Orlando, Florida indie-punk band The New Lows is streaming their new album, I Couldn’t Sleep, on AOL’s Spinner. The album comes out Tuesday, November 13. For fans of Jets to Brazil, The Hold Steady, The Weakerthans…
Normally as a reviewer I like to set myself a standard. I like to try to review things as unbiasedly as I can. Because when it comes to reviews, you have to be objective, not subjective. You cannot let your personal emotions and feelings dictate what it is you’re reviewing. For this review I’m going to toss that all aside, because The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza have released their final album Danza IIII: The Alpha - The Omega. I’ve been hyped for this album ever since the band dropped their first single You Won’t. But let’s get on with the review.
First let me say that the album is chaotic. Not chaotic in the sense of random sounds happening all over that don’t fit or match with each other. Chaotic meaning angry, heavy, intense, fast music. And the album spares no time and effort in showing you that chaotic sound, opening up with the song Behind Those Eyes, you already get a taste of Josh Travis’ irregular yet satisfying guitar work and Jessie Freeland’s “brutal” deep vocals, quite fitting as usual. The first five tracks on the album, Behind Those Eyes, You Won’t, Rudy X3, The Crossfire, and Hold The Line succeed each other perfectly. The transition between them all are amazing, musically and structurally they fit naturally together, but that’s not to say that the rest of the record doesn’t have equally amazing transitions to keep the flow going. Other songs like Death Eater and Canadian show off the album’s heaviness, while other songs still such as Paul Bunyan and the Blue Ox give off a progressive metal sound to them, of course still combined with their well known experimental/math metal guitar work and sound.
I’d like to also mention that Jessie Freeland and Josh Travis were the only two on this album, Jessie on vocals and Josh Travis on all instrumentals. Their talent really shines through on this record. I’ve seen other people describe the album as more “listenable” or accessible this time around, and I would have to disagree with that belief. The album isn’t any more accessible than their previous ones. It still has that raw, unfiltered brutality that the previous ones had. The only difference this time is that the production level has increased, sound quality wise. Guitars have, not a better tone, but a different one. As compared to Danza III, they’re a bit less muddy and of a more modern quality this time around. The production on drums has clearly gotten better also. The kick drums compliment guitar work and sound tight, the snare sounds sharp, and the cymbals sound full, clearly working well with the other instruments. Now the presence of bass, I know is there, but it’s hard to hear. Something I’m sure I would hear better if I had a much more expensive set up, but for the average connoisseur of music, it’s not something that will stand out to you.
Ever since You Won’t was released in August, I’ve been anticipating this album immensely. That’s not to say it’s not without a few faults. Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid for example is just an unnecessary filler. It doesn’t do anything for me, it doesn’t provide anything to the album other than taking up an unnecessary five minutes of time with random sound effects and what sounds like a guitar being “killswitched”. In a previous paragraph I mentioned that the transitions in the album were amazing. While this still being true, there were the occasional one that threw off my flow of the album. The previously mentioned Some Things are Better Left Unsaid, and also Hold The Line. It wasn’t a major offset either, just something that unexpectedly was thrown onto me before being remedied by the rest of the song. Though the filler at the end was something else I felt was somewhat unnecessary.
Overall, this album provides an amazing experience. A chaotic, heavy, beast of an album. I found myself wanting to gather a group of a friends who love metal, but this on a pair of 1000 watt speakers and just mosh along to it. Considering that The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza will not be making any more records after this one, this is one hell of a swan song to go out on. For fans of modern metal, intense vocals, and unorthodox guitar work, I fully recommend picking up this album when it drops later on this month. The band have proven once again that they definitely deserve their work being supported.
- Christian
Metal is such a saturated genre lately, with so many subgenres and bands just rising out of the ground to try and claim their fifteen minutes of fame. With so many bands I find myself questioning how some of the older bands that started their careers in the early 90s and 2000s are still doing. My question seemingly has already been answered for me, with As I Lay Dying’s newest album, Awakened. Being an already well known and established band, the question is; how does their new release fare?
The intro track of any album usually does two things. One, it will set up the mood for an album and two, it will set up your expectations of an album, what you should expect out of the rest of it. Cauterize tells me two things about this album. It tells me that this album follows through with aggressive and powerful tones and excellent sounding metal riffs, great vocals, and plenty of solos. Tim Lambesis shines through as usual, delivering powerful heavy hitting vocals, along with Josh Gilbert providing equally powerful clean vocals on every track on the album. Lyrically the content is as powerful as ever, many tracks providing memorable choruses by Josh and verses by Tim, heard in many tracks. Tim deserves accolades for being one of the more ”understandable” vocalists in the metal genres, pronunciating his lyrics clearly.
My favorite tracks of this record are Cauterize, Defender (a powerful track both vocally and lyrically, offering positive inspiration), and Overcome (the intro solo to the song is simply beautiful), but really every track is good on this record. That in itself while initially being a positive aspect, also lends to the fact that there isn’t a huge deviation in sound between tracks. They’ve stayed relatively true to their previous styles and sound, with some songs incorporating heavier metalcore and thrash metal influenced riff work. As stated previously there is a lack of experimentation within their last few albums that they’ve release and that is also true for this one. While it never hurts to stick to your established sound, it also never hurts to stray the path and try something somewhat different.
There’s not much more I could briefly say about this album without going into a detailed track by track review, so please excuse this rather short review.. Awakened is a strong album, well produced, well written and well sounding. Fans of As I Lay Dying will love it, fans of metal and its subgenres will enjoy it, concert goers and moshers will love it played live (there are plenty of moments in this album for moshers to just let loose). This album in my eyes is a true example of Modern American Metal. Pick it up when it drops September 25, 2012.
-Christian
Discovering a new band is always a pleasent experience. Of course with the obvious of hearing new music, but also with hearing some new band’s story, as portrayed with their music. Recently I stumbled upon the band Alta, a rather unique band from Milwaukee, WI. They’re newcomers however, with an EP entitled This Space Will Accommodate Canvas, and also being featured on a compilation CD and a split tape with the band Arizon Wilder. Alta have just recently come out with a new album this year, titled Places. The question is, is it able to stand on its own two feet amongst an ever saturated era of music?
To describe their music, I wouldn’t in any way shape or form place them under any single one genre. Maybe experimental post-hardcore with post-rock and math influences, possibly even screamo. These influences are definitely reflected in their music, giving me personally an At The Drive In vibe. Their music consists of catchy yet complex sounding riffs, which can already be heard on their first track Winter/Mute. Accompanying this are an excellent sounding bass, filling drum patterns and an emotionally raw and powerful vocalist. Their vocalist is something to focus on on this album. Incorporating a method of yell screaming, and just emitting raw emotion in the words he sings, or rather yells. Their lyrics also carry this same emotional feeling.
The post-rock influences are a strong driving force on this album, most present on tracks such as Merry New Year, and +-, but still giving the rest of their songs a unique taste, with songs such as Dakota, Winter/Mute, and Sorting Rooms giving off an energetic sound, something that would seemingly be nice to mosh out to at live shows. My personal favorite from the track being Dakota.
Since Poney (m/o Romero, The Dead Hookers) released “Seamyth” and toured the US in 2011, burning a trail of shock and awe across the Northwest, they”ve been writing and recording a series of new sessions. In August, the band will be releasing two cassette tapes in limited quantities. One is a tape version of the new Octavius / Melt Trip single, and will come on 50 red see-through cassettes with correlated, hand screened posters. Those songs are the first of a new LP, titled Rorschach, which is already completed and will be released in mid-Autumn. The other tape cassette is a remastered re-release of our first two albums, “The Explosion Years: 2010-2015” and ”four song EP,” pressed onto 100 solid orange cassettes.
Orlando, Florida’s Tarek Kasmi has released the first single from his upcoming Lightbringers EP. A lyric video for the song, entitled “Hail To The King,” is now live on Kasmi’s YouTube channel.
Produced by Gold record producer James Paul Wisner (Dashboard Confessional, Underoath, Paramore), Lightbringers marks a transition in Kasmi’s career towards more sophisticated song structures and honest, outspoken lyrical commentary. “Hail To The King” introduces listeners to this move with upbeat, sunny pop/rock reminiscent of 50’s doo-wop, topped off with sarcastic lyrics that mock our ultra-regulated modern society.
When asked about the unusual combination of such harsh lyrics with cheery instrumentation, Kasmi responded, “The lyrics are basically poking fun at how little freedom we actually have left today; for me, happy pop music just makes the sarcastic tone that much more in-your-face.”
“Hail To The King” is currently available on iTunes. Listeners can expect an alternate version of the song as a freebie in the near future. For more news and updates, please visit http://www.tarekkasmi.com/.
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Tarek on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tarekkasmiofficial
Tarek on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hail-to-the-king-single/id534296124
Tarek on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tarekkasmi
Tarek on Instagram: @tarekkasmi
Defend Pop Punk; a phrase I’ve recently seen being thrown around on the internet quite a bit. Maybe it’s a marketing gimmick, maybe some kids follow this with their heart, who knows. All I know is that pop punk doesn’t need any defending at all, especially with the most recent release of “Every Day I Tell Myself I’m Going To Be A Better Person” By Misser, a pop punk duo formed by Tim Landers and Brad Wiseman, hailing from two already established Pop Punk bands: Transit and This Time Next Year.
A drunken acoustic prelude begins this album with the beginning track “Permanently”, seemingly giving off the impression of being at a bar (drunk of course) before going off into the rest of the album; a title track appropriate since the rest of the songs mostly focus on bad relationships, lost loves and bad choices. Many songs many people will find themselves relating to. Weightless and Bad News being my two favorite tracks off this album.
Production wise, the album is very good, vocals, drums, guitars and bass all come together to bring something a bit different to the pop punk genre. The album is reminiscent of a typical pop punk album, but with a lighter, airy feel to it. It’s not as diverse as I’d like it to be, and some acoustic tracks included in would have been wonderful, but only small points that detract from what is otherwise a good album.
Overall, Misser’s first release is a good one, something that I would recommend to fans of pop punk and other genres alike. With catchy verses and choruses, Misser will no doubt have you singing along to their tracks.
8/10
-Christian
Breakdown, followed by techno, followed by another breakdown, followed by a clean chorus and another techno interlude, and finally end with a clean chorus. This seems to be what’s liked by the major (non pop) music scene lately, and Make Me Famous certainly do not hesitate in incorporating this formula or similar instances of it into their music.
Make Me Famous are an international band from the Ukraine, having recently released their debut album entitled: It’s Now Or Never. Objectively, the album isn’t a bad one, it’s not a good one either. It’s a safety net album. The production is good on all aspects, guitars, drums, vocals are all of good quality. This album was clearly made to appeal to a mass audience. Subjectively on the other hand, I am not impressed at all with this album. Being a guitarist, I find myself writing out riffs or parts to a song, and then looking back and thinking “It’s not good enough, it could be better”. It seems that the boys in Make Me Famous don’t share that same thought with me. Most songs revolve around constant use of open notes and breakdowns, with the occasional deviation into a couple other chords for a chorus. There are occasional songs like “I Am A Traitor, No One Does Care” that does make use of a lead, which is honestly something that’s nice to hear. Their most “technical” song on the album titled “This Song Is Blacker Than BLack Metal”, is most, definitely not blacker than black metal, an obvious joke I can tell, but a bad one at that.
I have to say however, there are two songs on the album that I greatly enjoy. “In The Shadows of You”, a slower paced song that makes use of a pretty decent sounding solo. It mainly lacks vocals, until near the end where there is a ‘chanty’ chorus going on. The second titled “She Hunted Me”, also because it breaks away from their “breakdown” norm, which offers a breath of fresh air on the album. There is also a gratuitous use of techno, that just doesn’t seem necessary to me, I’d honestly like to hear more riffs in place of it. Speaking of techno there are some parts where it just seems awkward to be incorporated in, going from an angrier riff into a happy quick techno verse. An example of this is in “Quit Sleeping! It’s Nothing But A Waste of Time”. While the techno that accompanies the song in the beginning is pretty good, complimenting it, the random break from everything into a “sing along” style verse just doesn’t work well at all.
Hopefully the guys in Make Me Famous will do something different in the future, much different; because honestly this album just was not impressive by any amount. As I said, this album in my opinion, was a complete safety net album. There wasn’t really any exploration or experimentation, just something to appeal to what is currently a fad. To me, they’re just another Asking Alexandria or I See Stars, and the music ‘scene’ has enough of those bands right now. On a final note, this album is definitely listenable, but has clearly been done before. I have no doubt people will enjoy it, it’s just sadly the same music but with new faces.
Architects have released their new song ’These Colours Don’t Run' from their new album 'Daybreaker'which is due out May 28th in the UK and June 5th in US.
-Darion
Music that can hype you up, or put you to sleep. Something that isn’t easily accomplished by many musicians, but If These Trees Could Talk seem to have perfected the art. Red Forest marks their third release, following their first, self titled EP and their first full length, Above The Earth, Below The Sky.
ITTCT are a post-rock band, or as they like to call themselves: “Post-Whatever”. A fitting description, as they take the genre and add in their own unique signature ‘grittiness’ as I like to call it. To describe the album, it’s a difficult thing to do; it gives off a fantasy feeling to me. As if I’m aimlessly floating in space, watching chaos occur all around me. The record gives off such a calm, emotional feeling, followed by an explosion of sound. Now they are an instrumental only band, and this is something that seems to turn many people off of listening to certain artists. The lack of vocals however, is not something that should put anyone off, even if instrumentals are not exactly your cup of tea, the use of three guitars, in perfect harmony together easily makes up for the fact that there aren’t any vocals. In fact, this is one of those bands where every instrument compliments each other incredibly well. If you’re a fan of explosions in the sky, or other post rock bands, and have not heard of If These Trees Could Talk, I strongly recommend giving them a listen, in fact, I urge everyone to give these guys a listen. And also a personal preference of mine, which I believe others may enjoy also: this record is wonderful to listen to on long drives at night, or in the rain.
9/10
- Christian
