Since their formation in 2016, Milwaukee trio Snag have quietly carved out their own unique space in the DIY underground, quickly becoming a favorite of listeners hungry for emotional hardcore that delivered more than just aimless chaos. On All The Cages Holding Us Will One Day Turn To Dust, the band’s third LP and first for Deathwish Inc [pre-order], Snag continue to develop their brand of heavy emo, expanding melodically and texturally without losing their edge.
Snag’s lyrical approach has often been more universal, focusing on broader themes like climate anxiety and apocalyptic dread. Many of the lyrics on All the Cages… show the band looking inward, drawing on the band members’ personal experiences with chronic illness and mental health obstacles. The theme of cages also weaves its way throughout the lyrics of the album; on the album opener “Unarrest Me,” it’s the physical cage of a jail cell.
Guitarist/vocalist Samm Szymborski says the song is “…a POV of a wrongful arrest. The confusion, the panic and the sheer inhuman reaction from the arrester. This song musically tells an eerie story within itself. It sets off on a journey and ends abruptly at its peak.” Bassist/vocalist Peter Murphy adds: “The concept for the video is ‘collective liberation through mutual aid.’ The symbols of zip ties and blindfolds against flashlights and sprints put a finer point on the idea that every free person can help free another person.”
From the beginning, acting on the message has always been a part of Snag’s agenda, with the lyrics serving as a suggestion for active involvement. Along with the imperative lyric sheet, their self-titled debut LP also came with a book of matches and an envelope of seeds, encouraging the listener to help grow new habitats for pollinators. For All the Cages…, the band once again chose to use the LP format as a means for action, working with the Florida-based organization Wire of Hope to include individually labeled envelopes to inmates as an invitation for listeners to have a prison pen pal.
“The logic that says a corporation can destroy the planet to extract profit from it systematically is the same basic logic that says humans can be systematically caged for profit,” says bassist and vocalist Peter Murphy. “It’s probably safe to say every person who hears this album is a lot closer to being incarcerated than to being one of the billionaires that seek ever more control. We thought we could make that connection much more explicit with a homework assignment in the record insert. And hopefully foster friendship and connection as well.”
The intentionality of the band’s lyrical approach extends to the music, as well. Snag has always been far more than a mere throwback, consciously bringing something new to a subgenre that often does little to move beyond the influence of its forebearers. All the Cages… sees the band continue on this path, recalling the sounds of progressive and dynamic acts like Majority Rule, Welcome the Plague Year, and Kidcrash. “We made a decision a long time ago to simply make the music that we like and to not try to fit into genre conventions” says Murphy. “That decision gave us permission to try different instrumentation and stylistic approaches to songs, which resulted in a few unusual moments on this album.”
Ultimately, now a decade into their existence, Snag continues to be one of the most unique voices in modern DIY hardcore. The members’ commitment to the band can be seen as largely personal; they need the music as much as it needs them. Beyond that, it’s quite simple: they have yet to grow bored with the thing that captured their attention and imaginations as kids. “When we started the band we were in some of the most depressive periods of our lives, and it offered an outlet, camaraderie, and hope,” says Wysocki. “It hasn’t stopped since.”
