The Four Color Manual - Guardian for a Year (1998, Sudden Shame)

Presumably from the environs of the New England area (based on the Vermont locale of Sudden Shame Records), Four Color Manual's mildy dissonant and dynamic aptitude would probably be deemed as emo by today's standards, but their overarching shtick was through-and-through indie rock.  Much like an onion, this trio was a layered proposition, revealing a noisome cross section depicting the likes of Unwound, the Promise Ring and Seam.  Glints of melody eke out of slight cracks ensconced between the rough-hewn slices of "Chambers," "She Fought the Devil," not to mention others.  Guardian of the Year sounds unmistakably like a debut, but FCP's latent potential wasn't realized on subsequent records, because evidently there weren't any.

01. Margin of Error
02. Chambers
03. I Not Consent
04. For Montreal
05. Scrape
06. A Study in Josh
07. Reason to Roast
08. Slipped Knot
09. Holding on to Sound
10. She Fought the Devil
11. New Make Over

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