Reviews

Way back in July of 2009, Phoenix’s The Word Alive released the Empire EP. The EP featured some pretty solid tunes. Now, just over a year later, various member changes, and signing to Fearless, the band has come out with their debut full-length album, Deceiver.

I loved the Empire EP, but this album just does not come through for me. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve still managed to create some fairly intense, heavy tracks; the winding guitars, dramatic keyboards, and flustered double bass is all there and in place. But in the end the majority of the album falls just short of originality and lands itself in to the over-saturated scene that is post-hardcore. The overall album plays along the same edge as Emmure, The Devil Wears Prada, and We Came As Romans, filled with all the aspects of a hardcore band. There tends to be an overkill with guitars throughout the album, with unnecessary shredding and soloing, but the electronic ultra-bass clips combat that most of the time. Personally, I don’t have a problem with Tyler’s vocals, as opposed to Craig’s, I just think that they’ve ultimately taken it too far with the heaviness of his screaming – to the point where you’re expecting him to pop a blood vessel through your speakers.

“Consider It Mutual”, “Dream Catcher”, and “You’re All I See” offer little redemption as these tracks have a lot of clean vocals – in fact, “You’re All I See” is all clean vocals – and it lets you take a quick (very quick) break from an Armageddon of screaming from Tyler. I will give it to the guys, however, that they’ve managed to maintain a cool and sometimes intriguing balance of bass electronica with guitars, specifically in “Like Father Like Son” as vocals shrieks ”Don’t fuck with family!”

I’ll note that they’ve included a re-recorded version of “Battle Royale”, a track from the Empire EP, and it’s just been massacred. It almost seems slower overall, but especially with singing and at the breakdowns. In this version the guitars and cymbals are more distinct, but it just doesn’t do justice, compared to the original version.

Overall, Deceiver doesn’t quite cut it. The Word Alive is certainly able to produce better than this, and I’d hope to see a little more originality both in musicianship and lyricism next time around.

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Resonating amongst the sounds of Jupiter One and The Temper Traps combined, Springfield, Illinois group The Graduate are pumped to be releasing their sophomore album, Only Every Time, from Razor & Tie Records. The 5-piece ambient/indie group have created the perfect equation of melodic pop-punk and indie new-wave tunes to sit back and enjoy.

Not greatly straying from the sounds of previous works, the group comes together to construct eleven lengthy tunes that won’t disappoint if you’re a fan of what they do. Amid the thunderous bass drum, the piercing of open high-hats, and defining bass lines, lead vocals Corey enchants your ears with his serene vocals – reminiscent of something along the lines of Coldplay in upper register. The light plucking of guitars almost relays a mystical effect.

After having a talk with Corey about this work, it’s let me see more in to what they’re getting at with this album; “I think a lot of the songs are about being out of place, or trying to figure out where you’re going next.”  They’re just trying to make good, honest music while still trying to stay alive at the same time, with food, bills, and everything else being thrown at them.

All in all, it’s a calming, but uplifting release, and I respect what these guys do.

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You can grab the new album August 31st from Razor & Tie Records.

In a sticky Islington, bright new stars Louellen prepare to weave their twinkly, indie magic over an intimate, well turned out crowd.

The night aimed to showcase exciting new UK talent at the O2 Academy, the reward for one lucky band is a place in the final to headline at a Moldavian gig and a single released in Asia – not too shabby by any means.

Our Southern lads were on second, and with a small amount of gigs under their proverbial belt, they were ready to prove that new doesn’t mean inexperienced but instead, compellingly fresh and exciting.

After a few technical hitches (through no fault of their own) the boys picked up pace and treated us to some well-executed, enigmatic tracks. Looking around, fellow skinny jean wearing boys and girls tapped toes in time and seemed fully immersed in Louellen’s sound. Often being taken by surprise with the sudden burst of energy that appeared to come like shots from the dark, then pulling back on the reigns to display their full musical spectrum. An obvious favourite, and one which I’m sure will stylishly adorn the radio in the not so distant future was ‘Bright Paint on a White Wall’, emphasising frontman Christian’s delicately fierce vocal.

Despite keeping our toes tapping with an array of tracks from their soon to be released EP, the foursome were pipped to the post for the final spot. They did however gain the most votes from other musicians proving that their technical ability far surpassed the competition.

Hranica, DePoyster, and company are back with The Devil Wears Prada‘s first actual extended play release (despite multiple full-length albums), Zombie, due out August 24th from Ferret Music. And in true TDWP style, this EP does not disappoint.

The five tracks from the release feature some of the band’s most relentless and intimidating music they’ve ever released. But not only is this the fastest set of songs I’ve heard, but they’re also the most unique songs thus far, because they’re not typical to what you’d hear from the Ohio group. The Zombie EP is much more coarse, as it’s not so smooth-flowing as many of their previous songs tend to be, with a lot less clean vocals from Jeremy, and higher-pitched screaming from Mike — I mean real higher-pitched. You’ll also notice certain songs include added background clips, such as shotgun shells hitting the ground, news reports, chainsaws, and frightened people. After all, it is a Zombie theme.

Hell, they even have song titles relating to the song.

Overall, it’s heavier, it’s high-octane, and it’s beautiful. Perhaps it’s giving some insight as to what’s brewing from the group.

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“Welcome to the Brotherhood,” says a dark voice as it introduces the next full length album from Victoria group On Call Heroes. Brotherhood is the sophomore release from the up and coming quartet, soon to embark on a half-cross-country tour to Saskatchewan promoting the album, which is set to drop this Friday.

Compared to previous works, the new album stays along the same style of pop-punk music that OCH has long been known for in their local scene, but this time they’ve bumped it up with a lot of faster, more catchy and up-beat riffs and percussion, as well, the vocals lay sound on higher octaves.

The genuine and sometimes rated-R lyrics they throw down throughout the album make you actually want to listen to what lead vocals Bronson McMahon is talking about. And of course, you can find the humour of the band scattered along the way, with songs like “That Guy” shouting “It’s Pretty clear to me that he punches little kids”, “Tonight Is For The Boys Boys Boys” with “We’re watching your friend ride a tricycle naked”, and simply the titles of track one, “Int(b)ro”, and track eleven, “Brotherhood(Outbro)”.

On Call Heroes is a good example of a band trying their hardest, the old fashioned way, to make it big, but are having a ton of fun while doing it. And for a group thats not signed to a label, they do a damn good job at recording their own album; it’s nice not hearing songs about love, but instead, about being a bro.

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It’s time to sing the praises of the brilliantly bold but understated talents of Hhymn.

With a modest number of Myspace friends, Hhymn are a little hidden gem from the UK that are soon to emerge and shine right into your eye, blinding you with pure beauty. There’s no fussy over-production, just a whimsical folksy sound that strikes chords with the likes of Arcade Fire, Beirut and The Doves. Two years after forming Hhymn, Ed Bannard and Simon Ritchie are to release their first official debut single, along with some buddies on their own label Food Chain – praise the lord! No that’s not the name of the track, Land of Souls is available to purchase from Monday (28th June) and is accompanied by an equally perfectly crafted B-side, Amanita. I’m sure you know how rare a good B-side is. From the first listen both songs give me that cliché warm, fuzzy feeling inside, their tools are vast from Organs to Glockenspiels but never encroaching on the meaningful and empathetic lyrics. Hhymn have been described as having enough melancholy to sink a battleship, go grab some armbands and slip into the blissful beats.

Listen to Land of Souls by Hhymn

It was around this time 3 years ago when SoCal quartet Pierce The Veil had released their first official album under their new name — stemming from the previous name, Before Today — and unleashed a debut hardcore high-pitched storm, “A Flair For The Dramatic”. And now, after being on hiatus for quite some time, they’re back to business, with their latest release, “Selfish Machines”.

The 12-track sophomore appears, at first, to be one big melancholic love story, but after diving a little deeper in to the album, and reading up on the track-by-track at AltPress.com, there seems to be a lot more than just tales of Southern girls and being selfish. Just reading about the 9th track, “I Don’t Care If You’re Contagious” makes you think about life.

(AltPress.com) – I Don’t Care If You’re Contagious: I wrote a great deal of these lyrics after a young fan had explained to me that her boyfriend had just recently died in a car accident. She told me that he held her hand for the first time at our one of our shows. She told me that she just wanted to thank us for being a part of their lives. This was one of the most shocking and heartbreaking things I’d ever heard. I wrote the song as a gift to her. It’s meant to be her boyfriend speaking to her, telling her that he is still watching over her and that he will love her forever.

In general, the album is all about love, heartbreak, and relationships; but then again, so is every other song in the world. So in this sense, there is no real originality here. The overall album, however, sounds very real and crisp, in that you can hear each individual instrument and background vocal fold with true clarity. You can really distinguish the attention to detail in this album when compared to other artists in the post-hardcore genre.

PTV has evolved in their sound, gradually adding more and more electronic enhancement (Fast Times At Clairemont High) and incorporating a more defined latin background. Vic Fuentes manages to keep as girly voice as possible, with the occasional pitchy crack and harmonic squeal, as well, the heaviness of the album doesn’t really differ much from previous works.

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Did you hear? J-Sleazy and the gang are back with round two of Attack Attack!’s latest attempt to re-invent themselves as respected musicians. With a slew of member changes and constant criticisms of their talent and genre, the band has finally unleashed the second full-length album, self-titled, from Rise Records.

Think post-Sonnny From First To Last, Stick To Your Guns, and Cobra Starship.

A chilling piano intro begins the album on “Sexual Man Chocolate”, getting our hopes up for a somewhat decent metalcore album. And for the first three songs or so our expectations are pretty much exceeded — it is, so far, indeed a metal album with a hint of electronica; until the fourth track, “Shut Your Mouth”. It’s a good song, if you’re a fan of dancing and, perhaps, Jeffree Star. I understand that electronica takes a big part in Attack Attack! as a band, but “Shut Your Mouth” strays just a bit too much from the general genre that the band has landed on, and really sticks out as annoying filler. As my own preference, when listening to heavy music, I want to stay in heavy music until I’m ready to be done. I don’t want any dance, J-Sleazy, or anything of that sort. The overall idea behind this album’s genre is pretty confusing in general. You’ve got a good ‘ol heavy as hell fast-paced sound in songs like “Renob, Nevada” and “AC-130″, a girlish Cobra-esque “Shut Your Mouth”, and Boyz To Men in the final track, “Lonely”, with something that Brokencyde would put out in the last 60 seconds of the album.

Caleb, the groups third and current lead vocalist, brings a heavier scream to the table, whereas Carlile had the higher-pitched accent. And as far as I’m concerned, the band’s music hasn’t greatly changed or evolved.

Let’s hope any future music videos won’t earn them any more comments from critics.

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It seems like many bands these days fit into the electronica/dance-pop category. Honestly, a lot of them end up sounding the same, but I have to say, after giving Breathe Electric’s “Lovestruck” a listen, Breathe Electric is definitely not your generic dance/power-pop/electronica band.

The EP opens in a proper fashion with the high-energy title track. As the song progresses, it becomes maybe a little bit too repetitive, but sustains the energy and excitement that it begins with.

One thing that definitely sticks out to me about this particular album that many bands are guilty of, is the over-repetitiveness of songs. On a positive note, singer Grant Harris’ voice is definitely unique and helps put Breathe Electric’s music above all of the other generic pop bands despite the use of auto-tune throughout the album.

Something I really enjoy about this particular album, is the difference in each song. Yes, they do all seem to be about love and girls, but somehow each song is different enough that they keep the album from becoming monotonous, which is something I can’t stand. Each song is exciting and just a warning: you might find yourself dancing.

A particular song that sticks out to me, is “Electronic Lover”. The song slows down the somewhat fast pace of the album, but in a good way. The song itself is still full of energy, just a little slowed down.

Something else that many popular bands these days incorporate into their music, is just plain awful lyrics. Yeah, I’m looking at you 3OH!3 and Brokencyde. Even if the lyrics on “Lovestruck” are slightly generic, they beat putting down females and lyrics mostly talking about drugs and alcohol.

And now, the end of the album. “Stop Actin’” is the final track. If I had chosen the tracklisting, I really don’t think I would have chosen this song. It seems to keep the same mood in the sense of energy as the previous track “Electronic Lover”. The song is a bit slower paced as with “Electronic Lover” and is a disappointment. Although most of the songs on the album are around the same length, “Stop Actin’” feels shorter, like an abrupt, hurried ending.

If you like to dance, you will most likely enjoy this EP. Breathe Electric has a lot of potention to gain even more friends and become more well-known, which I would like to see. I was pleasantly surprised when I listened to this album, as this genre isn’t usually what I listened to. Definitely worth listenting to more than once.

I give it 3 stars out of 5.

I’ll be up front about, and I think I can speak for hundreds of fans when I say that I really thought Sonny did a way better job than Matt ever will for From First to Last, but that’s not to say that their latest album, Throne To The Wolves, is bad, by any means. I just  get the sense that they’re trying to hard now.

FFTL started out rough and uncut with Dear Diary…, and then pretty much kept that notion going with Heroine. But then when Sonny left and Matt filled his spot, they seemed to transform in to a tidier band, with less screaming and less out-of-the-ordinary music, but instead played straight up alternative rock and roll. And now, after having plenty of time to think, with both acclaim and criticism, and a quick drummer change, they release this; a thumping, bumping collection of harsh libretto that intrigues me. It seems to me that they weren’t satisfied – or their fans weren’t — with the plain ‘ol music they produced with their self-titled release, so they decided to jack up their hard-core outfit. And I like it. It’s kind of typical, with scruffy screams for every second line of lyric, high-pitched whining, 30 second breakdowns, and bass-pedalling faster than one’s ear can handle, but that’s what continues the post-hardcore genre, and they fit the mold pretty damn good. Perhaps there’s something to be said about group chanting “Yah!”s and “OOh!”s? And, wait, what’s that? Did I just hear auto-tune? But, the question is, are they just changing for what their fans want, or are they still pumping out music they want to?

With all this to take in, it makes me start to wonder if they’re actually producing original music, or if they’re following the trend that every new 1 in 2 bands in the world is; trying to be too hardcore? In terms of comparison, Throne To The Wolves resembles Heroine the most to me, with the fairly equal combination of clean to harsh vocals and a lot of added electronic enhancers and fills, and for that I give them credit. That’s my kind of music. Truth be told, I kind of admire what Matt has brought to the band in the end.

As for a favourite song on the album, I don’t have one. All 11 tracks on the album pretty much give off the same, repetitive, monotonous feeling of making me want to mosh in my bedroom. Hell, there isn’t even a laid back, acoustic, soft track to sink in to; if anything, the electronic rhythms of “A Soft War” differentiate it from the rest of the album, but that’s just a carry-on, a filler. And that’s it.

I’m sure true From First to Last die-hards will love this new album, they’ll feed off it. You know, because IT IS FFTL. But there’s always haters; I don’t hate the album, but I’m not the biggest fan of it.

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