After a debut record, Jena Berlin found a home on Jump Start Records, which is the record label that helped A Wilhelm Scream to become big. And Jena Berlin will probably follow the same path. Jena Berlin is clever, from the band’s name to the album’s title: Jena and Berlin are the two cities in Germany where Karl Marx attended college, while “Quo Vadimus” is latin for “where are we going”. Class is not for everyone, and Jena Berlin is one of the few bands that still has class in making titles.

On their sophomore record, this Philadelphia five piece is able to create new and never before heard music fusing elements of hardcore punk with more melodic parts: the screams are not the same old ones, and the band sounds as a cross between a Dischord Records band and a Swedish post hardcore band. Such songs as “Instruments”, “Chelsea” and “Communique” sound so loud and so intense that you cannot not feel the passion and the sweat floating though your stereo.

I must say “Quo Vadimus” is the most impressing post-hardcore punk album I have heard since “The Shape Of Punk To Come” by The Refused. Seriously, Jena Berlin released my favorite album of the year.

Tracklist
1. Chelsea
2. Communique
3. Instruments
4. I Swear We’re Leaving
5. Dancing
6. Motion Sickness
7. Crossed Arms
8. Island Living (download MP3)
9. Sand
10. The Dilemma
11. And Another Thing…

Purchase “Quo Vadimus” with a t-shirt, a poster and a pin back for just 12$ here.