During their first track on “Charge!!â€, The Aquabats mix together the guitars and structures of Interpol with the stop-start nature of Devo to create a new hybrid of music that does not find a parallel in any other band. Throwing in a little bit of Misfits-cheese for the breakdown, The Aquabats are literally boiling over with all the energy that they can muster. The Aquabats’ largest contribution to popular music…
Apologetix have been doing their style of parody for a number of years, and I’ve been able to stick with them as they’ve gotten more famous, more convincing in their parodies, and dare I say it better with each track? This is a double-disc, compiling the best of the Apologetix along with their newest disc of tracks, and I feel that the newest should be covered more – I mean,…
For those unfamiliar with the band, the Apologetix describe themselves as “”Weird Al” Yankovic meets Billy Graham”. They sent me their prior release “Keep the Change”, which is still one of my favorite CD’s to listen to. With “Grace Period”, their 7th album, they have tightened up their general sound, and made a much stronger disc then “Keep the Change”. The parodies are much more musically faithful to the original,…
While I have been able to review previous ApologetiX CDs in the past, as well as see them live, Adam Up is another high for the band. Covering tracks by Good Charlotte, B-52s, Sum 41, and 19 other acts, the mode of parodying the acts musically has improved (with more spot on duplication of the tracks), and the lyrics are laid out clear as day with Biblical notes to more…
Apiary is a current metal band. They do not play the style of music that is called progressive metal, but something that navigates between nu-rock, thrash, noise, and sludge to come up with something that is angular while being blunt, and mercilessly hard while still being nuanced. “Pain Is The Reason†is the first bullet in the air from Apiary, and while the band only lasts about three minutes in…
Electronically charged jazz, Anthony Pell (Apell to eir’s fans) provides listeners with a rich instrumental backdrop, creating the best experience one can have listening to music. This is not necessarily the music that gets the body moving, but is rather like an illicit drug, opening one’s mind to a myriad of new sensations. While instrumental CDs are notorious for becoming monotonous and extremely repetitive after the first few tracks, Apell…
The one thing that strikes the listener is that the music contained here is still as fresh as possible; there has been no dating of this material, nor can this be seen as merely a stepping stone from punk to the alternative music of the nineties. If this album were released as new material today, there is no doubt that the dorks at Pitchfork would be creaming their collective jeans.…
I get it. The band is trying to be weird and yet retro-hip with this album. The first track is “The Man Returns from the Hereafter…â€, and the only thing that really sticks out about this track are the multiple vocals that assault the listeners at points.
Now, why exactly a rapper would need to censor themselves on a review copy of an album is beyond me. The opening track of “Threatening Behavior†is incredibly solid, with the flows present really getting individuals into the disc even at the earliest strains. “Whatz up witcha†does not have all of the fury and fire of the original, but an interesting backing beat and a s till above-average flow…
Antiseen plays a style of punk in the vein of D.O.A. and D.R.I. – that is to say, tremendously influenced by bands like Venom and (especially in the case of Antiseen’s vocalist Jeff) Motorhead. Tracks blast through in the space of two minutes or less – guitars are heavy, thick and not concerned with the nuances of different chords and the drums are plodding, each subsequent thwack of the skins…
Man, was I ever wrong about this band. Most the time, I get CDs from acts that I am not familiar with. This was the case with Antiquus, and from looking at their cover of “Eleutheriaâ€, I was expecting some sort of namby-pamby progressive space-metal. However, this disc starts out with “O Captain, My Captainâ€, and starts in a way that will get individuals immediately into the music.
Foreign versions of songs are funny. Bad Religion’s “Punk Rock Song†in German was perfect, and this is the case with the French version of Anthrax’s “Antisocialâ€. However, do the French not have a work in their own language for “Antisocial†or even “Not Sociable†or something? There are twenty-nine other tracks on this two-disc set, and aside from the tracks being remastered, what makes this a must-buy? If one…
There is little fanfare on the beginning part of this disc. Besides a slow guitar lead-in, “Alive 2†starts off fairly quietly. However, after the band starts up there is little doubt that Anthrax has not grown old; the intensity that was present on their earliest recordings has stayed with the band so many years after their inception. The only thing really curious about this live album is the sheer…
Anthem Boy-Demonstration- Beginning off with a very slow tempo, kinda muted indy rock that will make up drop a load in your boxers after the interlude finishes. Hard, pounding guitar riffs with barked out vocals and a very catchy tone, excellent to mosh to. Is definitely drawing influence from Hatebreed, Negative Approach, and D.R.I. Very professional, and excellent at disguising themselves. The cover of the CD that I received was…
The emotional opening to Anorexic Beauty Queen’s “This Little Light†presses on the emo sound, but does not go into the melodrama that a number of acts in that genre get hung up on. This means that the vocals actually match the output of the rest of the band, and make for a balanced act (instead of the vocal-heavy approach of acts like Dashboard Confessional).
The melody of a track like “Growing Into Myself†takes its sweet time coalescing into something appreciable. The low-key backing beat of the track gives the song a decidedly early0nineties sheen, while Annette’s vocals seem like a lesser Madonna. There is no lack of talent in arrangement here on “Growing Into Myselfâ€, but there might be n issue with the visualization of where the disc should go.
Don Henley in a punk band would be probably the most adequate description that I could give to Ann Beretta. On “Three Chord Revolutionâ€, their new revolution, they use the same type of tempo and strung-out California that Don perfected on eir’s seminal hit, “Boys of Summerâ€. Imagine if Mike Ness was doped up on Quaaludes, and you have an idea of what Rob’s vocals sound like. There is absolutely…
I’ve heard of Animal Collective in the past but have never been lucky enough to hear any of their music. While the first track on this EP “It’S You†starts off in a benign way, the graduate increasing tempo and loudness of the harp at regular intervals really fills the track with a sound that bolsters the operatic female vocals contained within. The song structure is somewhat simplistic (mainly minor…
At first blush, I thought that Angra would be playing a brand of metal that is little different from that of a band like Helloween. However, from the opening track (“The Course of Natureâ€), Angra comes out with something that is miles away from anything that the aforementioned Helloween could play. There is an equal mix of classic and progressive metal, but during different segments of the disc, a funky,…
“Awake†begins of Akron/Family’s side of the disc, and it really does a perfect job of lulling listeners into a false sense of security, something that is shredded by the noise-influenced, oddly-arranged style of “Momentâ€. The multiple-harmonies present on “Momentâ€, hidden away betwixt the different epileptic outbursts of the band, bring listeners fully into the fold of the craziness that is Akron/Family. With the incorporation of this noise, something that…