Lenola - Sharks & Flames (2003)

Lenola began in 1994 as the four-track project of guitarist/vocalist Jay Laughlin, but evolved into a full-fledged band later that year with the addition of guitarist David Grubb and drummer Sean Byrne, whom Laughlin first met while the three were playing in various hardcore outfits in their native New Jersey. Following the addition of bassist Scott Colan, Lenola released a series of singles on their own Tappersize label before issuing their full-length debut The Last 10 Feet of the Suicide Mile, which spotlighted the group's guitar-drenched sound, in late 1996. Their second album, The Swerving Corpse, arrived in late 1997; the following year, Lenola gathered songs they had recorded inbetween albums onto two EPs, The Resurrection of the Close-Up on the Magic Spot on Fuzzy Box and The Day the Laughter Smelled on Blackbeanandplacenta. My Invisible Name followed in 1999, but also marked the Lenola's last for Tappersize. The new millennium saw the release of Treat Me to Some Life in spring 2001. ~ Jason Ankeny