“I Ain’t Got No Reason To Lie To You†is a track that showcases Weiss’ strength, putting her in a perfect position between a Sarah McLachlan and a Natalie Cole. The track, easily single quality, gets listeners interested in what is to come on “Concrete World and the Lover’s Dreamâ€, the latest effort by Weiss. “I Ain’t Got No Reason†also feeds well into “The Song About The Affair That…
The title track for Phoenix Rising’s “Ascension†begins with an emotionally dense composition that plays heavily in a classical style, but does not have any of the stuffiness or must associated with the classical style. Rather, what Phoenix Rising does during this track is weave a rich narrative through the entirety of the track’s 7 minute runtime.
“Shine†starts out with brooding instrumentation that seems to have fury and anger bubbling with it. While there is a formal, medieval approach to the opening, this is a façade, something to lead into a bit of gothic metal that touches upon the work of a Paradise Lost or Switchblade Serenade. The most interesting thing about Chantry is the fact that they create a patchwork of styles that makes direct…
“The Color of Daylight†is the first track that I heard by True Nature. The vocals present are a hybrid of individuals like Bryan Adams, Stephen Curtis Chapman, and Chris Isaak. The laid-back approach taken by the instruments allow these vocals to be as smooth and as gentle as a Jack Johnson song, kicking in only to give the track a little grit. The blend of country, alternative rock, and…
4 song demo-2000 Jaw/Plague Records. This Tenneseean band is old school punk at a high speed that also draws heavily from the 70’s metal supergroups. All parts of the Plague are fleshed out quite well, except for the bass, which is on a pitifully low level on the tape. The vocals are top rate, with strong guitar riffs and driving drumbeats. The recording is amazing even with the cassette format…
Starting out with a re-tooling of Howard Jones’ “Everlasting Love†as well as The Police, American Hi-Fi make a retro rock track with a disco beat in “Maybe Won’t Doâ€. Continuing that retro style for “hell Yeah!â€, American Hi-Fi has completely restructured their sound from “Flavour of the Weakâ€, throwing in a little artistic flair from Fine Young Cannibals and Bowling For Soup. Every track on “Hearts on Parade†is…
Wedlock may not be known too terribly well outside of their home city of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but their single “Reverend Charisma†may be the one track that breaks them big. The electropop movement is still on its way up, and the Depeche Mode meets drum n bass sound of Wedlock here has a very retro feel to it, tying together electropop with the “New Romantic†generation perfectly. The…
There seems to be a much heavier consideration of rock on this album than the pedigree of each band member here would necessarily lend itself to. In fact, the disc starts off with “Fraudulent Timesâ€, a song that is really influenced by the shredding guitar of the California punk scenes, eliciting hints of Pennywise and Bad Religion even as the gritty vocals try to establish a different sound. Further songs…
The American Black Lung play a punk meets hardcore type of style. One could almost compare them to acts like Rise Against, although tracks like “A Pair of Cufflinks†would seem much more in the vein of sludge rock than either of the aforementioned genres. What The American Black Lung play is something that is a blend of all hard rock styles, and they put a final coating of pop…
America is an act that had their years of fame well before I was even born. Of course, individuals can still here “A Horse With No Name†on any classic rock radio station. The band is closing in on the forty-year mark, and do not show any hints of age on this recording. The guitar work of these compositions is still crisp and clear. If a band would have lost…
Individuals might be familiar with Ambulance LTD from their 2004 album, which garnered all sort of critical praise as the band did the late night show circuits. This EP is a bridge between the previous disc and the upcoming full length, and gives individuals two completely new songs, some retooled/demo tracks and a Pink Floyd cover to chew on. For those individuals that might not have had the chance to…
Ambivalent plays total circle-punk, spit, shit and blood punk rock that orgasms in a little over a minute and calls it a track. They aren’t crust in anyone’s book, but the screamed-out vocals and brutal guitars will be sure to win over the crusty kids. Bringing back some of the early eighties type of death metal in the form of their guitar riffs and a little more of Matt Freeman…
Amber Pacific had the best EP to come out last year, and they start off where they ended with “Fading Daysâ€. The first track on “The Possibility and the Promiseâ€, “Everything We Were…†looks to a harder set of bands, including Samhain and AFI for its influence, while still maintaining the pop sound that worked so well for them last year. It only takes the space of three minutes to…
The Deal is a film (based off an early nineties work by Peter Lefcourt) that has been floating around the nether for over a year before Peace Arch graciously picked it up and gave the masses of humanity a better chance to be able to find it. The movie surrounds Charlie Berns (William H. Macy) as a lost, both mentally in eir family life and where exactly ey wants eir…
Five songs of unbridled fury, Amber Pacific mix the sheer power of Billy Talent and Yellowcard along with the musicianship of A Wilhelm Scream and The Movielife. “Fading Days†starts off with “Thoughts Before Meâ€, a track fueled on by a chord progression on the guitar and Matt’s vocals, which provide a third way between the screeching guitars and the splashy high hat of the drums. In a track that…
Before receiving “Vicious Circleâ€, the defining statement of the early-eighties punk/hardcore act Zero Boys, I thought Secretly Canadian was strictly an indie-rock label. Turns out that my assumption was misguided, and the label will release anything that is solid. For those who did not remember (or were not born when the band released this album, including myself), the Zero Boys were an Indianapolis quartet that lit a flag under the…
“Print is Dead†can’t start any better, with “International Gamers Committee†bordering between a Blink 182 and Good Charlotte influence, at times taking the mantle so convincingly from the former act that it is hard to discern which band is playing the track. Rick’s vocals are more nasal than Tom DeLonge’s (Blink 182), but are backed by a very solid (if not a little simplistic) set of guitars, as well…
The Day The Earth Stopped is an intense film that showcases two friends (played here by Judd Nelson and C. Thomas Howell as Charlie and Josh) that have to find heads or tails of a robot invasion of Earth. Robots take over four metropoles – London, Moscow, Paris, and Washington, D.C. and ensure destruction of these places unless the Earth cedes its collected authority to the invading forces. There are…
Does anyone remember the MTV show from the late nineties, Undressed? If so, they will find out that there is a show that blends the hectic sex and actions of the main characters of that show with the youthful indiscretions of a movie like Thirteen. However, unlike Undressed, the characters that are present in Skins are fleshed out and are not seen really as only vessels for gratuitous sex scenes;…
Altered State comes up with an interesting style of music during their “Get Realâ€. During the disc’s first track (the title track), there is a blend of ZZ Top like rock with a set of vocals that will remind listeners of a Heart or a Lita Ford. There is definitely a vintage sound to Altered State that will go over large with those individuals that live, breathe, and die the…