I came across this when I saw the band play live at Columbia’s late lamented No Coast infoshop (R.I.P.) during the summer of 2007. The debut from Midnight Suit offers up atmospheric post HC punk featuring pummeling songs are built around intense guitars and ethereal keyboard sounds to make their case.  The layered song arrangements sometimes contrast softer interludes with an aggressive aural approach that sometimes hints at screamo and death metal more than HC.  While there is a somewhat current clean production style here, the often growled/screamed lead vocals do make understanding the songs a little bit of a challenge (and no lyrics are printed which makes them open to interpretation, for better or worse).  Musically though, these five songs show a young band that seems willing to stretch what people may expect a post HC band to sound like.  I could see this band appealing to fans of Screamo and some Swedish death metal as much as (if not more than) the artier HC/punk kids.  I just wish they had more information in the packaging, hence the contact info I listed.  (BOONE)

(myspace.com/midnightsuit)