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![[Off The Record]](/images/boston/music/offtherecord_header.gif){kind=small}
 Rival Schools UNITED BY FATE (ISLAND)
Rival Schools frontman Walter Schreifels already has two influential bands under his belt: positive-minded ’80s hardcore stalwarts Gorilla Biscuits and cultish new-metal pioneers Quicksand. For his latest project, he’s recruited an all-star cast of East Coast underground-rock veterans and come up with a more obtuse variant on the moody Quicksand formula. " Good things are coming our way, " Schreifels sings over a shuffling Radiohead beat on " Good Things, " a fortunate convergence between the disc’s most upbeat lyric and its most prominent chorus. The singer’s raspy voice melds nicely with the band’s ragged two-guitar psychedelia, but too often the songs are left gasping for hooks. Things do click for the group on the hard-charging " High Acetate, " where they twist a defiant, buzzing verse into a breezy chorus and end up with more than the sum of their indie fragments. Despairing lyrics aside, the near-emo " So Down On " is similarly sunny and boasts the disc’s most passionate Schreifels vocal performance. Unlike most hardcore kids grown sensitive in their old age, Schreifels could wear a little more heart on his sleeve, and guitarist Ian Love could definitely lay off some of the Smashing Pumpkins/Dinosaur Jr–era fuzzing and whooshing. Still, despite their occasional lack of focus, Rival Schools are a promising new face on the loud side of the indie-rock spectrum.
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