Forever The Sickest Kids
Studying for exams, trying to finally beat Zelda, and sobbing over the girl who will never like me are on the list of things that keep me up past my usual bedtime. When I first heard Underdog Alma Mater, I realized that listening to this album was going to be put on the list as well. After numerous listens, I just did not want to put it down, and I don’t think I could have even if I tried. In fact, if I did, I’d probably be listening to it in my dreams. After releasing what was one of my favorite EPs from last year, Forever the Sickest Kids unleash their debut album via Universal Records and I couldn’t be more satisfied. From the unreal amount of hooks to the energetic vocals, it’s safe to say that this album will be in my Summer rotation all season long.
Re-recording songs are usually a hit or miss. With Underdog Alma Mater, Forever the Sickest Kids take on re-working five of the songs that have been released prior to this album, and overall, they pretty much nail most of them. The only ones I’m indifferent to would be “Believe Me, I’m Lying,” which sounds watered down compared to its previous version, and “Coffee Break” which just sounds out of place and probably would have been better off as a b-side. Although, just when I thought they couldn’t make “Hey Brittany” and “She’s a Lady” anymore better, they manage to pack it with a harder punch that makes them irresistible.
The catchy melodies and infectious chorus’ aren’t even the album’s high-point. The production on Underdog Alma Mater is phenomenal. With Matt Squire, a pop-producing mastermind behind the boards, it becomes obvious that not only does Forever the Sickest Kids have the ability to break through the mainstream, but completely burst through it. If any proof is needed, it’s right there in “Whoa Oh! (Me Vs. Everyone),” track one and the first single off the album. The lyrics are simple and the chorus will probably be one of the most fun to sing along to all year. “That for Me” is a song with its shoes put on the wrong feet, considering its verses are its most memorable attribute, and its chorus is the part that’s lacking. “The Way She Moves” is one of the stand out tracks on the album and definitely the most “boy-bandish” sounding of the rest. If released back in ’99, I could totally see it taking on LFO for the number one spot on TRL. The hits keep coming though as “Uh Huh” and “Phone Call” both have qualities to make it to the top of the charts. Forever the Sickest Kids save one of the best for last as “Catastrophe” finishes off an album that’s a sure-fired, sugary induced musical stomachache.
All in all, Underdog Alma Mater will most likely be people’s guiltiest pleasure of the year. It’s nothing but a straight-forward pop record with explosives melodies and unforgettable hooks that will be sure to make the warm weather that much more enjoyable for anyone.
Review By Joe DeAndrea of AbsolutePunk.net
Artist: Forever The Sickest Kids
Album: Underdog Alma Mater [2009 - Deluxe Edition]
Genre: Power Pop / Emo / Alternative
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/foreverthesickestkids
-Track List-
1 Intro
2 Whoa Oh! (Me Vs. Everyone)
3 Hey Brittany
4 My Worst Nightmare
5 Believe Me I’m Lying
6 The Way She Moves
7 She’s A Lady
8 Uh Huh
9 Phone Call
10 Breakdown
11 That For Me
12 Coffee Break
13 Castastrophe
14 MIDDLETRO
15 Believe Me I’m Lying (Original Demo)
16 Indiana (Hotel Demo)
17 Who Invited The Monster
18 Bundled Up
19 Uh Huh (Demo)
20 Catastrophe (Acoustic Demo)
21 Believe Me I’m Lying (Ft. Chae Hawk)
22 My Worst Nightmare (Demo)
23 Give And Take (Acoustic Demo)
24 Give and Take (Remix)
25 Heat Wave JAM OUT
26 The Party
27 Love Story (Taylor Swift Cover Song)
28 Cop Car (DEMO)
29 OUTRO
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Greeley Estates
From the frantic palm mutes and Norma Jean-esque dissonant chords that kick off album opener “Blue Morning,” it’s easy to tell that Greeley Estates are doing the sort of thing that frankly we’ve all heard other bands do before. However, while it’s easy to pass off this release as just another generic offering of the post-hardcore/pop-punk/whatevercore scene, to do so would be to pass up some rather brilliant moments this record has to offer.
First off, “Blue Morning” is a great example of a song’s composition following its lyrical content. The song is told from the perspective of someone succumbing to a zombie bite (yes, the premise is ridiculous, but we have to take these things for what they are) and warning his loved ones to either quarantine him or run and hide. The tone switches from denial, as vocalist Ryan Zimmerman Wails “I’m not a monster/I’m just a sick man” to acceptance, as he chants “I feel it in my blood now/It’s turning me” over a single melancholy palm muted guitar. The song ends with Zimmerman shrieking “You better lock the doors and hide” as the pounding drums and guitars gradually slow to a near standstill, presumably representing the narrator’s fading heartbeat. It’s a powerful effect that Greeley Estates utilize to its fullest in this track.
Another particularly memorable section happens towards the end of “Go West Young Man”, where the chorus sinks into a shining example of Zimmerman’s distinctive scream, out of which rises a lumbering slow section driven by a rock-flavored pentatonic guitar riff. The second time through, Zimmerman’s vocals are supported by a subtle major key choral harmony, which then suddenly takes over the lead, punctuated by short, bombastic guitar chords. This creates a very stark contrast to the bleak feel of the song without feeling misplaced. It’s a compositional choice that really drives home the fact that post-hardcore doesn’t always have to use the same hackneyed devices.
Another standout section is in “If We’re Going Out Let’s Go Out In Style,” where the prechorus’s ethereal-sounding singing over heavily strummed power chords segues seamlessly into the chorus, where Zimmerman overdubs a nursery rhyme-like melody with some of his most wrenching screams. This sort of juxtaposition highlights something that Greeley Estates do very well: Take things that simply shouldn’t work in this sort of music and then make them work anyway. This specialty is also apparent in the syncopated, almost latin-tinged delivery of the clean vocals Blue Morning.
It’s also worth noting that Greeley Estates’s rhythm section does some seriously catchy work, such as in the bouyant drop D chugging of “Desperate Times Call For Desperate Housewives.” Although he can sound a little bit loose at times, drummer Brian Champ clearly has control of his kit, particularly the double kick. While a skilled drummer is par for the course in this genre, Champ’s drumming takes some unexpected turns, such as the chorus of “Go West Young Man,” where his start-stop drumming has a determined yet tentative quality that parallels the sense of coming-of-age uncertainty that characterizes that track.
There’s plenty of bad along with the good. As evocative as Zimmerman’s screams are, they can become tiresome over the course of the whole album. The album gets repetetive fast, and the glimpses of brilliance that were so common at the beginning seem to become less prevalent as a string of several same-y tracks chug by in the album’s middle. None are outstandingly bad, but neither are they particularly exciting. A notable exception is “Let The Evil Go East” which combines a frantic pace with spastic major-minor key changes to create a song that’s aggressive, catchy, and leaves you with the musical equivalent of whiplash.
The following track, “I Have To Warn You, This Won’t Be Easy” also has an interesting moment where it slows down and the vocals take on a subdued tone before an agile twisting guitar lead takes over and slowly brings the song back up to speed while drawing out the section’s muted feel. Unfortunately, the song ends with a somewhat uninspired breakdown type of thing. Penultimate track “Keep The Heat On The Dash” is also rather interesting in that it seems torn between trying to be anthemic and trying to be melancholy, as a musical tug-of-war ensues between the opening riff and chants, and the subsequent dissonant guitar harmonies. The whole personality struggle ends up leading the song into a cool section that has Zimmerman’s delay-soaked voice ooing and ahhing over guitar harmonics, leading into a pseudo-breakdown and another cascade of cleverly layered vocals.
Closer “You’re Just Somebody I Used To Know” wraps up the album, a fast, fun, simple song, the first half of which I’m fairly sure I heard on Blessthefall’s “His Last Walk.” It’s a solid track, though, which leaves the listener feeling as if the album was more satisfying than it actually was.
In short, “Go West Young Man, Let The Evil Go East” is a solid album by a solid band that will occasionally turn your head. It’s definitely worth checking out simply for those outstanding moments.
Review By Dylan Gil-Gomez of Sputnikmusic.com
Artist: Greeley Estates
Album: Go West Young Man Let The Evil Go East [2008]
Genre: Emo / Hardcore / Screamo
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/greeleyestates
-Track List-
1. Blue Morning
2. Go West Young Man
3. If We’re Going Out, Let’s Go Out In Style
4. Desperate Times Call For Desperate Housewives
5. If She Only Knew
6. If I Could Be Frank, You’re Ugly
7. In The Ashes
8. Mother Nature Is A Terrorist
9. Let The Evil Go East
10. I’ll Have To Warn You, This Won’t Be Quick
11. There’s Something Wrong With The World Today
12. Keep The Heat On The Dash
13. You’re Just Somebody I Used To Kno
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Chiodos
To be honest, when I got “All’s Well That Ends Well” in the mail, I didn’t know what to expect. First known as the Chiodos Bros., they had a variety of styles show up in their earlier work, but with their Equal Vision debut, they tried to categorize their sound a bit more with duel-guitar riffs and better lyrics. While there is still a melting pot of styles on this release, it’s more defined. Chiodos is a sextet featuring vocalist Craig Owens, Radley Bell on keyboards and backing vocals, guitarists Pat McManaman and Jason Hale, and Matt Goddard on bass. Chiodos has a nice-sized fan base and has toured with the likes of Coheed and Cambria and Yellowcard. With musical influences from Saves The Day to Queen to At The Drive-In, Chiodos covers a lot of genres in their music. Filled with electronic beats, piano, metal riffs, screaming, and vocals that rival Anthony Green, this is one fun album. At times melodic and at times in your face, this is one album that will definitely intrigue you.
The album begins with an Interlude that features a raining premise followed by Muse-like piano playing. This leads into the energetic “All Nereids Beware,” which features a guitar riff that’ll get you moving. “The Words ‘Best Friend’ Become Redifined” hits you hard with its fist-pumping intro, which leads you to the piano serenading you to Owens’ talking. “There Are No Penguins In Alaska” is one of the more poppy songs on this album (which isn’t a bad thing). I could see this song becoming very popular among the kids in this scene. “No Hardcore Dancing In The Living Room” begins with slowly then leads into a fast bass drum beat to the screams of Owens. The guitars pick up and then drop back to the piano. A very up and down song, it’s a favorite of mine. Every song features something different, yet maintains a distinct sound.
Overall, this is another solid release by Equal Vision. Chiodos is only going to gain more fans with this stellar release. If you are into more than one specific genre, this is for you. The variety of this album has impressed me much. Expect the unexpected with Chiodos; you’ll enjoy it so much more.
Review By Drew Beringer of AbsolutePunk.Net
Artist: Chiodos
Album: Discography
Genre: Screamo / Emo
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/chiodos
-Album List-
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A Loss For Words
Some of the worst tornadoes come out of the blue. Literally. Calm, blue skies are overtaken by death-bringing whirlwinds with little to no warning. It’s these times when schoolchildren find out what happens when you fly over the swing set: sobering death. Farmers haplessly tilling their fields find no magical baseball fields. Instead they are catapulted to the Great Big Baseball Field in the Sky. These moments of misplaced ignorance, while excessively morbid, are perfectly parallel to the sort of mind games A Loss For Words create on their debut full-length The Kids Can’t Lose. Despite fast, summery tempos and wailing choruses, AL4W sneak in some of the most depressing lyrics this side of It Won’t Snow Where You’re Going. Apparently, Matty Arsenault has been wronged. Not enough to change any of his band’s musical tendencies, but just enough to beat us over the head with lines like, “How the tables turn / You’re the cause of this cancer.” Oof.
The Kids Can’t Lose would be enjoyable without its overly trite lyrics, right? Well hold on there, sport. (I’m good with nicknames!) Following the all too familiar path of pop(ular)-punk, AL4W don’t do a single, solitary, minuscule thing creative or different on this album. It’s even more derivative than my sad life. And that’s saying something! As the feedback clears on opener “Stamp Of Approval,” although “Stamp” may be interchanged at will with each of The Kids Can’t Lose’s 11 songs, we hear lyrics about everyone’s favorite state (California, duh!) and a bridge with some screaming that leads into a “Holy Crap that’s predictable!” climax. Let’s put it this way, in terms of redundancy, the song is two minutes longer than necessary. This moves into “40 Thieves,” named for the 40 riffs they stole from Set Your Goals. (Ed. Note: Oh snap! Can you say that? Shouldn’t I, the venerable editor, know the rules for this sort of thing?)
And then there are 9 more songs. Oh wait, there is black sheep “Mt. Saint Joseph,” an acoustic ballad used to, I guess, break up the album. Here we get a direct injection of Arsenault’s angst and I find myself longing for the energetic guitars of Marc Dangora and (awesomely named) Nevada Smith. As I said, they are a fairly interesting buffer between my ears and the broken heart mantras of Arsenault (see: “It was too damn hard to watch / As heaven and hell held you down like anchors / And your demons finally lulled you back to sleep.”) The slow, stagnant nature of this song just plain hurts.
Just so you understand my accreditation: I have a full, grisly beard. Wasn’t this genre created just for me? If I can’t even enjoy the gang vocals or inspirational(?) nature of these songs, who can? (Don’t answer that, a**holes.) Sorry, A Loss For Words, The Kids Can’t Lose is completely underwhelming.
Reviewed by Blake Solomon
Artist: A Loss For Words
Album: The Kids Can’t Loose
Genre: Pop Punk / Powerpop / Emo
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/alossforwords
-Track List-
1. Stamp Of Approval 3:06
2. 40 Thieves 3:20
3. Where I’m From, You Die With Your Secrets 3:08
4. Hold Your Breath 3:31
5. Mount St. Joseph 3:11
6. The Promises You Keep (Burn This Bridge) 2:45
7. Heavy Lies The Crown 3:13
8. Wasted Youth 3:06
9. Half Step Down 3:03
10. Behind Our Backs 3:01
11. Hot Hand In A Dice Game 3:05
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