An interesting mix this month. Four Year Strong, Crazy Arm and A Loss For Words fly the flag of punk rock with relentless enthusiasm and maniacal delight, whilst La Dispute turn hardcore upside-down; Trapped Under Ice completely stamp all over it and Lifeless win the award for ‘funniest band I’ve heard in ages.’  Props to Collapse Under The Empire for being truly fantastic also and contributing the best track on the CD.

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Four Year Strong – Stuck In The Middle

Pop-punk has been consistently excellent this year – Four Year Strong continues that trend superbly. ‘Stuck In The Middle’ mixes the right amount of part-melodic, antagonistic aggression with some sublime pop-hooks, whilst dual vocalists, Dan O’Connor and Alan Day do an impressive job of finishing each others sentences on a track that has one of the most infectious choruses I’ve heard all year – if all the songs on their new record even touch the greatness of this – holy shit!

La Dispute – The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit

Never heard of these guys before, but suddenly I want to hear everything they’ve released. Talk about tense – La Dispute is unlike any hardcore band I’ve heard. Their sound is incredibly concentrated and sharp; the guitars and bass taunt and edgy- the drums crisp and loud – what sound like handclaps gives it an oddly sinister edge, whilst vocalist Jordan Dreyer has a range, not dissimilar to Jeremy Bolm of Touché Amoré. Whatever they’re doing, it’s the sort of uneasy and astringent hardcore that I can appreciate.

Five Finger Death Punch – Under And Over It

I admire the stones Five Finger Death Punch have in their continuation to pedal their sub-standard, frat boy nu-metal poseur-core to the masses. The backing vocals JUST about save this from being complete garbage. If they ditched the shitty harsh vocals this would still sound….well….terrible, but at least it wouldn’t have such cringeworthy lyrics that even Durst would turn his nose up at.

Machine Head – Locust

Never been that taken with Machine Head. This isn’t bad though. Guttural, vicious sounding guitars that plum the depths of sludgy, metallic noise as well as retaining that standard heavy metal chugga-chug beat-down. For the most part though, it’s proper bruiser-core breakdowns, fret-wankery and something that resembles a band that have survived where many of their contemporaries have fallen.

Uneven Structure – Awaken (Edit)

Opening 10 seconds are post-rock, and then it all goes to hell. A scathing, relentless pound of agitated metal that combines elements of some of the most bleakest and raging hardcore you’ve ever heard. In some places, it’s pretty damn tech – a methodical progressive build of tech, rather than DEP-spazzcore knee-jerks of chaos. This anchors rage and aggression into a churning maelstrom of rage and pensive brooding.

Trapped Under Ice – Outcast

From first impressions it’s far too easy to dismiss this as Bridge 9-dumbcore. It’s more like Snapcase with muscles though. The vocals are a snarling sneer, with that almost-unintelligible bark, backed by strong gang bro-core backing vocals, overwrought guitar lines some crunching drum beats and the odd solo for good measure. Plus, one of them looks like Alan Tudyk’s younger brother.

Lifeless – Crap Tax

This is 65 seconds long. It sounds like Cerebral Ballzy with worse production, a singer that isn’t singing out of his nose, but instead snaps like an irritated parrot, whilst the rest of the band try and play a mix of an Anthrax b-side with Rudimentary Peni and it fucking rocks the bastard house, especially the mangled-guitars which sound completely detuned to buggery.

Crazy Arm – Bandalito

Barely restrained, Crazy Arm absolutely bulldozes their way through this 3 minute bounce of melodic punk. It gives a strong nod towards Millencolin; with certain riffs sounding like lost songs from the Swedish quartets ‘Home From Home’ album. Like Against Me! going hell for leather after far too much sugar and red bull; they absolutely storm it with this passionate ramshackle of fist-punching rock ‘n roll.

Verses – Wait Forever

With a familiar nasally, but hopeful sounding whine on their singer, (hello Dallas Green impersonator!) Verses seem to be bridging a gap between pop-punk and early-emocore (back when Funeral For A Friend sounded good) but without the screaming. It’s decent, but a tad run-of-the-mill in places. It lacks punch and that snapping bite that should really be present in music of this calibre.

A Loss For Words – The Hammers Fall

Ah man, A Loss For Words sound like total fun. Smacking so much of The Wonder Years, their spitting, cheeky fresh-faced pop-punk barrage is chock with goodtime melodies, huge choruses and an early Weezer-sound (think Blue-era, mixed with the fun of Green) drenched in sweat and beer hair. Get on this.

Silent Screams – When It Rains

Sounding a bit like Emmure crossed with some experimental heavy metal, Silent Screams are pretty gnarly. The dual-vocals, (both harsh and melodic) actually compliment each other fairly well, despite being so utterly generic it hurts. With some incredibly low tuning, and possible crab-core actions should they ever produce a music video, it still sounds a lot better than most metalcore that’s around at the moment.

Reverse The Curse – Suplex Condenser Dispenser

You can hear the pain in Ed Starcher, vocalist for Reverse The Curse. It feels real, a lot more real than someone wearing eyeliner. His voice almost breaks, when the opening salvo of his fragile, scraping scream hits you. The bass-driven, taunt punk is fairly sinister in execution, stopping and starting, whilst radiating a gruff Hot Water Music spit of fractured energy.

Ocasan – Not All Heroes Wear Capes

Slightly too sickly for my tastes – Ocasan are pop-punk to the core (and they can deny it as much as they want). Imagine Something Corporate with fewer balls. Okay, that’s being unfair – the kids are going to love this, seriously – it’s got that ace hook and a confident vocalist who knows how to belt it out, but it feels a bit kids club New Found Glory for Juniors.

Collapse Under The Empire – Giants

Sounding like it should be sound-tracking a film like Inception, Collapse Under The Empire ramp up post-rock to new and dizzying heights. We’re talking layers of build here; interspersed with sombre piano breaks, glitching electronics morose, heavy-hitting percussion and the sense that the world is truly about to end. Final battle sequences, a spaceship being destroyed, slow-motion shots of planets crashing together all apply here – absolutely phenomenal soundscapes.

Junius – Betray The Grave

The combination of quite dark and menacing hard rock with the oddly melodic (but no-less imposing) vocals is a strange one. Junius make that kind of unsettling and over-dramatic sounds, that focus on layers upon layers of bold Neurosis-style guitar wails and this relentless pounding heaviness that doesn’t give up or allow any quarter.

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Links

As above;  I don’t care.

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By Ross Macdonald

From mosh-core punk rock of last month, Rock Sound throw up some hook-laden pop + 3 chords and the truth just to mix things up a bit, or at least inject some sort of theme. Maybe it’s a subtle way of trying to make their readers think it’s summer still. Anyway, some top stuff this month, only a couple of duffers. The best offerings are in the form of Mastodon, who seem unstoppable, whilst New Found Glory, We Are The In Crowd, Transit and This Time Next Year all do a sterling effort with their pop-punk cheek.

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New Found Glory – Radiosurgery

How come Jordan Pundik of NFG still sounds so happy? Surely at over 30 he should be a misanthropic bastard, but no – he’s still singing like the world is made of kittens and rainbows. ‘Radiosurgery’ is just under 3 minutes of sugary, pop-punk bounce that wouldn’t sound out of place on their debut self-titled or ‘Sticks and Stones.’ There’s some nice scuzzy bass thrown in, choppy guitars and a great soaring chorus of “aaaaahhhsss” and if I’m not mistaken, a Less Than Jake style bounce to their anthemic sound.

Polar Bear Club – Screams In Caves

Polar Bear Club have been around for 6 years, but I’ve never heard of them, or possibly got them mixed up with some wet indie-side project with a similar name. This is anything but that – gruff vocals that instantly hook you, backed by a weird mix of heavy-Jimmy Eat World melodic emo and passionate post-hardcore rock. It’s honest and incredibly crisp-sounding in delivery and a credit to the genre.

Mastodon – Black Tongue

Apparently the new Mastodon album is called ‘The Hunter’ – quite apt really, considering ‘Black Tongue’ seems to be about the thrill of the chase. Although, they claim it’s not a concept album, this track gives obvious nods to the title. The roar of “you can run to the sea, you can run to the forest, you can hide but you’ll never escape!” Is a chilling warning from the lurching tusked-mammal that is the Atlanta four-piece. ‘Black Tongue’ gallops and rolls with deadly precision and a wailing drone of bludgeoning stoned-out metallic chaos and is easily one of the best tracks I’ve heard from these dudes.

Thrice – Yellow Belly

Thrice went weird ages ago didn’t they? I think their new stuff suits vocalist Dustin Kensrue much more – always felt he was straining a bit on the old chords sometimes when they were all screamy. Really like this; the heavier moments sound massive – the guitars soar and wail like And So I Watch You From Afar and it all goes a bit post-hardcore, with elements of raw-rhythmic noise provided by the over-prominent bass, which gives a slight grunge feel.

Staind – Eyes Wide Open

Hands up if you know anyone who still listens to/likes/acknowledges the existence of Staind in a non-ironic way? Aaron Lewis – why so angry bro? A confused mess of what 2001 sounded like, mixed with an incongruous guitar solo, Lewis shouting and mewling like a petulant child. No brainer-moshcore, nu-metal toilet trash.

We Are The In Crowd – Rumor Mill

You might have to visit the dentist after listening to this lot. Tooth-rottingly sweet; We Are The In Crowd will not only leave you with less teeth than Shane MacGowan but they’ll also lodge the sickly twee-pop punk exuberance of a billion e-numbers in the form of their music stuck in your mind. Despite it being steadfastly American, they don’t half sound j-pop in execution. The kids are going to love this; hooks bigger than New Found Glory (sorry guys) and a singer who yeah, sounds like the chick from Paramore but trades off well with some strong backing vocals meaning there’s some good call and response.

This Time Next Year – Matchbook

Why would you dress up in gasoline? This Time Next Year goes through the pop-punk rule book and pretty much have it nailed down tight. Kind of has that vibe of The Wonder Years, without the intense lyrics, but rattles along nicely with the leaping brackish attitude of The Ataris (before they went weird) and some strong soaring “wooaahhooohs” that give a nod towards NFG. Not very original, as their sound is 10 a penny, but on the strength of ‘Matchbook’, they’re certainly among the elite rather than the shit-munchers.

Transit – Listen & Forgive

I reckon a few more beers down the road and I’d be a broken man listening to this. I’m getting soft I reckon and it’s all Transit’s fault. This kind of reminds me of Brand New, circa-‘Your Favourite Weapon’-era, more along the lines of ‘Soco Amaretto Lime.’  – Must be the backing vocals and that acoustic guitar they cleverly buried in there. I can’t make up mind if it’s really sappy or mature – somewhere between the two, but whatever it is, it’s bloody brilliant.

Dangerous! – Not One Of You

Sounding like they don’t give two fucks, Dangerous! Remind me a bit of The Vines trying to cover early Icarus Line material. Vocalist Tommy pretty much shrieks himself hoarse through a mangled voice box, whilst musically it touches on good time rock and or roll, with elements of sleazy garage punk and rolling around in broken glass. A fist-pumping destructive noise, that maybe slightly too clean when that rough-as-sandpaper voice doesn’t crunch through the mix.

Exit Ten – Curtain Call

Utilising big sweeping cascades of heavy de-tuned guitar, clattering percussion, Exit Ten know how to drop it in choruses. Vocalist Ryan Redman has an imposing and powerful voice that is perfectly matched with the sprawling metallic crash of Exit Ten’s sweeping crush of alternative metal.

Jumping Ships – Broken English

Having given this several listens, I’m just not feeling it at all. It’s not terrible, just feels incredibly strained and try-hard. The vocals are a nasally, irritating whine – and even on the slow bit, there’s a moment of over-the-top flamboyance and posturing that is sadly not cocky enough to be amusing or enjoyable and just sounds embarrassing.

Decade – The Doctor Called (Turns Out I’m Sick As Fuck)

God, every band thinks they’re Set Your Goals nowadays. Only joking guys, but you’ve got a copy of ‘Tomorrow Will Be The Death Of Us’ yeah? CHECKLIST: mosh-core instrumentals? Tick. Gang vocals? Tick. Earnest, youthful vocalist full of hope and passion, mixed with gusto who isn’t afraid to shout? Tick. Seriously though, Decade are basically nailing a formula that has been done before, but they’re the ones to follow, not the followers and on  the strength of ‘The Doctor Called….’ They deserve credit.

Red Enemy – What We Call Home

I AM SHOUTING PAY ATTENTION. Red Enemy do the down-tuned metallic scrape of furrowing metalcore dirge and bury the bastard under shuddering, stop-start guitars the squeal and twitch like a pig being tortured. There’s elements of Emmure present, but not as bottoming-out in execution.

Bleed From Within – The Novelist

Proper chugga-chugga metal right there. Vocally it doesn’t stray much from the path of rasping brutality, occasionally swinging into a weird impression of your man from Black Dahlia Murder – i.e. hilarious high-pitched screech to compensate the rough and ready bash-brother tactic of the music, which feels like it’s pushed you over then stamped on you for good measure.

Octane Ok – Pretty Lady

‘New kings of pop-rock!’ I bet Octane Ok are every band before them are sick of that tag. Fairly standard really; polished until it could blind you, Octane Ok has that crisp, slick sound, with some added breakdowns that are unfortunately fairly tame in comparison to what they could sound like. It’s safe, radio-friendly and will probably sell by the truckload.

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Links

See above, it’s time for some sleeps.

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By Ross Macdonald

The Horrible Crowes and Hawks and Doves? Quite a bird theme this month. Fairly apt really. I went to Rainham Marshes today and saw a Lapwing, a Black-tailed Godwit, several Swans, loads of ducks, a Crane and a massive flock of Canadian Geese. I love away days = let’s go round a reserve and look at birds/wildlife, then eat cake and drink tea in the visitor’s centre that resembles a crashed space station. Awesome.

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The Horrible Crowes – Behold The Hurricane

“Hey it’s some dude doing a really good impression of the guy from The Gaslight Anthem!” Yeah that’s because it is Brian Fallon from The Gaslight Anthem. Accompanied by guitar tech Ian Perkins, The Horrible Crowes make dark, blues-inspired rock, laced with that moody shiftiness of stepping into a bar you’re unaccustomed to and having the entire clientele turn to look in your direction at ‘what the cat dragged in.’ Gritty and lonely; a song that sounds like someone singing about a glass half empty than half full, would be interested to hear a lot more of this project.

The Devil Wears Prada – Born To Lose

Shouty metalcore usually bores me to the point of wanting to throw myself off something, but at least The Devil Wears Prada bother to actually inject some originality. Three different vocal batterings are on offer; from the wide-eyed, banshee howl of disgust, to the guttural bellowing to the clean, Dallas Green-style harmonies this Christian mob do a decent job, and the screams of “BORN TO LOSE!” over a wave of crunching beatdowns certainly help matters.

Trivium – In Waves

Lol Trivium. Seriously guys? This? Get bent.

Mariachi El Bronx – 48 Roses

Magical stuff this. Mariachi El Bronx triples the passion of their punk counterpart, with a song bursting with sporadic brass, flamboyant guitar plucking, rampant percussion and vocalist Matt Caughthran singing his heart out. Gutsy and mesmerising, this is a band that doesn’t seem to be able to put a foot wrong, whatever their style. If any of the songs on their second album have even half the impact and beauty of ’48 Roses’ then we’re in for a treat.

Charlie Simpson – Farmer & His Gun

Splice my sausages, what in hell is this? Captain Fightstar doing acoustic stuff? Can’t you guys do some really loud breakcore nonsense, or something that sounds like a Dalek wanking in a cathedral as opposed to playing a guitar with 3 strings on a farm up North? Absolutely cringe worthy, hand-wringingly awful lyrics. Good voice though, which is what just about saves it. Preferred your early stuff about the Year 3000.

Rise To Remain – Nothing Left

The guitar playing is in the similar vein as Killswitch Engage – all squealing stop-start stutters of shrill, jagged breaks. Instrumentally, it’s solid, youthful metalcore that favours that radio-friendly appeal of mashing fast metal and clean vocals, that are a touch to pop for my tastes and fall somewhat flat in some areas, which is a shame as there’s real promise lurking here.

All Pigs Must Die – Sacrosanct

Kevin Baker from Hope Con and BARS? Already good. All Pigs Must Die are heavy. Speed, crust-hardcore punk that leaves massive purples bruises bristling with anger. The thrash-metal chorus breaks give the impression of a dense wash of battered and mutilated grindcore played by a band off of Bridge 9 records. Dark, intense hardcore that snaps with menace and desolation.

Ancient VVisdom – The Opposition

Ancient VVisdom look like 4 guys who fell off the set of Sons of Anarchy. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they sounded nothing like I imagined. Instead of some trite standard thrash metal, ‘The Opposition’ is a song born from the body of stomping, almost acoustic folk-metal with a hint of bluesy-angst and rebellion. “Hail to thee, Lord Lucifier” croons vocalist Nathan, who’s voice is laced with sombre dejection and a hint of revulsion. Stirling work lads, definitely worth repeated listens.

Circles – Act III

Il Nino, is that you? Knock three times….nicely gnarly bass. Probably should tune those guitars differently lads? No? Sod you then. Got tired of the quiet/loud/quiet dynamic 2 minutes in – sounds like Incubus from the ‘Make Yourself’ album – which I like, but I’m sitting here thinking “why don’t I put Incubus on instead?” Good voice mind, but really tedious fits and starts which just seem an excuse to stretch this track out to well over 5 and a half minutes.

Black Tide – Walking Dead Man

I saw Black Tide recently – was impressed by their energy and metal spirit. The screaming/clean vocal mix is fairly old hat, but Black Tide nail it incredibly well, injecting their youthful exuberance and bite into their music. They’re incredibly tight and the vocals work best when Gabriel is barking them with barely restrained spite. Somewhat too clean-cut in places – the edges kinda need roughening up.

Hawks and Doves – Hexing

Ex-Planes Mistaken For Stars frontman Gared O’Donnell has the kind of voice that cuts deep – it could probably strip paint from walls. It’s a scratchy, hoarse croak of brooding disgust; like he’s spent the day downing whisky and chain-smoking then stepped into the recording studio after a coughing fit. Musically, there’s elements of stoner-rock at its very bare-bones, rattling and cracking to pieces under a punk attitude of misery. Absolutely love it.

Hildamay – Delicate

I don’t like the name, but the music is something I could be seriously interested in hearing more of. Obvious points of interest point to Hot Water Music; the deep throaty rattle provided by frontman Tim Lawrence, who sounds like his diet has consisted of purely gravel and lighter fluid. It has that early 90s emo blast of jangled guitars, mixed with big walls of crashing drums and scrawling feedback.

Lightguides – Bachelor Death Party

Not sure what the hell is going on here, but I like it. For a three piece, Lightguides make quite a racket. Both guitars see-saw up and down through some quite taunt and tuneful post-hardcore, that tries to sound like a Fall Out Boy song, but even tighter, with jagged, cutting guitar lines and a full-blown injection of sugary pop-punk bounce. Like a bunch of attention deficit disorder patients smashing their instruments into each other over some odd time changes.

Nazca Lines – Bones In Boxes

Nazca lines have been listening to Rick Froberg a lot then. Nice stop-start parts on this, kind of staggers with this menacing, creepy gait. Vocals are superb – a demanding, sterile shout over some huge post-hardcore rock that sounds fucking massive.

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By Ross Macdonald

Time for an update! There’s been a lot of decent stuff on this month’s CD. Obviously at Rock Sound towers they’ve gone three chords and the fuckin’ truth crazy, as the majority of punk rock bands on offer was quite staggering, so good work there for making one of the best 100% volume CDs of the year. Save Your Breath, Living With Lions, Saturday’s Kids, Attention Thieves, Goodtime Boys and Fights And Fires all get a drunken stage-diving crush for being awesome.

Taking Back Sunday – El Paso

It’s good to have Nolan and Cooper back under the TBS wing, god knows it’s been a while. Those expecting a tune reminiscent of the ‘Tell All Your Friends’ era will be disappointed; however, the caustic bite of Brand New-style screams and dense guitar chords, not to mention the spitting-dual vocal back-and-forths and barely restrained rage and passion sees the Long Island lads back in superb form.

There For Tomorrow – Joyride

Bit to sweet for my tastes; There For Tomorrrow tap into the big choruses motif, whilst injecting a bucketload of pop hooks beneath some well polished My Chemical Romance rock, that is about a minute too long.

Save Your Breath – Vices

This is better, but by no means perfect. Save Your Breath replicate early 00’s pop-punk fairly accurately. A distorted drum intro, the sound of a guitar being plugged in and some nice scrawling punk chords and the kind of clear, snappy vocal delivery that is perhaps nothing new, but certainly lifts spirits and is altogether a pleasant stab at refreshing the genre.

Living With Lions – Maple Drive Is Still Alive

Living With Lions have the speed and determination of Lagwagon – for this, they should be commended strongly. The slight gruffness in vocalist Stu Ross’s delivery, not to mention the rapid-fire drum beats and jarring breakdowns make this a winner in my book – strong, emotionally charged punk rock delivered with guts and determination.

Of Mice & Men – Purified

Not actually as bad as I was expecting. Just found out this is the ex-vocalist of crabcore laughing stock, Attack Attack! Yeah mate, you sound much better on this. It’s actually fairly decent post-hardcore; good balance between the screams and clean vocals, fairly bass heavy, sort of like Of Legends – quite thick and groove-driven.

Saturday’s Kids – Empty Space

I like the low-fi scrape this has – the guitar is one long relentless jangle of mangled chords, whilst the drums are buried beneath the smothering bass drone. Vocally, it’s a strained, almost lost shout beneath the building wall of noise and raucous rumble of sharp post-punk rock that drips with sweat and bitterness.

*Shels – Butterflies (On Luci’s Way)

I love *Shels, so prepare for this to be incredibly biased. Not only is this suitably crushing, like nearly every other aspect of their music, it’s also wonderfully moving. The almost choral chant in the song’s coda that then evolves into another epic rocking breakdown is a superb shift in tone, not to mention singer Mehdi Safa’s extraordinary vocals, which will send a chill down your spine. Also, props to the break in the middle.

Heights – Letting Go

What’s with bands having single word, plural names now? There’s something uncomfortably dark about this – Heights start off sounding like proper hardcore fodder, but they then keep building on this despair of fairly brutal, almost post-hardcore noise, that rises with such scathing and acidic disgust it becomes an absolute winner. Points for syncing in a mournful piano loop that seemed to creep up from nowhere – ones to watch; chilling stuff.

Attention Thieves – Can’t Say

Must have been punk rock day in the Rock Sound towers or something. That furious, punishing hard-rock of We Are The Ocean is given a big nod here, as is some rather tasty riffage and bouncing choruses; the lyrics let it down somewhat by being pretty throw-away shouts that mean very little, but the delivery is fairly profound.

Goodtime Boys – Harrow

Holy shitballs, this is Alex Pennie from the Automatic! You know, the yelpy little bastard who wanted to see Raoul all the time. I really like this; Pennie’s voice is a gruff, rattle of sneering dissent, whilst the rest of the band power through a twisting post-hardcore racket. Intense, slightly sloppy, but it all adds to the charm of some refreshing DIY punk fury.

Fights And Fires – You Can’t Say Slags On The Radio

Fights And Fires look like they’ve never kissed a girl and all collectively stepped out of a Games Workshop. Their guttural Every Time I Die-groove of blisteringly fast punk rock however is fucking excellent. Four Year Strong are still wishing their new record sounded like this, but it won’t, because Fights And Fires have nailed the thrash-meets-pop-punk whirling dervish of sound perfectly – glorious stuff.

Wolves Like Us – We Speak In Tongues

A filthy bass hum perpetuates over this. Wolves Like Us operate on making a gargle of rusty, angular noise that’s not a million miles away from the barren metallic rock of Therapy? It’s sinister, and unholy, delivered by a vocalist who spits and snarls with morbid disgust, but yet sounds as if he’s still having a good time.

Suicide Silence – You Only Live Once

Note to any deathcore bands – please, please, please, please, please stop making such bland sounding, ear-rotting garbage like this. I find it amazing these kind of bands still exist and that the kids haven’t got sick to the back teeth of it yet. Predictable beat-downs, and vocals that sound like someone is downing drain cleaner inside a lift full of vomit.

The Black Dahlia Murder – Moonlight Equilibrium

Dude from The Black Dahlia Murder has a hilarious voice. It’s proper high-pitched and snappy, with a slight hillbilly-ish twang to it. Like if Cleatus decided to front a death metal band. This has so much more going for it than Suicide Silence – for one thing, the drumming is all double-bass destruction, with some nice classic metal guitar soloing and thunderously overblown vocal howls that are gloriously GIANT HAM in their execution.

Breaking The Day – Hours (Broken Clocks)

That doomy, kind of drone-metal stuff is getting a lot of support nowadays huh? Breaking The Day make big walls of sound. Kind of sludgy in places – it relies on huge builds and crushing chords, backed by hoarse vocal barks and an unrelenting sense of despair and lack of worth. Hey, Cult of Luna do that! A slow burning, progressive chug of alt-metal that drips with sinister menace.

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Links

^up there. Next time, on Keep It Fast….

Mad Mac returns!
Probably an album review!
Some other stuff!
Yeah!

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By Ross Macdonald

I actually feel I’ve missed quite a lot recently; got a bit of a backlog that needs clearing – it’s just making time for it all really. I’m still yet to hear the new Obits album in full, despite it being out for the last 2 months. The Cold Cave album is particularly interesting and one I strongly recommend. Weekend Nachos are currently killing it in the hardcore stakes – so if you fancy some deranged, grind-sludge power-violence then check out ‘Worthless‘; an album I awarded 9 out of 10 on metal site, planet-loud. On this month’s Rock Sound CD, Foxfires, The Wonder Years, Dananananaykroyd, Tree Trapped Tigers, City & Colour and the rather superb Touché Amoré all receive a high-fuckin’ five for being totally awesome.

Black Veil Brides – Fallen Angels

I’ve heard a lot of complete gash in my time, but nothing quite as appallingly bad as this. Pop-metal by numbers that will probably sell fucking shed-loads to 14 year old girls – hey, if you can exploit a target market for big bucks with gimmicks you do it, right? Also, they all appear to have about 6 ravens imbedded in their heads and had make-up shotgunned blasted into their faces.

Fucked Up – A Little Death

A shot to the stomach that leaves you winded; Fucked Up are the angry, drunk, bearded lunatic who is inches from your face, bellowing a tirade of incomprehensible but dangerous, ramblings. The layers upon layers of guitars, not to mention the crunching drum rolls and Father Damian’s rasping vocals make for an intimidating, yet boisterous blast of heated punk rock fury – glorious stuff.

Frank Turner – I Am Disappeared

Classic Frank Turner here – that folk-bounce, quite sweet sounding. The drums add a well needed kick and the breakdown for the chorus is quite superb – all twinkling pianos, crashing cymbals and fast-paced strumming. Still preferred it when he sang about Byzantium empires falling though.

Touché Amoré – ~

Stripped-down, barebones punk rock – hell yes. Touché Amoré completely batters the listener; their vocalist spits his words with venomous malice, yet is still clear and perfectly audible. Fuck choruses, this is 88 seconds long of tight, concise hardcore that is so sharp, you can feel the air cutting around you. Ones to definitely watch – the future of aggressive music.

Heart In Hand – ThreeFifteen

South-coast (UK) hardcore upstarts; Heart In Hand mix the gut-rumbling roar of BARS with the same intensity of Give Up The Ghost. There’s some excellent gang-vocal chants and that sweaty hum of bludgeoning, no-frills aggression, mixed with melody that hasn’t been completely buried. Could do with being slightly shorter though.

Foxfires – Resilience On The Side Of The Road

*N64 kid air-punch* YES! This is the kind of thing I want – Rampant, scrambled speed-punk that sounds like it came out in the 90s, back when people thought windmilling was cool. It’s not. But this is. The amount of times vocalist Josh Lyford screams “FUCK” and the way he spits his vocals with such distaste and spite, it’s as if a bear with tourettes has decided to front Agnostic Front after listening to some Champion records.

Blitz Kids – Photograph

Rather disappointingly, not an Odd Future project. Blitz Kids vocalist must be the most relaxed man in the world. His voice is so horizontal, you could stand a house on it. Unfortunately, this is not a compliment – he sounds bored out of his mind and the rest of the band seems content to go through the motions of some very weak UK-rock that barely makes an impact.

The Wonder Years – Local Man Ruins Everything

Big swinging hook of pop-hardcore has again impaled itself in my back. The Wonder Years absolute kill it. The melody is absolutely spot-on as each band member falls over themselves to sing their part – it’s a delightful scramble of gang-vocals, chants, power-punk blasts of anthemic sunny destruction and the chorus, oh god the chorus; life-affirming. Four Year Strong are probably picking their jaws up off the floor as I type.

Dananananaykroyd – E Numbers

Do Dananananaykroyd still do the double drumming thing, or is it all dual-vocals now? Not that it matters. On ‘E Numbers’ the Scottish sextet sound suitably mental. Actually, I really don’t know what to say about this, because it’s completely unhinged to the point of breaking apart. One of the guitarists seems to keep squealing and distorting his instrument with no concern for anyone else, whist the other 6-stringer and the drummer play this stabbing, stop-start poppy bounce of uplifting rock ‘n roll and the two singer dudes trade words like playground insults – incredible.

Maybeshewill – Accolades

The keys on this are absolutely gorgeous. I’ve never really listened to Maybeshewill before, despite knowing them to be an instrumental band, they’ve passed me by – but this is truly spectacular. The quite loud dynamic is basically the intimidating/aggressive dynamic in this case – Some great heavy-emo rock blasts of noise, coupled with the melancholy of the strings and the rising piano chords. A chilling, raucous burst of sounds.

City and Colour – Fragile Bird

Big fan of Dallas Green’s voice – some of his best work is his Alexisonfire “wooaaahhhooooss” – this synth led piece is fairly haunting, despite a trippy bounce that the drums seem keen to inject into proceedings. Green’s pipes dominate this though; his extremely sorrowful croon is enchanting. Props to the fuzzed-out, mangled guitar solo, which seems slightly out of place, yet gives the track much needed warmth.

Shapes – Allure A Hore

No idea what Shapes are up to – sounds like they all went away, wrote some stuff, then jammed it all together and decided to construct the lyrics out of various shopping lists and what they saw whilst staring out of a window. Obviously they were high when they recorded this – structure-less and scrambled math-punk rambling that is both exciting and completely stupid at the same time.

Tellison – Kill Thy Foe

One of the most boring tracks I have ever had the misfortune to listen to. Grow some balls ffs.

Three Trapped Tigers – Cramm

It’s like someone has tried to mash to Adebisi Shank tracks together backwards, then cut up various parts and glued them back together in the wrong order. Not even sure what to bill this as – synth-led technical space punk, with a jazz element of ramshackle chaos. Three Trapped Tigers make alien music for aliens and it’s refreshing, uplifting and kind of sounds like the Space Harrier theme played by Lightning Bolt without the scuzz. Best track on the entire cd.

Across Tundras – Tchulu Junction

A meandering, almost listless slog of tired, metal that never starts, but frustratingly never stops – making it to the end of these 8 minutes should reward the listener with a medal – a pointless, soul-crushing dirge.

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Links

It’s raining.

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By Ross Macdonald

Twin Atlantic – The Ghost of Eddie
This actually gets better with repeated listens – at first, it’s kind of flat and a bit ‘rock by numbers’; but it’s a real grower. There’s some storming moments, especially the crunching last minute and a half, which lurches with a Pulled Apart By Horses, grungy strut of sporadic power.

We Are The Ocean – Overtime Is A Crime
This is about the 3rd time We Are The Ocean have appeared on one of these compilations and this is easily their best effort. Less grunge and more big Alexisonfire-soaring choruses, non-existent screams and instead opting for a twisting groove arranged around some good-overlapping dual vocal barks and succeed in delivering some excellent post-hardcore and a brilliantly infectious sing-a-long chorus.

Title Fight – Shed
Great lipsy, rasping voice on the vocalist of Title Fight. He doesn’t so much shout the words, as splutter them out with a confusing amalgamation of disgust and zest. There’s moments of early 90s emo rock, spliced with an obvious disgruntled Hot Water Music-ish scrape. “SHED YOUR SKIN, FIND A BETTER BODY TO FIT IN!” – Ticks the right boxes on feeling socially awkward at least.

Small Brown Bike – Sleep River Sleep
Ah man, Small Brown Bike are back together, sweet! Yeah so this doesn’t disappoint. Big swooping choruses of feel-good emo; some nice dual vocals taking precedent, alongside an uplifting sensibility and some fuzzy guitar lines backed by a strong rhythm section.

Balance and Composure – Quake
Not a re-imagining of a popular first-person shooter soundtrack then – *stops paging Trent Reznor*. Balance and Compsure match up two conflicting styles – at times, they sound quite lethargic, yet ‘Quake’ is an angry, bitter-sounding track and the vocalist, despite his drawling tones, matches a drunken, dreamy inflection with some harsh vocal yelps alongside crushing rock in the vein of Taking Back Sunday.

This Will Destroy You – Communal Blood
3 minutes in and this just starts to get going – milking it much guys? Distorted, completely incomprehensible post-rock meets noise chaos; would perhaps slot nicely in on the Gears of War 3 soundtrack. Then again, it sounds like they’re completely ripping off Martin O’Donnell, but have made everything that bit louder and drenched in more feedback.

The Cape Race – Barcelona
Absolutely massive sounding this – but that ever-so-sugary sweet that it just doesn’t settle right. If it was any more polished, the light bouncing off this would burn straight through your retinas. Confident, booming vocals backed by some tight, meticulous indie-rock, but all feels a bit ‘haven’t we heard this before?’ At least they’ve got the gusto and they actually sound like they mean and believe it and not ‘by the numbers.’

The Computers – Cinco De Mayo
Something that actually sounds and feels like a punch in the face. The Computers play gritty, malicious punk rock that leans heavily on that Swami sound, mixed with a scuzzy, rockabilly tone. Vocally, it sounds like Tom Hudson of Pulled Apart By Horses after several bottles of scotch and an all day screaming contest fronting a Turbo A.C.’s covers band. An excellent, strutting racket of sneering, quiff-driven punk.

Young Legionnaire – Chapter, Verse
Hey, it’s Paul Mullen from yourcodenameis:milo! Ah, those vocals…he sings like someone’s who’s incredibly disappointed with his target, but loves them at the same time. Kind of a bitter kindness. ‘Chapter, Verse’ by this new Mullen project (featuring the bassist from Bloc Party) sounds….well, like milo really; somewhat heavier in places – also has that same crunching guitar whine from ‘All Roads Lead To Fault’ for some reason and has moments of Amplifier space-rock pretensions.

Page 44 – Answers
Struggled to get through the vocals on this – they did get better, but it sounded like he was swallowing his tongue to begin with. Incredibly tired-sounding, plodding indie-landfill, with few redeeming features, although the breakdown near the end saves it from being completely tedious. Also, the EP that this comes from features THREE different versions of this song for some bizarre reason.

Skindred – Game Over
“GAME OVER, MASTER CONTROLLER!” Props to Skindred; they surprised me with their excellent live show at Slam Dunk last year and this from their new album, ‘Union Black’, is damn impressive. A cluster-blast of metallic punk rock, odd sampling and synth bleeps, coupled with Benji’s quick-fire rap attack. Nu-metal nu-reggae survivors are indeed victorious!

Revoker – Thief
Speaking of nu-metal….why bands feel they need to breathe fresh life into this scene…god knows. Now, I’m a massive apologist of the genre, but it sounded good BACK THEN and is best as a nostalgia tool. There’s some good riffs here mind and the kind of hilarious ‘macho sweary’ lyrics that The Union Underground would probably enjoy.

Social Suicide – The Last Martyrs
There’s about 4 bands called Social Suicide – Jesus Christ guys, pick a unique name or something. Anyway, THIS Social Suicide are from Norway – don’t expect another KVELERTAK though (sadly) as they sing in English. This has an edge over most hardcore though; it sounds pretty damn scratchy – distorted bass, clattering, tinny drum hits with some nice mathy-parts, gang-vocals aplenty and the feeling that it was recorded on a pirate ship, although I can’t explain why.

DeafHeaven – Violet (Edit)
A complete curbstomp of thrashed to death, black metal chaos chucked into a twister and then recorded near a thunderstorm. Epic destruction.

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Links
See above (note, And So I Watch You From Afar were featured on this, but as I’ve reviewed the album already I didn’t see the need to talk about ‘Search.Party.Animal’ again, even though it is AWESOME.
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By Ross Macdonald

Hello! We have moved! Actually, everything is pretty much the same, except new server, new OFFICIAL ownership and actual total and utter control which we should have had years ago, but were too lazy to sort out. All is good in the KIF house. What better way to celebrate my a slating/praising/some pointless rambling about some bands from a Rock Sound CD. Yeah?

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Funeral For A Friend – Welcome Home Armageddon

Retaining the similar catchy riffs from their debut ‘Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation’; Funeral For A Friend seem to be making a stab at grasping at the time when they actually sounded good – the pop elements that dominated most of ‘Hours’ are present; but seem a lot keener and more earnest. It’s still not quite what I expected as a comeback, but Davies-Kreye’s voice has never sounded stronger.

Yellowcard – For You And Your Denial

Does anyone actually listen to Yellowcard? Thought not. This sounds proper weak to their old stuff. I blame them kicking out their old singer – yeah, it’s a case of ‘preferred the early stuff’ and so would you; this is so wet – sure, it’s fast, but completely soulless, dull and throwing a violin at it isn’t going to cut it here.

D.R.U.G.S. – If You Think This Song Is About You, It Probably Is

The ‘hilariously’ named D.R.U.G.S. are apparently a super-group of modern emo-alumni, led by Craig Owens who was once in Chiodos. The intro is actually fairly heavy – stop-start rhythmic blasts that lean towards being somewhat hardcore. The use of trippy beats and glitching noises turns it away from the predictable pathway of wailing vocals and a chorus that could have been cribbed from ANY of the bands associated with this group. Patchy.

Defeater – Dear Father

It must be cold in the Defeater studio. The chill this track has is sharp, gritty and will make you shudder. The vocals are spat, rather than sung; half the time sounding like a fanatical preacher raging at a patriarch, with such ferocity (“YOU COWARD! YOU COWARD!”) it’s perhaps obvious to make some connection towards absent figures and daddy-issues.

Such Gold – Sycamore

Sometimes I wish I wasn’t such a massive sucker for this sort of punk rock. You know; the stuff that mixes clean/shouted vocals so well; rollicking along with that kind of 90s emo intensity, mixed with Four Year Strong-meets Set Your Goals hardcore attitude; fist-pumping choruses, spluttering lead vocalists and massive stupid-grin-on-my-face dumbness. Uplifting, boisterous punk that I can’t get enough of.

Trap Them – Evictionaries

The bass on this sounds as if it’s been dipped in sludge and left to rust. It’s a dense, tight attack that seems to rely on disconcerting the listener, whilst a man doing a very impressive Kevin Baker of the Hope Conspiracy impression as the guitars chew and mangle their way through just under 3 minutes of bitter and twisted hardcore.

Within Temptation – Where Is The Edge?

Not feeling this at all. True, she’s got a decent voice and there’s some nice keyboard moments, particularly the breakdown, but Symphonic metal never really sits well with me; and always seems to sound, well – repetitive. Massive rising and crashing choruses, quiet patches of instrumental build, bit of wigging out on the guitar – not for me really.

TesseracT – The Impossible: Concealing Fate Part Three

This doesn’t actually go anywhere. TesseracT seem to rely on shitloads of build and interesting movements, but they all seem to then fizzle out, only for them to start a new idea that then fizzles out, only for….oh forget it – you get the picture. It’s a complete fucking unlistenable mess that disguises some effective chugging guitar lines, which is a pity. Vocalist doesn’t seem to have a clue what he’s doing and nor does anyone else.

Sick Puppies – You’re Going Down

Some slick riffs in this; Sick Puppies, want to be intense – they want to be that edgy, no-bullshit band, that are unfortunately hampered by being so incredibly clichéd. Grunge-elements, mixed with tired nu-metal from about 10 years ago; shout-sung vocals full of angst and bored bitterness. Nice backing shouts mind, but nothing remotely special.

Thomas Giles – Hypoxia

This is the guy that fronts mathcore monsters, Between The Buried And Me. Screams and fragmented blast-beats of noise and experimental squeals are gone; what we have hear is looped piano chords, soft guitar plucking and a somewhat monotone yet, warm vocal lead that is greatly enforced when the drums kick in and everything gets turned up notch; in the style of Cave In crunchy rock. For some reason, I had expected something more electronic-based.

Vessels – The Trap

Vessels sound like a continent shifting – there’s something eerily serene about their almost ambient post-rock soundscapes, with guitars and echoing warbles shifting in and out of each other, whilst a steady drum roll manages to slot itself beneath an ethereal haze of mesmerising sound.

Ken MODE – Obeying The Iron Will

Let’s get angry. Focused, raw aggression is something that really makes music come alive. You can feel the spittle from the singer as they roar blue-bloody murder in your face, feel the guitars ringing in your ears and of course absorb the heavy vibration of the bass and drums as it buries you in sound. Ken MODE do this in the style of Taint-meets-Dillinger, pissed off metallic-noise hardcore.

Earthship – Sea of Peril

Vocalists who sound like a pig being strangled = funny as hell. Earthship’s main squealer has a tad or porcine in his throat It’s dense – riffs pummel and twist with a heavy, stoner crust and it clunks along at a strange, twisted gait, sounding a bit Poison The Well in some places.

The Royal Republic – The Royal

Fat Wreck Chords punk rock chords, mixed with perky, somewhat plumy vocal snaps and a streak of punchy, fast rock ‘n roll; this is truly special. Its blink-and-you’ll-miss it fist-pumping speed-punk.

Random Hand – Find What’s Out There

Random Hand are flying the UK flag for skacore at the moment and it’s easy to see just why. The mixture of gritty, trashed-sounding punk rock, snotty malevolence, Rocket From The Crypt-style brass blasts, quick fire vocal diatribes (in the style of the much missed Capdown) and a surprising amount of melody makes Random Hand the cream of the UK punk scene – nice work lads.

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Links

2, 3, 4

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By Ross Macdonald

I’ve been busy writing for two three other sites at the moment, so updates to this one are erratic to say the least. If you want to read about me rambling about computer games, then go here. Also, I write about any old music crap here, with my last post taking the piss out of Iced Earth for having about 9 drummers. Coming up: Mad Mac reviews, plus some other junk.

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And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Summer Of All Dead Souls

I’ve always considered Trail Of Dead to be an incredibly eccentric band; but one that delivers the goods. ‘Summer Of All Dead Souls’ is a grand mix of soaring/crashing choruses coupled with raucous churning guitar lines and smothering percussion, not to mention some brilliantly distorted vocals. A swirling cataclysm of joyful yet unconventional sounds that gives a nod to their snotty-punk roots of ‘Madonna’ and the bonkers epic parts that made up ‘Worlds Apart.’ Superb stuff.

A Skylit Drive – Too Little Too Late

Throughout the three minutes and eleven seconds that make up this track I thought to myself their must be something positive I can glean.  Unfortunately, even if they’d thrown in some fucking trumpets, the fact remains that I’d still be hearing the awful boy-band auto-tune vocals shrilling in my lugholes, coupled with some fifth-rate metalcore wannabes who accidentally lent on a piano during the recording. Hideous music, hideous band.

VersaEmerge – Figure It Out

Vocalist Sierra Kusterbeck has a sweet, dream-like flavour in her voice, wavering between Amanda Palmer style scariness and squeaky-clean, but gutsy pop-punk. Musically….it’s fairly light-hearted rock that threatens at something more and the ethereal passages that shimmer in the background (twitching loops and bubbling synth lines) all add depth and body to a well crafted tune.

Arcane Roots – In This Town Of Such Weather

Arcane Roots are all over the place – if the guitars aren’t stabbing great big prog-shaped holes in the scenery, then the slightly-too-shrill vocal lead (that gets more aggravated and scratchy as the track progresses) is bulldozing it’s way through, not to mention the almost math rock nature past the 3 minute mark, where it all seems to lose control, juddering and flailing everywhere like the ghost of Meet Me In St. Louis.

The Joy Formidable – I Don’t Want To See You Like This

Ritzy Bryan’s voice is a complete joy. Coupled with this swirling, powerful indie-rock it sounds like one of the best things ever. Her breathy whispers are alluring, as is the music which swoops in like a giant eagle, snatching you out of danger with its echoing, shuddering beauty. Hooks so big you can’t even scale them – simply wonderful.

Daytrader – Kill My Compass

Hot damn – before I bothered to look up about Daytrader I thought ‘hey, these guys sound a bit like they’ve listened to Latterman and Crime In Stereo’ – which are two bands Daytrader share members with. Anyway, this is freakin’ ace – think kind of Mineral-style emo, mixed with good-Jimmy Eat World choruses that soar, but still hold an agitated scratch of post-hardcore beneath the surface.

Lemuria –Chautaugua County

I reckon I heard this on the sound track to the latest Michael Cera indie-fluff. I love this; Lemuria make that kind of summery haze of dreamy indie rock that bounces along with uplifting grace and a sense that things aren’t complete and utter shit. There’s a grungy, lo-fi punk element to the recording, as well as an incredibly relaxed, apathetic twinge to drummer and vocalist Alex Kerns, which pairs nicely with the harmonising ‘whooaa oohs’ of guitarist Sheena Ozzella.

Day Of The Sirens – Home Is A Working Title

I reviewed these guys about 2 years ago – I’d love to say that my opinion of the band has completely reversed and that their latest musical exploits are a revelation…. but I’m not because that would be a lie and I don’t tell lies.

Don Broco – Dreamboy

Local boys Don Broco are all about the swaggering groove and hitting big choruses with cheeky gusto. Lyrically it’s nothing to really write home about; all seems a bit New Found Glory 10 years ago. When they find their stride though, the chorus of ‘Dreamboy’ burrows its way in and sets up shop quite nicely inside your brain, which is to be commended – very promising indeed.

Tephra – Chains And Pounding Hooves

“Hey let’s sound evil” must be what Germany’s Tephra were thinking when they decided to make music. It’s dense and kind of unsettling doom-laden metal that touches on Botch-style hardcore growls and a shrugging disgust of throw-away anger, whilst the bass gurgles beneath it all. Disturbing; a bit like listening to Cult Of Luna during a thunderstorm.

Mogwai – Rano Piano

It’s all about the slow-burn with Mogwai. ‘Rano Piano’ is an ambient wall of discordant fuzz; dragged along by a drumbeat that gets progressively louder and more sinister. There’s an eerie atmospheric howl stuttering through in the background as the track finally finds its feet and rises with such over-powering grace, it’s hard not to feel moved by this extraordinary composition.

Amplifier – The Octopus

If Adebisi Shank are the caped-crusader super heroes of space rock, then Amplifier are the evil twisted mastermind who resides in a skull palace carved out of a cliff face. The first 4 minutes of this are unrelentingly sinister, but never seems to tire from throwing new and exciting moments in the mix. It soon spirals out of control though, like a villainous breakdown of lurching riffs and bottoming-out heaviness. Easily the best song this month, hands down.

Black Spiders – Stay Down

The sneer in the voice of Pete Siby; frontman of Black Spiders, is so big it’s threatening to become a corporal entity. Black Spiders are rough, ballsy rock ‘n roll, part Foo Fighters in some areas, part Airbourne in others, with a hefty dose of arrogance and a scuzzy 70s swagger and filthy riffs – lovely, lovely stuff.

Polar – Shanghai Junk

Awesome amounts of breakneck speed and a scratchy, straining voice and bear-like backing vocal roars are always going to be in my good books. Polar have all this, as well as a surprising amount of melody within their scuzzy, hardcore punk that owes a lot to Gallows to some extent; but less whiny and more raw and slavering.

DevilDriver – Dead To Rights

DevilDriver might just be the best name ever for a metal band. Hey, it’s the dude that chauffeurs Satan around, got to be awesome right? Well yeah, to be honest this could have gone one of two ways; thankfully it took the right path – with elements of thrash-hardcore spilling through the more ridiculous moments and some of the most insane drumming ever as well as Megadeth tendencies shining through, former Coal Chamber man does very good indeed.

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By Ross Macdonald

Just….just don’t say anything. My kingdom for an internet connection that wasn’t the equivalent of two wires blowing in the wind; occasionally connecting for a split second, before being tossed into the air by a sudden gust. Computer is about 10 seconds away from going down the stairs.

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A Day To Remember – All I Want

I half expected this to be a load of screamy metalcore crap, but I’m pleasantly surprised. Mixes some of the best pop-rock moments of Four Year Strong, with a guttural punk rock edge and a sneering vocalist who lapses between melody and anthemic rage. The trademark “woaaahhooohhhs” are perfectly timed; as are the gang vocal mentality and general fist-in-the-air determination and grit – brimming with passion.

The Damned Things – We Got A Situation Going Here

So it’s the two less famous dudes from Fall Out Boy, Scott Ian and the other guitarist dude from Anthrax and Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die? Shit son, I actually like the sound of that. It’s basically Buckley fronting a pop version of Anthrax; the guy’s got a brilliant voice, backed by the shredding of some decent thrash. The song to background all high-speed car chases; a relentless salvo of swaggering hard rock that demands frantic air-punching – absolutely fucking brilliant from start to finish; especially the ridiculous mini-guitar solo 20 seconds from the end.

Middle Class Rut – I Guess You Could Say

I can’t get behind the swaggering country-meets-cocky rap rock mess of this enough. Seriously, this is fantastic stuff. On a first listen it feels so disorganised and ramshackle, yet it leaks confidence. The vocalist seems to be channelling elements of Zach De La Rocha, mixed with angry hardcore punk; whilst the drums rattle and roll like some disorganised circus procession; complete with twanging banjos, tambourine hits and a sense that you want to repeat the last 4 minutes until the CD caught fire.

Blood Command – On And On Chameleon

Excellent band name and kudos for the musical output not being plodding hardcore. They’re from Norway and apparently list Hot Snakes as an influence. Whilst Froberg and Reis riffage does shine through on this occasionally; it seems to have more in common with dance-punk; which is played supremely tight. The female vocals dominate it completely; dipping between a sharp end squeal and the strutting attitude of Juliette Lewis. The weird glitch-ridden effects in the middle of the track are a nice touch also.

The Ocean – She Was The Universe

There’s quite a low-end twang to this German-metal mob. At times it can twist and contort with the kind of tormented urgency of Botch mixed with elements of Dillinger Escape Plan. Underlying it all though, is some post-rock guitar bending that shudders beneath the part-screamed/part-sung vocal lead; which at times falls on the side of generic, but saves itself by overdosing on the throaty, aggressive gargling.

Senses Fail – The Fire

I remember watching Senses Fail about 7 years ago. Some guy was rubbing himself against me during their set. Kind of put me off. Anyway, not much to say about this really; I quite enjoyed their first EP (indie-bellend alert) but found everything else quite ‘eh’. There’s some quite lovely guitar lines in this though; the chorus is suitably massive, but feels all too familiar and the cry of “from ashes we will rise” means I’ve just won emo-core bingo for the 3rd week running. Note: must write better lyrics.

Miss May I – Relentless Chaos

Props to the drumming in this; which is like a scattergun of furious blast-beats smashing against a tin roof in a thunderstorm. Vocals are mostly unfathomable growls and barks beneath that bottoming out thug-attack of metallic vitriol. Angry = yes; Original? = hmmm….

Me Vs Hero – Draw The Line

I saw this band at a punk festival back in May. They wanted people to form a human pyramid. Bunch of wankers. Oh yeah, the music = er…pick any band from Drive Thru Records and voila.

Talons – In The Shadows Of Our Stilted Homes

It’s like watching the world end. It’s akin to that final push over the top; ignore the bleeping from your shield which is struggling to recharge. Ignore the low ammo counter; it’s not like you’d get a shot off anyhow. The one grenade is your best shot. Your visor is smeared with soil and blood As you leave the sanctuary of the ditch a shriek like that of a violin cuts through you and explosions wrack the terrain like a the beats from a flailing octopus of a drummer. As you fall, the guitars cut your body to ribbons. Some of the darkest instrumental rock music I’ve heard in a long, long while. Pelican via And So I Watch You From Afar greatness.

The Amity Affliction – I Hate Hartley

God, the first few seconds sound like the Halo soundtrack….ah wait, no they’ve changed it. Awesome vocal cut-up; MORE OF THIS PLEASE! No…not standard metallic-shouty stuff please. Melody is present though people! Angst though; real fucking angst in that. Keyboard break – *shrugs* Positive gang vocals! “I WON’T DIE DEFEATED!” Love this; optimistic; even if it’s a total slice of Edam next to a massive block of cheddar.

Touché Amoré – Honest Sleep

With a voice that sounds like it’s been flogged to within an inch of it’s life, then set on fire and rubbed in salt; Touche Armore have got a unique edge to their scrappy hardcore, which sounds slightly Minor Threat in its execution. Guitars are tuned high and sound scratchy and scything; whilst the bass is relatively non-existent; making way for the caustic scraping of the disgustingly harsh vocals which sound like they’d infect the listener with throat problems just from hearing them. Nice break around the minute mark also.

Electric Wizard – Venus In Furs

With a vocal drawl that sounds as if it’s been recorded underwater by someone with schizophrenia; sludge-coated guitars, wailing solos and an intro that wouldn’t look out of place on a Rob Zombie soundtrack; Electric Wizard are pretty damn metal. The best way to describe this is a lurching, intoxicated monster of snarling noise and amplified vibration that dabbles in stoner rock and probably several bottles of whisky.

Killington Fall – To A God Unknown

Post-rock again turned up (or down however you see it) to the max in both its depressing rise and fall in a sorry sounding and slovenly gait. It’s not bad; but not really that original to be honest; which is odd considering a (mostly) instrumental piece can offer a band the chance to create all manner of chaos or even twisted beauty. This sadly, is neither.

Death Of Thieves – An Angel Has Your Knife

Part-tech metal that then decides to have a vocalist not full on growling; but channelling the rage and sound of Every Time I Die’s Keith Buckley for good measure. Nice! The guitars are frankly, far too choppy and elaborate for something that should be perhaps toned down to a nice slower, dirtier groove but it actually makes a nice and refreshing change.

Awolnation – Burn It Down

Absolutely fantastic stuff right here. Awolnation is like a punk version of the Prodigy, experimenting in more beats and drum loops; straddling the boundaries of clean and grimey-hip hop rock. There’s so much going on here; darkwave Nine Inch Nails basslines, twee handclaps, brief hardcore screaming, weird drum-roll breaks and trippy, bending noises – second best thing on the CD straight after The Damned Things.

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Links

Go away.

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By Ross Macdonald

I need some time off, seriously. I’ve been far too busy with other things when really I should be updating this site. However, considering it’s STILL bodged regards coding on everything after June, I’ll do my best to make the rest of October up to December as decent as I can. Hopefully. Also, this picture has nothing to do with anything reviewed/talked about below, I just couldn’t find an image and this one best represented my mood – showing some n00b who can’t edit his Halo character getting owned.

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Torche – Out Again

Not really heard much Torche, save for in a review I did a few years back and I absolutely loved what I heard. This however, doesn’t sound like the Torche I knew. The vocals are fairly strained; whilst the music is a plodding, monotonous dirge of lumpy stoner metal that doesn’t go anywhere and just relies on some poor distortion and tedious noise effects that don’t add anything except confusion. Poor.

Dinosaur Pile-Up – Barceloner

I have no idea who Dinosaur Pile-Up are, but I suddenly want them to be massive. I’m already a minute into this track and it’s absolutely fantastic. Nasally, dual-vocal whines, some nice “wwwwuhhhhhooohhhh” backing, razor-sharp guitar lines and a thundering rhythmic fuzz that sounds a bit Mudhoney playing snotty punk rock. It’s super-dumb, but compelling, bastard riffage and I kind of want to own everything they’ve ever released.

Attack! Attack! – No Excuses

Not to be confused with the black t-shirt haircut mong brigade called Attack Attack!; the double exclamation-marked lot are musically superior in everyway possible. Despite being Welsh, they don’t half sound a lot like Fighting With Wire. Not that this is a bad thing; they’re like a cleaner, more polished version of the Irish 3 piece. Limited originality, but nailing that Biffy/post-punk sound into the ground.

The Black Pacific – Living With Ghosts

JIM! FROM PENNYWISE! YES! The old saying of “if it isn’t broke….” Is something Mr Lindberg must have tattooed on his chest. What we have hear is a standard punk rock; yet there’s heaps more melody than his former outfit, more harmonies, more “woooaaahhoooos” and a gritty tenacious attitude that punk vocalists must get after 20 odd years of chanting bro hymn – solid stuff.

Les Savy Fav – Let’s Get Out Of Here

This seems like quite a thoughtful piece of music from Les Savy Fav. It’s hard to imagine this is the bearded cross-dressing psycho, Tim Harrington; as his voice is oddly sorrowful and melancholy, whilst the music; despite retaining that art-punk edge that made Inches and Let’s Stay Friends so raucous, this is quite restrained, but no less zealous.

Calories – You Could Be Honest

Nice to see Calories haven’t moved on much. Okay, so they’ve gotten a bit tighter and the cymbal crashes are more prominent; but this is thankfully, business as usual for the 3-piece. Breathless, fuzzy rock music, dual vocal shouts and that filthy bass-hum; just what we need to take our minds of the impending cold weather.

Of Mice & Men – Second And Seabring

I realise this will never, ever be phased out, but I still can’t believe people buy into or any of this utter rotting phallus of a genre. I nearly chewed off half my fist when the audible clean vocals cut through the mix. Totally abhorrent garbage that shouldn’t be given air to breathe.

Your Demise – Teenage Lust

I quite like the denseness of this. It’s blunt and to the point without being incredibly thuggish; yet lacks that scrappy and lopsided nature of some hardcore, opting to channel a more rugged, tight attack that is to a large degree, formulaic in nature but is helped by a strong vocalist who pulls off a passable Wes Eisold interpretation.

We Came As Romans – To Plant A Seed

There are some nice tech-aspects in this; but why does it all have to sound so angsty guys? Actually I’m quite jealous of the trippy, electronic bits that litter this piece – nice amount of twinkling pianos as well as the bending noises, but unfortunately this could be any and I mean ANY fringe-core wannabes who decided that naming their band similar to a genre-defining Botch album was a good idea. If they lost the vocals, this would be so much better – like a lot of metalcore.

Thieves & Villains – Virginia Woolf

The melody on this is annoyingly catchy. I don’t like it; but it’s one of those tunes that can weave its way into your brain, like that ‘Breakfast In America’ by Supertramp. It’s a bit Nada Surf/Weezer in its execution, but with a happier clappy vibe of spontaneous enthusiasm – i.e. they sound far too cheerful. Actually, scrap my comment in the first line; it’s actually really good; annoyingly good.

The Attika State – Recycle

My god has this singer got a plumy voice. At least he sounds different, which is somewhat of a relief. Oh my, THE CHORUS. This is Pop-rock done with massive fist clenching passion and a haughty pompous attitude.

Volbeat – A Warrior’s Call

This is really strange. What I really like about this is Volbeat’s straddle of genres. The opening 40 seconds sounds like a traditional heavy metal attack – stop-start drumming, power chords, etc. Then when the vocals kick in; there somewhere between Tiger Army-style rockabilly swagger; Iron Maiden bravado and punk rock meets Manson gang chants. Difficult to describe, but it’s absolutely superb and the best track on this CD so far.

Brutality Will Prevail – Early Grave

With a name which is about as thick as all their collective necks, Brutality Will Prevail aren’t offering anything new to hardcore, except perhaps dragging its well beaten carcass through a mire of sludge and bass-droning noise. Part Raindayfuckparade, part Poison The Well; mostly meathead; but it’s strangely better than most, so yeah, thumbs up to this.

We Are Knuckle Dragger – Steel Toe-Capped Sandal

I love how guttural this sounds. The bass is quite high up in the mix, creating an eerie grinding rasp of rusty stuttering rock; that’s part Future of the Left aggravation, part Hot Snakes scathing punk but all down-tuned, snappy metallic punk that to be honest, I can’t get enough of.

Last Lungs – Oh, Good Morning

Taking a leaf out of This Will Destroy You’s book of “How To Do Instrumental Rock Part 1”, Last Lungs have all the dynamics in place, ranging from the slow-quiet bits, to the apocalyptic crashing noise of the heavier, sporadic bits. The title sums the track up perfectly; it’s as though you’re waking from a deep sleep and this uplifting, flourish of post-rock twiddling slices delicately through the air. Sounds like: the sun rising during autumn.

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Links

See above; it’s my dinner time.

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By Ross Macdonald