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This year’s Scream It Like You Mean It tour will be headlined by Story of The Year, doing their 10th Anniversary tour for Page Avenue. Three bands currently on this year’s Warped Tour will be support, including one who is currently on main stage. The tour kicks off October 8th in Cincinnati. Full dates will be revealed August 5th.
Source: http://www.thegunzshow.com/
According to Under The Gun, Bradley Walden (ex-Squid The Whale) has been confirmed as Emarosa’s new frontman
It is fact that in early 2012, Walden was asked to audition for the spot left open by former Emarosa vocalist Jonny Craig. He demoed a few songs, but never accepted the position. After another year of writing and touring with Squid the Whale, the crooner left the band for reasons unannounced. In his departure statement, Bradley made a light reference to an Emarosa song by saying, “The past should stay dead, I’m ready to embrace whatever the future brings.” This of course was an allusion to a popular song from Emarosa’s Relativity.
After seeing Jonny Craig tweet about the singer taking the Emarosa position, I reached out to confirm or deny. Walden publicly denied the claim at that time, saying that “nothing [was] off the table” at that point.
Since then Emarosa has been more and more active, making it apparent that progress was being made. Progress that couldn’t be made with out a singer.
Jay-Z’s Magna Carta…Holy Grail summed up simply is back and forth confusion of feelings. Despite going platinum before release and being produced by Timbaland (who makes everything sounds awe-inspiring and grand), Holy Grail doesn’t feel real.
Jay-Z is a man with enough money to run a large third world country and enough possessions to keep him occupied 24/7, but none of that can fill the void for one’s passion for creative music. Many tracks on Holy Grail speak about hating fame, and hating paparazzi, but it is all justified by the amount of possessions and money Jay-Z has. The songs simply don’t feel authentic; listeners will really get the feeling that this is just another money making record. To be fair, there are some good catchy songs on here such as the title track Holy Grail featuring Justin Timberlake, Oceans featuring Frank Ocean and Tom Ford.
Lyrically, everything feels like its run into the ground and uninspiring. Don’t get me wrong though, this album is not bad! It’s still a Jay-Z record, still amazing studio quality and production and the list of guest vocalists will catch your eye (list includes Rick Ross and Beyoncé as well as the others listed above). I believe listeners will and should expect more from an artist of this level though. Old school fans will miss the old Z, but he’s despite his lacking enthusiasm, he is still a phenomenal MC.
Regardless of the downsides to this album, it’s still worth checking out. I believe listeners will enjoy Jay-Z’s older work on The Blueprint Print 1,2 & 3, The Black Album and Collision Course, but for those who need the newest hit tracks and the 12th album to their Jay-Z collection, pick up Magna Carta…Holy Grail.
7/10
Ryan
Protest The Hero is pleased to announce the completion of their new studio album. The album is the long-awaited follow-up to 2011’s, Scurrilous (Vagrant). Since completing their ground breaking Indiegogo campaign, the progressive metal stalwarts also announce that they have licensed the album to series of worldwide partners who will help distribute and market it to both traditional stores alongside digital service providers, thus making the new record available on a world wide scale in preparation for its fall, 2013 release.
Protest The Hero and Razor & Tie will join forces for the United States, whilethe album will be released in Canada through SONY Music and in the rest of the word via Spinefarm.
The forthcoming, soon-to-be named release will be supported by extensive global touring that will stretch well into 2014.
It has been a long wait for a new album from the renowned metal masters of Misery Signals.
Their most recent album “Controller” was released back in 2008, now fast forward to present day, 2013 and we finally get a new album. Absent Light makes a statement and shows that even though the band took a five-year hiatus from album to album, their dynamic balance of heaviness, atmospheric instrumentals and brutal speed riffs will all join forces and kick your ass in a good ol’ Misery Signals fashion.
Right away the album kicks off with “A Glimmer of Hope” which may be Misery Signals lightest track ever, but listeners are quickly immersed into an atmospheric mirage of clean guitar and delays with a string of Karl Schubach’s deep growl vocals to follow at the end. This very much so sets the mood of the album once the song ends and kicks into their first single for the album, “Luminary” which is one of the most punishing tracks on the album, which means of course the end of this track includes a breakdown that will leave you with chills (and maybe a few broken bones).
Tracks such as “Lost Relics” and “The Shadow” stood out as true “Misery Signals” style songs. By no means makes these the best songs on the album, I believe each listener could find a different favorite from this album. With the addition of Greg Thomas on guitar the overall creativity, style and technicality of Misery Signals has expanded. Songs such as “Ursa Minor” and “Everything Will Rust” shows how diverse and dynamic they really can be. The way they have balanced brutal riffs with slow instrumentals and ambient guitars is simply intriguing. Pure genius if you ask me.
The flow overall is simply perfect and sensation to listeners. Not the mention Karl’s singing adds a very pleasant touch on a few of the tracks such as “Ursa Minor” and “Everything Will Rust”. Lyrically Karl touches on many personal topics such as greed, love and religion. The balance of the entire album should be something listeners appreciate. From start to finish this album has no weak spots, it’s just 11 tracks of pure beauty, hard work and creativity. Branden Morgan’s freakishly crazy talent of writing and performing such intricate and tasteful drum parts is heard on every singe song.
The combination of both guitarists Ryan Morgan and Gregory Thomas overpower this entire album with their infinite expansion of creativity on those six string. Even Kyle Johnson’s bass lines and grooves are hear throughout the album and will impress you. As usual, Karl Schubach’s vocals are top notch and I believe vocally this is his strongest effort and demonstration yet.
The band was able to stay true to their spastic sounds from “Of Malice and the Magnum Heart”, which adding the emotional drive and beauty of “Mirrors” and musical style of “Controllers” just ends up being one amazing masterpiece of an album. Misery Signals fans could not be disappointed in this album.
10/10
Ryan
Counterpart’s much anticipated “The Difference Between Hell and Home” will deliver the heavy and powerful sound that fans have been craving for.
The album’s overall sound resembles bands like The Ghost Inside or August Burns Red. Although the resemblance is clear, Counterparts succeeds in achieving the never ending goal of creating a unique sound and style with “The Difference Between Hell and Home”. One word song titles is something that has been done before and is clearly intentional on this record as it gives the listener a way to easily sum up the songs. It helps differentiate between songs when first listening and helps listeners pay more attention to each song. This may not seem like a critical point for the band, but this is definitely a sign of style and lyrical meaning on the album. Most importantly, this technique fits the album and lyrics by presenting the topic of each song. It helps create a story that can be easily followed yet still inspiring, which is exactly what this album does.
The album opens up by immediately starting into the album’s story and band’s style with the song “Lost”. The band jumps right into things by demanding the listener’s full attention with this song. As the album progresses with songs like “Decay” and “Cursed” fans will find the more ambient sounds of Counterparts with clean guitar and reverb effects supporting the song’s story and message. These sounds are only to be contrasted intelligently with songs like “Slave” and the closer, “Soil”. These songs show a slightly heavier side of the album while still carrying the sound that can be heard throughout. “Soil” ends up being the perfect song to end the album as it lyrically closes the story and creates an atmosphere of a bittersweet realization of the end.
Although few, there are some critiques to be addressed from this album. The band does a pretty good job of creating a unique sound, but they still have a way to go. Surprise tempo changes and parts that are repeated too long will break the flow and immerse feel of the album. With an album created so artistically, these cons can really break up the atmosphere of the album and take the listener out of the story of the album. Luckily, they don’t last for long though as they are sparse.
Overall, this album is a work of art and Counterparts delivers again. Its story and musical feel are very reassuring to the listener that unique bands are still out there. It’s albums like these that drive people so religiously into music. Definitely keep an eye on this band and make sure to get your hands on “The Difference Between Hell and Home” any way you can because this is an album to be remembered.
Rating: 9.5/10
-Nic
COUNTERPARTS have released their third studio album, The Difference Between Hell And Home. After rounding out their US tour with HUNDREDTH, COUNTERPARTS will be heading to Canada for an album release tour, with a European tour alongside AUGUST BURNS RED and BLESSTHEFALL following shortly after. See a full list of tour dates here. Observe first-hand why Alternative Press thinks COUNTERPARTS have “what it takes to stretch hardcore’s boundaries” with the new music video for the single “Witness”. Pick up your copy of The Difference Between Hell And Home at VictoryMerch.com or download it via iTunes / AmazonMP3 today.
Sworn In’s debut album The Death Card (Razor & Tie) is now available for pre-order on the iTunes Store HERE. When fans pre-order the album, they will receive an instant download of the track, “Hypocrisy.” The album will be available for $7.99 for a limited time.
Listen to the new song “Hypocrisy” exclusively on Revolver (http://www.revolvermag.com/news/exclusive-sworn-in-premiere-new-song-hypocrisy.html)