Aviator

Aviator is tricky to write about – something on which they pride themselves. Formed in 2009 in the hardcore hotbed of Boston, the members have been so sharply focused on honing their songcraft that they've neglected to manufacture a backstory, an "angle." But with the maturation evident across their early short-form releases (3 EPs, splits with My Fictions & Spirit Fangs), Aviator is comfortable letting their music speak for itself.

For their first few years, they billed their sound as "progressive" hardcore, but catching up with them in 2014 it seems as if they've progressed into something else entirely. Somewhere along the way, the band - vocalist TJ Copello, drummer Aviv Marotz, bassist Mike Moschetto and guitarists Mat Morin & Michael Russo - began letting go of the tropes of heavy music in favor of emotional weight, plucking instead at heartstrings and cathartically pounding the doldrums away. This growth comes to fruition on 'Head In The Clouds, Hands In The Dirt,' their first full-length effort and No Sleep Records debut. Its ten self-produced tracks cover wide swaths of stylistic ground, comprising an emotive post-hardcore tour de force.