Sparks The Rescue
Every once in awhile, a band happens to take a 180 degree turn. Sometimes the reasons are evident, other times not so much. Sparks the Rescue falls under the latter. Somewhere between releasing a well received EP, being signed to Double Blind Music and the departure of a member, the band took this turn.
When Sparks the Rescue released their The Secrets We Can’t Keep EP they had a sound that could be somewhat compared to Chiodos. But in late June 2008 the keyboardist Marty parted ways with the band. This had a huge impact on the band’s sound, which can be heard on their debut record.
Usually when bands change their sound, a lot of their original fan base tends to worry. This should not be the case for this album as there is a good mix to go around. For the most part, screams and heavy riffs have been traded in for catchy choruses and pop rock chords.
Eyes To The Sun starts off with the incredibly catchy “My Heart Radio”, which sets the pace for the majority of the album. Followed by “I Swear She’s The One”, which drills itself into your head with an echoed chorus you can’t help but love. “Autumn”, the album’s first single, would be all over the radio if it was promoted better. “Hello Mexico” has become a fan favorite since they started playing it live and it doesn’t disappoint on record. “Skeleton” and “The Gravity” are sort of the crossing of styles. While they still are heavily influenced by the pop hooks, they have a heavier feel to them that is featured on the album’s remaining songs. “Chemistry Set” is where older fans will be pleased, from here on out the record is chunkier and more reminiscent of the old Sparks the Rescue. Next is a re-done “Saco Boy’s Have No Class”, which sounds better then ever. Finally the record closes with “Pangaea,” probably the most mellow track, but it closes the album nicely.
Sparks the Rescue have proved that they can write some of the catchiest songs out there today, but sadly their label doesn’t promote them as much as they should. If they did, you would hear Sparks being mentioned with some of the top bands of the genre. But if they continue to release albums like this, it won’t be long before they have their eyes set on something other then the sun.
Review By AbsolutePunk.net
Artist: Sparks The Rescue
Album: Eyes To The Sun [2009]
Genre: Rock / Pop Punk / Powerpop
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sparkstherescue
-Track List-
01. My Heart Radio
02. Pine Tree State
03. Autumn
04. Hello Mexico
05. Skeleton
06. We Love Like Vampires
07. Shipwreck
08. I Swear That She’’s The One
09. American Blues
10. The Gravity
11. Chemistry Set
12. Saco Boys Have No Class
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Stephen Jerzak
Playing an acoustic version of the style usually called pop/punk, Stephen Jerzak fits the Hollister shirt he wears on his MySpace well. Music that helps preppy girls to feel rebellious is all well and good, but the songs have no true substance. His tenor isn’t even as good as the infamous strains of James Blunt, but judging by his style, he thinks it is. That being said, “Small Town Celebrity” is a catchy number that would possibly be a decent song on…oh, I don’t know…Hit The Lights’ EP. Come on, guys. You can do better than this.
GAY
Artist: Stephen Jerzak
Album: peace.love.truth EP
Genre: Pop / Acoustic / Powerpop
MySpace: http://myspace.com/stephenjerzak
-Track List-
01. Small Town Celebrity
02. Cute
03. Alone With The Sunrise
04. Together With The Sundown
05. An Extra Song For You (Bonus Track)
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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
Read MoreTry Album [Mediafire] | A Loss For Words – The Kids Can’t Loose
Kids In Glass Houses
So, Kids In Glass Houses have finally released their first album, after what seem like an awful long time considering how long this band have been the darling of Kerrang! and the hype they have generated. Smart Casual comes to us courtesy of Roadrunner Records, yep that Roadrunner, the ones that also have Slipknot and DragonForce amongst their list of artists and I won’t lie that I wasn’t surprised about their inclusion in that list.
Anyway onto the review, as a fan of Kids In Glass Houses for a while I’ve been eagerly anticipating this album for a while now and I’ll be honest, it was worth the wait. I tell you now this band can make a good fast-paced pop song with the noteworthy tunes being Fisticuffs, Good Boys Gone Rad and the single Give Me What I Want alternately known as Me, Me, Me. A lot of people I have spoken to expressed doubt as to whether the energy from these songs can be transferred over on stage but having seen them live recently they would give many a band a run for their money live. They also create great music for relaxing too as well with stellar creations such as Saturday and Dance All Night proving that this band aren’t just a one-trick pony.
At this point you’d be forgiven for thinking that this album is completely flawless, well you’d be wrong. Lovely Bones, seriously where should I start? it’s just terrible, terrible, terrible, the song seems to meander on and on and on without really getting anywhere . Then we have the frankly pointless filler Shameless but thankfully this trend isn’t repeated until the closer Church Tongue which is equally as useless as the other two. It seems that Kids In Glass Houses seem to get stuck in a rut when they try to incorporate both fast paced choruses and slow verses and end up going nowhere with them. Lead Singer Aled Philips and guitarists Joel Philips and Iain Mahanty combine well to mesh together interesting riffs with excellent lyrics (Lovely Bones aside). The drumming by Mr. Phil Jenkins is nothing especially impressive but it is tight and keeps the faster songs undeniably brilliant, but the bass played by Andrew Shay tends to fade into the background as is so prevailant in this kind of music, oh well I guess you don’t know what you’ve got until its gone and songs would be nowhere without bass.
Smart Casual has several of the band’s earlier successes Easy Tiger, Raise Hell and overall tend to continue on their path of creating great catchy pop songs that tease your mind for days on end until you stick Smart Casual back on to get that fix you’ve been craving. Hopefully Kids In Glass Houses can continue to make great pop songs and for now at least with the summer pretty much upon us this will most definitely be the feel good album of the summer as we wait for the new Underoath album in September.
Review by aboybrushedbrown
Artist: Kids In Glass Houses
Album: Smart Casual
Genre: Pop Punk / Powerpop / Pop Rock
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/kidsinglasshouses
-Track List-
01 Fisticuffs
02 Easy Tiger
03 Give Me What I Want
04 Saturday
05 Lovely Bones
06 Shameless
07 Girls
08 Good Boys Gone Rad
09 Dance All Night
10 Pillow Talk
11 Raise Hell
12 Church Tongue
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