Based on the scant amount of actual info on Georgia’s YOSEMITE IN BLACK available without either logging into Facebook or following them on Bandcamp, neither of which I’m prepared to do not having heard a note until this moment. It seems like the band probably got its start around the turn of the decade and – again, from what I’ve found – In Pursuit Of is its first album. So, let’s go…

The first thing that jumps out in opener ‘Cerberus’ is the mix and production – and when I say “jumps out”, I mean leaps the fuck forward as its namesake, ready to and doing damage. This is hardcore as it should be done; crisp, yet mangy and mean. ‘Warmer Weather’ melds a swaying grooved-out riff to vocalist Luke Marlowe’s understandable, impassioned ranting, the breakdowns limited – at least thus far – to a bare, effective minimum. Choppy in an axe murderer sort of way, ‘Just This Once’ is staccato solidity, and just before we stumble into the HATEBREED-worship that plagues this scene, the band mixes things up by injecting an ever-so-slight metallic edge.

‘Robber Baron’ grazes against BORN FROM PAIN and TEN TON DIESEL HEAD in its deft use of open space to create breakdowns that don’t necessarily come across as such, and the title track finds guitarist Dylan Beard tossing in some unexpected rockin’ riffery to add yet another color to the sound of YOSEMITE IN BLACK.

Closer ‘Fade Out’ lurches forward, methodical and menacing; a couple more chords, a different voice, and we’d have an early CROWBAR tune. The Jenkins/Ferrara rhythm section deeper in the pocket here – and throughout the album – than a good many of their scene care about going.

Clocking in a well under a half-hour, In Pursuit Of shows a band with potential. One with some obvious growing to do as far as finding their own feet in a long over-cluttered style, but one that knows how to keep and hold interest early in the game. Withholding judgement for now, simply because of said clutter, but if the foursome sticks with it they’re probably onto something.
Review By: Lord Randall

YOSEMITE IN BLACK
In Pursuit Of
Terminus Hate City