degrassi Junior High.

But with Anthony Dargaj's wrist-spraining solos and Brian Weir's propulsive double-bass drumming, the Cleveland quintet hardens its harmonies with a solid metallic backbone. The result is a disc loaded with potential radio hits, with singer Ian Ver's swelling vocals buoying anthem after anthem. Having notched more than 320,000 plays on PureVolume.com, landed a handful of dates on this summer's Warped Tour, and broken into the top 10 on radio-station playlists from Reno to Ft. Lauderdale, Between Home and Serenity is as poised as any group from these parts to break out nationally. This disc only furthers their cause.