Eleven Dollar Life start their “Shatter The Silence” in a very interesting way. The track has a little bit of swing to it, but also calls forth acts as disparate as The Wallflowers and the Counting Crows. This alternative rock band is able to stick a five and a half minute long track at the opening of “Shatter The Silence” and keep listeners’ attentions. In a period of short singles…
The way in which the Broken Poets begin this, their latest release, is amazing. Their control over the overall atmosphere in which this initial effort – “Singularity” – resides will be what brings fans in. Where the track begins with an emotive, narrative-heavy instrumental feel, it gradually moves into a catchy rock track. Listeners will hear bits of Maroon 5, Bob Dylan, and even Bruce Springsteen in the vocals. While…
To say that Near Miss is an eclectic band is to hit their target right down the middle. While songs like “Serious Mess” bring the band into emo territory, a song that happens only a few minutes after “Serious Mess” like “Call For Help” recalls the halcyon days of early Sum 41. The band can do any one of tens of styles equally well; the band’s pedigree means that they…
“Keep It Up” shows Therese Neaime as a pop star that already sounds as if ey was doing albums for ten or fifteen years. There is a certain inertia that is present during the disc’s opening track “Keep It Up” that makes the track getter fitting in the adult contemporary charts than anywhere else. The easiest comparison that one can make between Therese Neaime and the rest of pop music…
From the opening strains of “Borderline”, individuals will be aware of the fact that the Nazi Dogs will be a stripped-out, straight-forward type of punk band. Coming out of the tradition of the MC5 and The Stoogers (through some hardcore UK punk, like The Toy Dolls and GBH), Nazi Dogs play tracks on their “Chase The Man” that will bounce around listeners’ heads for months after the disc ends. The…
The down and dirty rock has been done a lot by a varying section of bands, but The Naysayers seem to be the best at bringing the sounds of the era back into prominence. During “Wanted Man”, hints of Thin Lizzy and Motorhead are present, as Jason’s vocals squeal out over the musical plane. One thing that early on distinguishes The Naysayers from the mass of other raunch-rock bands is…
Nathan Asher & The Infantry start “Sex Without Love” with a brand of indie rock that will get individuals giddy without moving from a cool demeanor. “Leave the South” is the first track on the disc, and has Asher bounce around a number of styles, seemingly as first as the band can envision them. The heavy use of piano during this track really makes it seem as if individuals are…
When one listens to what is called rock nowadays (and metal too), the booze-soaked rock of Nashville Pussy is nowhere to be heard. What dominates is the bland new-rock of bands like Disturbed, Ditchwat, and the whiny pseudo-rock of bands like Nickelback and Creed. Rock had bands along its way that really lived this down and dirty lifestyle, but besides Corrosion of Conformity, Kyuss, Fu Manchu, and Monster Magnet the…
To be honest, many of the rock bands from Indiana I’ve had to deal with in the past have been boring-as-hell nu-metal acts that provide no distinction from the legions of similar bands. The Nancy School come through in bolstering my low opinions about Indiana metal, as the beginnings to “Fancy Title”, specifically “Midshindeep” provide their listeners with a varied and technically proficient brand of metal. The dramatic intelligence of…
If there is not a tremendous seventies influence bringing Nagg to the studio for each track on this record, I would be amazed. There is more than a subtle hint of AOR rock here that seems to also grab some of their early punk (Undertones, Generation X) and moderates it slightly for current consumption. The production on this album is impeccable; the shrill guitars present on “Another Day” seem to…
