Praying for Greater Portland plays emo, but not of those currently suffocating radio waves in melted eyeliner, ignorant of the genre’s extensive weight and history. Instead, they most recall the pre-millennium post-hardcore of bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and Cursive on their new EP Introduction to Modernity.

This amounts to sprawling punk rock epics where both guitar strings and vocal cords stretch to the point of breaking. The band’s two sole members, Andrew Tiscareno and Clinton Sleeper, trade off on drum and guitar duties depending on which of the two wrote the particular song, but their sonic palette remains uniform. Only their distinct voices indicate change—Tiscanero’s is thin and melodic, Sleeper’s is abrasive and given to screaming.

Sadly, Praying for Greater Portland doesn’t transfer to plastic without blight. The sound is sterile and controlled, thus missing their infectious live abandon.

There is also a genuine problem with the drums throughout. Through some error of mic placement, the usual soul-shattering loudness of Sleeper’s drums on “The Tempest” is rendered mute and harmless.

Regardless, the songs themselves—”The Tempest” ’s alternations between slow-burning punk explosion and catchy pop, the Cursive-invoking guitar-and-drums intro of “A Box of Sculpture Cocks”—barrel through any production issues by sheer virtue of their raw power.

Such is a mark of any great punk rock and, by extension, any great emo.

Grade: B