Suicide Silence
Suicide Silence, a relatively underground band that essentially “broke out” after their major debut, The Cleansing. Almost over night this band became very popular (within the genre, that is). Ultimately becoming the “new” Job For a Cowboy. Soon every Hot Topic loving teenager was sporting some form of Suicide Silence apparel. Be it t-shirts, wrist bands, belt buckles, you name it. However, the actual album, really wasn’t that good, and not deserving of the mass amount of attention it received. So what if anything has changed?
The first major difference you will notice right off the bat, is the clean production. For No Time to Bleed Suicide Silence has thrown out the live quality that was The Cleansing. Instead, the album is now tracked. Overall, I think this worked out for the best, and I personally prefer a clean production versus a raw sounding album (though granted, The Cleansing wasn’t even that “raw”).
What’s also very noticeable early on, is the bands seemingly unwillingness to change anything. It’s very clear they want to sound like The Cleansing, while still one upping it.
“Wake Up”
The album starts off with Wake Up. One of the tracks that had been played already during their live shows, and had been circulating. This song can easily be summed up as “Breakdowns, and lots of them”. This entire song consists of (you guess it) breakdowns, decent drumming, and “Wake up” being yelled several (and I do mean “several”) times. Essentially every time the chorus comes up (Which is “Wake up!, Wake up!”), there’s a breakdown. The guitar work is as mediocre as ever, though listenable. The solo at the end, does at the very least sound nifty, but far from mind blowing.
Overall 2.5/5 – One of the reasons this album is rated low.
“Lifted”
Yet another song that had been previously circulating prior to the album being released. This song unlike Wake Up had been released on the bands Myspace, or in another words the “finished” product, rather than some person recording one of their live shows. This is the first song where the new clean production really becomes noticeable. As well as having a clean production, there’s random bits of ambient effects. At the very beginning of the song, and several occurrences where the guitars have a “distorted” feel to them. This song really grew on me. At first, I had the same feeling towards it, as I did with Wake Up. A very generic, and mediocre sounding song. However, after repeated listens, a lot more becomes apparent. This song reminds me a lot of No Pity For a Coward (off of The Cleansing). The riffs are somewhat unique (unique to deathcore, that is), and the solo at the end is much in the same vein as that of the one from No Pity For a Coward. Overall this is one of those songs where you will naturally want to bang your head to. As usual the drumming, and vocals remain the stand outs. Though Mitch sounds almost exactly the same as he does in every other song, he at least showcases his ranges, and various screams/growls, etc.
Overall 3.5/5 – “3.5″ may feel a little high at first, but as I said, it grew on me.
“Smoke”
Smoke picks up where Lifted left off, in the sense that the various ambient effects become noticeable. At the beginning there’s a very annoying screeching (like a high pitch train) after every rift. Smoke is a good example of Suicide Silence following the tried and true recipe for deathcore. You have your abundance of non technical breakdowns, and excessive one liners (for this song, it’s “Burn it down!”). Aside from this song sounding like everything else, there are a few seconds here and there of actually decent guitar work. If you can pick up on it (it’s very subtle, and scattered throughout the song), you will be somewhat surprised.
Overall 2.5/5 – Generic and mediocre. Not much to say other than those two words.
“Something Invisible”
This is hands down the best track on this album. At it’s core it’s like any other deathcore song. However, everything is done right. The entire song just sounds very heavy, and the guitar work is superb (compared to the other songs). There’s hints of melodeath in some of rifts. The chugging sounds almost machine like in a way (think Pestilence’s Resurrection Macabre). It may not appeal to some, but I enjoyed it. There’s still breakdowns (surprise surprise), but they are placed a lot better in this song. They don’t have that “hit a brick wall” feeling.
Overall 4/5 – One of the few songs I wouldn’t be ashamed by if someone walked in on me listening to it.
“No Time to Bleed”
Before I listened to this song, I had high hopes. I assumed Suicide Silence chose this song as the album title for a good reason. Sadly, this is yet another example of “generic”, and “mediocre” (I apologize if I’m over using those words). If anything this is below average, it’s such a disappointment after listening to Something Invisible, I found myself skipping this song all together. Though it does have a comedic flare going for it, Mitch screams “Ello, Ello” at the beginning, and sounds like a British nanny.
Overall 2/5 – Easily one of the worst on this album.
“Suffer”
Suicide Silence followed the forumla for this song, and at the very least did it right. Though they didn’t make any attempt to astray from it. There isn’t a lot to talk about this song, virtually nothing is a standout. It’s merely everything you’ve already heard before done right.
Overall 3/5 – Generic, but a tad above mediocre.
“…and Then She Bled”
Suicides Silence first instrumental track. I seriously hope they never do it again. This piece of trash is disgustingly bad. It’s laughable bad, but not the good kind (where you can, you know, actually laugh at it). It’s one of those songs where you just stop, and cover your face with your palm. It’s a huge attempt at trying to be scary, yet fails so hard. The entire song is played over what appears to be a 911 recording of someone claiming her family is dead. Or something to that extent, it’s somewhat distorted, and played under the instruments, so you can’t always make out what the person is saying. And what about the instrumentals you ask? Utter trash, usually the drumming is half way decent (the guitars are really hit or miss throughout the whole album, so when you hear a “miss”, it’s not that shocking), but it’s not even listenable here.
Overall 1/5 – Avoid this at all costs.
“Wasted”
This song, similar Something Invisible has random melodeath influence in the various rifts. Though in this song, they’re more hidden, and overall just not many of them. There’s a short rift near the end of the song, which is actually half way decent. Though I haven’t touched much on this, I would like to now. I feel this album is over edited. Having clean production is one thing, but the ambient effects are overkill for the most part, and Wasted is a perfect example. Near the middle of the song, there’s a factory like sound (at least that’s what I think of when I hear it). There’s no point to it, and upon listening I’m sure you will agree. It sounds very misplaced.
Overall 3/5 – Despite the oddly placed ambient effect it’s still a decent song. Yet again, it’s still generic, but not entirely mediocre.
“Your Creations”
This is one of (the few) stand out songs in this album. Though not mind blowing, it escapes the “generic” tag, because they actually did something other than following the same 3-step formula. (1. Breakdowns 2. One line chanting 3. Solo at the end). The guitars have an almost doom metal feel to them, laced with groove. Also, believe it or not, there’s actually a small bass solo.
Overall 3.5/5 – This is a good example of Suicide Silence showcasing that they’re not necessarily a one trick pony. While not being extremely amazing.
“Genocide”
This another song that has a No Pity For a Coward feel to it. Especially the solo near the end, which is decent. Though I hate to repeat myself so much, this is another prime example of both Suicide Silence being both generic and mediocre (maybe you’re starting to get a feel for the album now).
Overall 2.5/5 – I’m not going to type those two words again, I’m not doing it.
“Disengage”
The final song on the album. I’m happy to say, the album leaves on a good note. One of the stand out tracks, this song is overall slower paced (it kind of has that sluggish, but in a good way feel to it). The song slows down (almost to a stop) periodically, and has a somewhat high pitch (high pitch for death metal) rift, while the drums tap away (yes, tap) on the ol’ cymbals. After the song picks back up, the slow chugging onslaught begins. Surprisingly enough, it’s actually good. Like Something Invisible the guitars have a mechanical feel to them. The chugging usually ends in a high whale. The last minute of the song it starts to change. For roughly 15 seconds the song feels more traditional death metal than anything, and fades into that “sluggish” feel again, while the guitars take on the “groove” aspect, similar to Your Creations. The last 30 seconds is merely the song coming to a slow end.
Overall 3.5/5 – Good song, and a great way to end an album.
Suicide Silence is notorious for having a very good live show. It’s often the case where a fan absolutely hates their albums, but loves to hear those songs live. It’s not surprising Suicide Silence took the route that they did. Their entire point of this album was to add more songs to their live show. It explains the excessive breakdowns, and chanting. However it’s sad that the band chooses to limit itself, and I do honestly feel that they could do better (some may disagree).
As far as the album goes, you may enjoy it, you may not. It’s really hit or miss. If you enjoyed The Cleansing to any extent, you will find some enjoyment in No Time to Bleed as well.
On a final note, I would like to add that I rated this album within the genre (deathcore). I often see people who obviously hate deathcore rate deathcore albums, and rate down based off of characteristics of the actual genre itself (breakdowns are the usual target). Which seems absurd to me. This goes without saying if you don’t like deathcore, you will not like this album.
Artist: Suicide Silence
Album: No Time To Bleed
Genre: Death Metal / Deathcore
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/suicidesilence
-Track List-
01. Wake Up (3:48)
02. Lifted (4:08)
03. Smoke (3:09)
04. Something Invisible (2:58)
05. No Time to Bleed (2:22)
06. Suffer (3:57)
07. …and Then She Bled (3:56)
08. Wasted (3:13)
09. Your Creations (4:00)
10. Genocide (2:18)
11. Disengage (4:03)
12. Misleading Milligrams (Bonus Track) (4:18)
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Saosin
Intensity. In some ways it’s wasted on the young. What have these kids got to be so intense about anyway? Or maybe it’s actually easy to forget that youth is the period that breeds the reasons behind the pains and troubles that carry most of us through the rest of our lives, and that this intensity is therefore valid.
Either that or it could be that it is rapidly becoming nigh on impossible to review yet another band of youths from the USA, intent on carrying their message to the world through the medium of guitars that teeter on the brink of truly rocking, yet ultimately err on the side of safety, without the review descending into a series of esoteric ramblings about the nature of the human condition.
In an attempt to return to the point, Saosin are actually an excellently produced, wonderfully polished outfit, who have created an album full of driving, guitar led melodies, wonderful harmonies, and soaring choruses. Within their genre and musical peer group they are faultless, but sadly this album seems to lack any of the qualities of true musical greatness or longevity.
Reviewed by Rich Edge
Artist: Saosin
Album: Self-Titled
Genre: Post-Hardcore / Alternative Rock / Psychedelic
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/saosin
-Track List-
1. It’s Far Better To Learn
2. Sleepers
3. It’s So Simple
4. Voices
5. Finding Home
6. Follow And Feel
7. Come Close
8. I Never Wanted To
9. Collapse
10. You’re Not Alone
11. Bury Your Head
12. Some Sense Of Security
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With The Punches
With the Punches’ debut EP, Keep It Going, is a solid first showing in what should prove to be a very bright future for the group from New York. While the Pop/Punk genre seemed to be on the outs in recent times, With the Punches throws some stakes into the ground to make sure things aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
While the band cites the likes of New Found Glory and Blink-182 as influences (presumably the old Blink… who knows how they’ll sound reuniting after all these years), the group manages to take those sounds to create a new one that is entirely their own. True, you’ll hear some echoes of Sticks and Stones here and there, but there still remains the distinct feeling that you are listening to something new rather than derivative, and that new is good. More than that the music will remind fans of the genre what got them listening in the first place. The 7 song EP delivers what might be some of the best efforts we’ve heard in years from the genre with the songs Burned At Both Ends, Thrill Your Idols, and the title track Keep It Going, while Slizzard Crossing and Stick and Move pay homage to the traditions that made Pop/Punk… well, “Pop”
To be honest, the EP is surprisingly strong with all tracks delivering on a promise you would never expect a new band to make good on. The songs are catchy and infectious in a bob your head, sing–a–long in the car at the top of your lungs kind of way. Good luck trying to get through a listen without a single finger tap or smile.
At the end of the day this EP is, without a question, a great lead–in for the band and sure to win listeners over with repeated play in their iPods and car stereos. While the album suffers from a few production–stage mishaps and audio balancing quirks (really not the band’s fault and quite common for new artists — see Good Charlotte’s debut album), that nuance appears to be the EP’s only noticeable mis–step in what is otherwise a fine end product.
Quite simply, you should give the band a chance and listen to their tracks now readily available on iTunes on their MySpace page (which I hope they will soon leave in the dust like the rest of the world should). If you are already a fan, now is the time to place bets and get in on the ground floor while you still can…
Reviewed by jonny.gotham
Artist: With The Punches
Album: Keep It Going
Genre: Pop Punk / Rock
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/withthepunches
-Track List-
01 Don’t Catch A Brick 02:26
02 Thrill Your Idols 03:24
03 Corporate Ladder Match 03:03
04 Burned at Both Ends 03:34
05 Stick and Move 03:25
06 Slizzard Crossing (Your Doing it Wrong) 02:44
07 Keep it Going 03:00
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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
City Escape
If Closure In Moscow’s signing to Equal Vision and Parkway Drive’s international success wasn’t proof enough that Australian heavy music is on par with the rest of the world, City Escape’s new EP Avalanches is the final piece of the puzzle. Comprised of everything from jazz noodling, samples, prog/psych riffs and textures, and even the odd breakdown, Avalanches is impressive, unbelievably tight and boasts some formidable production values. Take note world, Australia is coming to get you and ity Escape are among the foot soldiers of the revolution.
Review by Rave Magazine
Artist: City Escape
Album: Avalanches EP
Genre: Rock / Post-Hardcore / Ambient
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/cityescaperock
-Track List-
1. Opener 0:32
2. When The Vultures Start To Circle 3:09
3. Black Satellites 3:34
4. Now, The Hard Part 4:53
5. Give My Remains To Broadway 3:46
6. The Deeper Water 4:17
7. Closer 1:26
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Punk Goes Pop 2
After hearing “Punk Goes Crunk” last year, I was hoping that the next installation in the “Punk Goes?” compilation series would be “Punk Goes Country,” but I guess I’ll have until next time, because instead they chose to give us a much needed sequel to “Punk Goes Pop.” When viewing the tracklist of this album, it’s ironic that it’s called “Punk Goes Pop” when some of the artists featured on here can actually be considered “pop” bands in the first place (The Cab, Breathe Carolina), and then most others can’t even really be considered “punk.” If anything, when this album features bands like Silverstein, August Burns Red, A Static Lullaby, Chiodos, and Attack Attack!, it should really be called “Screamo Goes Pop.” This album, of course, won’t be receiving a full 5/5 rating because there are just some songs on here that sound as if they were put together within a few hours, but to make up for those, there are some that sound like there was some effort put into them.
Since most of the songs covered in this album were overplayed top 10 radio songs, there is really no need to fear that any of them can be “killed”, or in other words, covered badly, except for Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta” (still a good song, covered by Chiodos), which was added to the tracklisting at the last second. I am not a big Chiodos fan, but this song stood out the most today, as it was a very interesting cover of a song that was already really good.
I always thought that most of Justin Timberlake’s hit songs would actually be interesting to hear covered by a popular rock band, so I was eager to hear Alesana’s take on “What Goes Around.” It was indeed a good listen, not the best, as the screaming seemed unnecessary after it was used a little abundantly, but still one of the better covers on the album.
There were actually some covers on this album that I think turned out better than the original, such as Silverstein’s cover of One Republic’s “Apologize”, A Day To Remember’s cover of The Fray’s “Over My Head (Cable Car)”, and lastly, A Static Lullaby’s entertaining take on Britney Spears’ “Toxic.”
Four Year Strong’s version of Sara Bareilles’ “Love Song,” Escape the Fate’s cover of Santana’s “Smooth,” Mayday Parade’s cover of the Pussycat Dolls’ “When I Grow Up”, and Breathe Carolina’s cover of Miley Cyrus’s “See You Again” (which would’ve been better if it were ironically covered by Metro Station) were also noteworthy attempts.
On the other hand, The Cab’s “Disturbia” (Rihanna), August Burns Red’s “Baby One More Time” (Britney Spears), Attack Attack!’s “I Kissed a Girl” (Katy Perry), Bayside’s “Beautiful Girls” (Sean Kingston), and There for Tomorrow’s “Ice Box (Omarion)” simply turned out to be somewhat disappointing, in the end making this a compilation with an even mixture of amazing covers, mediocre covers, and terrible covers, which is usually what you’d expect. Hopefully in the next go round, though, it’d be nice to see bands that can really be considered “punk”.
Reviewed by Harvey
Artist: Multi-Artist CD
Album: Punk Goes Pop 2
Genre: Rock / Screamo / Pop Punk / Hardcore
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/punkgoespop2
-Track List-
01. Alesana – What Goes Around… 4:31
02. Silverstein – Apologize 2:55
03. August Burns Red – …Baby One More Time 3:10
04. Mayday Parade – When I Grow Up 3:38
05. A Day To Remember – Over My Head (Cable Car) 3:31
06. Escape The Fate – Smooth 3:58
07. There For Tomorrow – Ice Box 4:18
08. Chiodos – Flagpole Sitta 3:39
09. Bayside – Beautiful Girls 3:41
10. Breathe Carolina – See You Again 3:23
11. The Cab – Disturbia 4:01
12. A Static Lullaby – Toxic 3:20
13. Four Year Strong – Love Song 3:03
14. Attack Attack! – I Kissed A Girl 3:00
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A Kidnap In Color
A Kidnap In Color is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stagnant scene. The band’s seven song EP, “The Rumours Are Flying”, is brimming with charismatic lyrics coupled with a sexy motif, backed by compelling guitar riffs, driving bass lines, and a dynamic array of infectious dance-laden beats. Top it off with a variety of catchy hooks, and “Rumours” is guaranteed to have you singing for hours after listening. And A Kidnap In Color can deliver what it promises: the live show is both energetic and robust and will have even the most reserved listener moving with the music. Indeed, A Kidnap In Color is the complete package- energy, looks, dedication, and, most importantly, a unique sound among a million bland ones- and promises to have people talking. For a band this good, the only way from here is up.
Review by SmartPunk
Artist: A Kidnap In Color
Album: The Rumours Are Flying
Genre: Rock / Pop
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/akidnapincolor
-Track List-
1. Lust Be A Lady
2. The Rumours Are Flying
3. Miss Scarlet, In The Bathroom, With The Revolver
4. Just Another Romantic
5. By Invitation Only
6. Treason In The High Court
7. Leave The Light On
Read MoreTry Album [Mediafire] | A Kidnap In Color – The Rumours Are Flying