It begins and ends with fast-paced guitar work and vocals that are about as subtle as an African elephant stepping on your face. This song, The Burden Of Reflecting, comes to the rescue and kicks your ass. By the time track 13 rolls around, you are chest-deep in self-pity. In the quieter parts, Billy Werner moans sorrowful poetry amongst guitars that seem just as sad as Werner does. The song contains a heavy section with yelped vocals bookended by quieter sections. After another four songs, Postlapsaria comes up to bat. Four tracks in, Woodwell serves as a brief instrumental intermission (strangely Slint-esque) from all the sorrow and anger saturating the air at this point. A Retrospective opens with a brief crescendo of feedback-ish sound that gives way to the frantic screams of Notres Langues Nos Trompent, a definite standout due to the high level of energy that is present for all but about 20 seconds in the middle of the song. Now that that's out of the way, let's proceed.

All the songs are phenomenal pieces of work which all display a level of emotion that is currently lacking far too much in the majority of emo/screamo bands. OK, before I break this album down further, let's establish one thing: there is no 'best' song here. You may find yourself impatiently waiting to hear Werner launch into one of his bizarre mixtures of spoken-word vocals and high-pitched screaming. However, it is these eccentricities that make A Retrospective all the more enjoyable. Some are essentially him speaking into the microphone, others are screams that register rather high on the vocal range (this may be a turn-off for the chauvinistic types). Also, on some songs, lead singer Billy Werner's vocals can be rather odd. They tend to be rather spastic at times, immediately switching from a quiet guitar riff with hushed, almost poetic lyrics to heavy guitar with blood-curdling screams that pound your ears with no mercy. Saetia's style of screamo can seem inaccessible to some. For its entire 72 minutes, A Retrospective delivers throat-shredding screams and fierce guitars, but above all and most importantly, raw emotion. A Retrospective is a compilation of every song ever released by Saetia. So, why the history lesson? Well it's essential to understand this album. While on Level Plane, they managed to put together two 7's (Eronel and Saetia) and a self-titled LP/CD in addition to a demo cassette and a contribution to an ABC No Rio (the New York club where they coincidentally played their first and last shows) benefit CD. They were signed by Level Plane records not long after forming. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the buzz about this band came after their breakup.ĭuring Saetia's life, they experienced moderate success in the hardcore underground. However, despite their short lifespan, Saetia managed to establish themselves as one of best screamo bands of all time. Saetia was a short-lived screamo band (lasting from February 1997 to October 1999) from New York. This 180Gram 2xLP comes with a glued in 15 page book that includes photos, flyers, lyrics, and newly written reflections by multiple members to celebrate the bands history.You probably stumbled across this review after having heard the name Saetia thrown around by several emo/hardcore aficionados attempting to plant themselves at the top of their respective food chains. This collection will finally make available the entire discography for vinyl lovers.

Obtaining these come with near impossible searches and deep pockets. In their short time, Saetia released a demo cassette, two 7”s, and one LP with pressings of very small numbers. Their style of melodic, abrasive, and emotive punk / hardcore still captures new audiences today. Based out of NYC, the band made their home at CBGB’s, ABC No Rio, and basements across the East Coast. SAETIA disbanded after only three years (1997-2000), but in that short amount of time they created music that would live on to be the forefront of the genre.

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