It Prevails, need I say more? One word to describe them? Awesomeamazing. Yeah, I just combined awesome and amazing, but that should be a real word. They are awesomeamazing. Look I did it again. Anyway, enjoy!
Video Of The Week #6
Posted: July 28, 2012 in Video Of The WeekTags: Aaron Marsh, Capture & Embrace, Chris Tsanjoures, Ian Fike, It Prevails, Nate Dorval, Nic Toten, Stroma, The Inspiration
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The Ghost Inside – Get What You Give
Posted: July 27, 2012 in ReviewsTags: Aaron Brooks, Andrew Tkaczyk, For The Fallen Dreams, Get What You Give, Jim Riley, Jonathan Vigil, KC Stockbridge, The Ghost Inside, Zach Johnson
When I think of The Ghost Inside one word comes to mind, consistent. I think most of the people out there who have heard this band know what I mean. This is not just another replica of every other band. No, these guys stand out among the rest of the melodic hardcore bands. Every album brings something new to the table. Get What You Give is no different.
Many bands have tried and failed when trying to incorporate clean vocals into their sound. This time around The Ghost Inside took a crack at it and guess what? It’s not bad, actually I’m impressed. Engine 45 stands out because of it and so does Dark Horse. It brings something different to the sound. As I said before, The Ghost Inside isn’t just another replica. I like their decision, especially since they can pull it off. Jonathan (singer) shows that not only does he scream like a beast, he can sing also.
“All my life I’ve been searching for something,
To break these chains. To break these chains.
But I’ll keep swinging…”
As usual their music hits hard, drum fills and heavy riffs beating you until you feel groggy. It’s awesome. The few mellow moments fits perfectly. Never feeling forced and give another dimension to the album. When K.C left (drummer) left I think that many like me were a bit worried. Okay, really worried. He left a big hole to fill. In comes Andrew Tkaczyk, former drummer of For The Fallen Dreams. I never had any doubts that he could do great work behind the kit. K.C is skilled, but so is Andrew and this shows. For example on Thirty Three, Andrew shows yet again how good of a drummer he really is. To be honest the whole band shines on that song. Teamwork at it’s greatest.
Lyrically they are as good as ever. The theme of the lyrics deals with everything from self-sacrifice to addiction. Jonathan has stated that much of his inspiration for the lyrics on this album comes from his brother passing away. In the song “White Light” Jonathan deals with his brother passing. “I feel his cold breath on my neck, he’s watching my steps and telling me that I could be next”. That line did hit me really hard. In away it’s a beautiful line about how fragile life is. Top notch lyrics as always.
This album sounds massive. Just as before, The Ghost Inside hits you like a train, knocking the shit out of you. I’m amazed how they can push to another level with every album. It just amazing. This will be the album to beat this year, The Ghost Inside just raised the bar even more. I’m so happy, I’ve wanted to hear this album for a long time. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t like it. Mostly because I’ve been hyping it up in my head. Many times when you do that, you get disappointed. That was not the case this time around. I never thought that they would have clean singing on a album. That together with the lyrics, screams, drum fills, riffs and overall sound production make this a very solid album.
Rating: 4.5/5
Video Of The Week #5
Posted: July 20, 2012 in Video Of The WeekTags: Bill Kelliher, Brann Dailor, Brent Hinds, Crack The Skye, Mastodon, Troy Sanders
Mastodon is an amazing band. Watch this. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.
For The Fallen Dreams – Wasted Youth
Posted: July 19, 2012 in ReviewsTags: Andrew Tkaczyk, Back Burner, Brandon Stastny, Changes, Dylan Richter, Dylan Shippey, For The Fallen Dreams, FTFD, Jim Hocking, Kalan Blehm, Metalcore, Relentless, Tom Denney
For The Fallen Dreams have released their 4th album called “Wasted Youth”. Dylan Richter, the bands vocalist said before the album came out that it would be like “Back Burner, but more mature”. Do I agree with that statement? No, I really don’t. I was a bit disappointed by “Back Burner”, but “Wasted Youth” just plain sucks. It’s a waste of time to listen to it. Why is that? Read on.
In my review of “Back Burner” I was quite positive of the change the band was making. I have to say that I still stand by that. But and this is a big one, For the Fallen Dreams can’t pull it off. They have clearly showed that now. I can’t tell you how boring these songs are. Breakdown after breakdown. Cleans sounds really forced. It’s just bad all around. There is nothing that stands out on this album. It’s just generic metalcore. Most of the songs are based on the same formula.
To tell you the truth, it’s bad, really bad. Did I mention that the lyrics are dull? After Andrew Tkaczyk left the band, it has just been downhill for this band. Andrew was the main songwriter and it shows. They are lost without him. They are a lost cause trying to sound like a bad A Day To Remember copy. This sound just doesn’t fit them. It’s rather sad how this band has turned out. There is nothing that could save this band anymore. Where did the magic go guys?
Rating: 1/5
Video Of The Week #4
Posted: June 26, 2011 in Video Of The WeekTags: acoustic, BVTV, Fame Over Demise, Kevin Hanson, Tyler Carter, Woe Is Me
If you ever want good live footage from the bands you love, look no further, http://www.youtube.com/user/ak99superstar. This video is from their acoustics series and is a great one. Tyler Carter is great singer and he really shows that.
Video Of The Week # 3
Posted: June 12, 2011 in Video Of The WeekTags: Adam D, Adam Dutkiewicz, Howard Jones, Joel Stroetzel, Justin Foley, Killswitch Engage, KSE, Mike D, Mike D'Antonio, The End Of Heartache
I love these guys. My favorite band and has been for a long long time.
Amorphis – The Beginning of Times
Posted: June 12, 2011 in ReviewsTags: Amorphis, Death Metal, Esa Holopainen, Jan Rechberger, Niclas Etelävuori, Santeri Kallio, Skyforger, The Beginning of Times, Tomi Joutsen, Tomi Koivusaari
Amorphis is a band many metalheads have heard about before. Amporhis is an “old timer” band, they have been around for quite awhile now. They started in 1990, over that time their sound have evolved and they have realased their newest album “The Beginning of Times”. Many people have been looking forward to this album, including me.
They have changed a lot from from their first cd, not something you can say about every band. These guys like to experiment and be progressive, something I really like. But this cd, I don’t know. It just feels as a remake of “Skyforger” but with no tracks that really stands out. It’s really soft, the hints from their old “death metal” days are slowly fading away. There is some parts with double kick and occasionally there is some “death” vocals. I might seem too negative, but this record is just a bit to soft for me.
No matter how I look at it, this album is not of the same quality as for example “Skyforger”. They have always been progressive and I think that is why people keep coming back to this band. Being active and selling records for 20 years is a great achievement. But this time they fell just before the finish line. Their progressiveness seems to have stopped or at least have taken a detour. Because this just feels that they are standing still in the same square as before. Compared to other bands it’s a good album, I guess it’s a good album for Amorphis too but I expected more. They have spoiled us for awhile now with great records. This is “just” a good album. “Skyforger” was, at least for me, an amazing album that will be very hard to top. “The Beginning of Times” deserves some spins, but the “wow” factor just isn’t there this time.
Rating: 3.0
For The Fallen Dreams – Back Burner
Posted: June 7, 2011 in ReviewsTags: Andrew Tkaczyk, Arvin Sarathy, Back Burner, Changes, Dylan Richter, For The Fallen Dreams, FTFD, Jim Hocking, Jordan McPherson, Kalan Blehm, Relentless, Tom Denney, Will Weatherly
So For The Fallen Dreams finally dropped their third and newest album. I’ve been looking forward to this for a longtime. So what do I think about it?
My first reaction was to check that I had put in the right cd. Back Burner sounds very different from what FTFD previously have done. For The Fallen Dreams are known for their brutal songs. It is often an assault on your ears, of the good kind. This is one of the main reasons why I love FTFD. But on this new album there is a major difference from before. Andrew Tkaczyk, the bands drummer and co founder left the band in 2011. Not only is their only one orginal member left in the band, but Andrew was the main songwriter and it shows. Back Burner isn’t awful, if I said that I would be lying.
But for example the singing. Before Dylan Richter had most of the spot light. When it comes to Back Burner, that has changed. On most verses there is clean singing, nothing wrong with that in general. However in For The Fallen Dreams case, it is not good. It feels forced. Tom Denney, the producer could have done a better job with the clean vocals. Said to say, but that was a pretty big fail on FTFD part. Although there is good news to. Many people love Dylan’s low growls and he has become even better than on their second album “Relentless”. The new style with much more cleans than before Dylan’s brutal voice was/is a good idea, sadly it was poorly executed. Shifting between clean and harsh vocals is a nice idea. It gives the music so much more depth and can really make for great complex songs. This time it didn’t work out though, at least in my mind they could have done a far better job.
When it comes the melodic part of FTFD songs this album really shows their talent. As people have come to expect, Back Burner does not disappoint in this aspect. And the emotion behind these lyrics clearly shows. If I look away from the bad clean vocals there isn’t really much to complain about. Maybe a bit too much breakdowns for my taste. But this is still a “metalcore” band we are talking about and as everyone should know by now, they sure love their breakdowns.
I can accept that bands evolve. That goes for FTFD too. But they should have done a better job on “Back Burner”, simple as that. Yes, Back Burner is NOT what it should have been. It is pretty generic, even boring at times. I never thought I would say that about FTFD. It doesn’t stand out because everything that is on Back Burner has already been done by some other band. That is ok, because it is very hard to create something that is brand new that no one has done before you. But the sad thing is that although other bands have done all of this before (clean/harsh, melodic etc) FTFD have the talent to do something special but doesn’t seem to make a valid effort. They have talent, but can’t seem to find that sweet spot. Good idea with the clean vocals, but it could have been executed way better. Is “Back Burner” a bad cd? No, definitely not, but I expected more. Their ideas for the album were great on paper, but not on the cd. I hope that the next cd, if there will be one, takes these ideas and evolve them into something great. This cd will get a few spins, no doubt about that. But say 2 months from now, I will go to “Changes” or “Relentless” instead of this cd. This isn’t bad, it’s average, which their two other albums aren’t. They standout from all the other stuff in the metalcore scene.
Rating: 2.5/5
This week is from Hundredth with their song “Desolate”. I have come to love this band. Hope you guys like it too.
Yes, that’s right, I’m back. This time to stay. I haven’t been the best at updating with new reviews etc because of various reasons, no need to go in to details. But that is about to change. My goal is to do at least 1 review per week and of course “video of the week”. My new review will be up tomorrow and will be a review of the newest For The Fallen Dreams album “Back burner”.
Aggressive music 