Wiretap Scars

Yelling is a talent like any other—and Sparta’s Jim Ward has it down. On the emo-rockers’ first full-length, he sounds like music’s answer to Al Pacino, rasping with passion, pitch, and even a little tunefulness. The band, including refugees from the late At the Drive-In, can go from simmer to boil in a nanosecond. Blasts like “Collapse” careen between tension-fraught melodies and guitar-burning fury, suggesting a hybrid of Weezer and Foo Fighters. That’s something worth hollering about.