Sometimes a reviewer starts to wonder why he got into the reviewing business. You have to review everything that comes through, even if the material is in genres you don't especially like. Most of the time the music you get in genres you do like isn't up to par with other bands you like. Sometimes it just feels like you're doing a service to the world for no apparent reason other than goodwill.

                But then, bands like Kramer's Rule make an album (From the Fall) in a genre that you love (emo) that is as good as every major-label band you've been listening to.

                Kramer's Rule plays what I like to call 'straight emo', which consists of two guitars, two vocalists, a bassist, and a drummer playing dark music with a anthemic, dramatic bent, and all bearing emotional scars. I've said that before, but I just wanted to make sure you all remembered the formula.

                Now, forget the formula. Kramer's Rule takes the formula, breaks it up into little pieces, throws all the pieces in a pile, then reassembles it in weird ways. They play their music with such gusto and energy that as soon as I listened to it, I started playing air guitar to the lead track "From the Fall". And who wouldn't to a song which features driving, pulsing riffs under distorted vocals as well as a bridge section that has a massive guitar breakdown and a yelled section that gave me chills. It's like the dark power of the new Juliana Theory meets the artistic ideals of the old Juliana Theory. It blew me away, because I didn't think anyone could ever harness the creative power that went into "Emotion is Dead" by TJT, but they surpassed it....in one song.