The Champagne Charade "Glitter City"
The Champagne Charade
“Glitter City”
North Jersey is hiding Rock and Roll’s best kept secret. Fronted by the lovely Saetia LaReoux, the Champagne Charade are unapologetic with their poppy metal assault. Guitars blaze, drums and bass thunder and LaReoux can fucking sing her heart out. This band is the real [...]
Throwdown "Venom and Tears"
Throwdown
Venom and Tears
Trustkill
The O.C.’s toughest straight edge boys have completed their full transformation into Vulgar Display of Power-Era Pantera. Over the years Throwdown have gone through many lineup changes, but this one is the tightest. With producer Mudrock (Avenged Sevenfold) at the helm they’ve finally gotten it right.
“Holy Roller” sets the pace with quick thrashy [...]
Bedlight for Blue Eyes "Life on Life’s Terms"
Bedlight for Blue Eyes
Life on Life’s Terms
Trustkill
Bedlight for Blue Eyes is a rotten band. Plain and simple there really isn’t a single redeeming quality about them. The press release talks of their “insanity” and “passion.” What we get is painful boredom and a lot of piss poor ballads.
New singer Daniel Rinaldi, who apparently responded to [...]
Boys Night Out “S/T”
Boys Night Out
Boys Night Out
Ferret
Boys Night Out’s second record was their masterpiece. “Train Wreck” was a mature, dark, innovative and ultimately poppy record. It had the perfect mix of arena rock choruses, beautifully layered guitars and amazing periods of female vocals and synthesizers mixing things up. “Boys Night Out” is the band’s third full length [...]
The Destro “As The Coil Unwinds”
The Destro
As the Coil Unwinds
Iron Clad/Metal Blade
The Destro are a new band signed to Trevor Phipps of Unearth’s Ironclad Records. If you were a betting man you could probably guess that this sounds like Lamb of God or Pantera’s bastard child.
This is sludgy metal destruction with a Texas flavor. The vocals are as gruff [...]
Pierce the Veil “A Flair for the Dramatic”
Pierce the Veil
A Flair for the Dramatic
Equal Vision
Equal Vision has made a critical mistake when signing new bands. Pierce the Veil is a shining example of when a label forgets about integrity and honest rock and roll and signs a flash in the pan with no real substance. You’re not gonna find the next Saves [...]
Pelican “City of Echoes”
Pelican
“City of Echoes”
Hydrahead
This is one of the best metal albums of the year. This instrumental band is poised to get HUGE after this record. Take all the hype you heard about Mastadon and transfer it over to these guys. City of Echoes is a brilliant, epic record that exceeds expectations on all [...]
FATA “Holding a Wolf By the Ears”
From Autumn to Ashes
“Holding a Wolf By the Ears”
Vagrant
More like From My Hands to the Garbage. FATA have been doing this for too long and keep releasing the same record. This time they recorded with the drummer singing everything. Unfortunately the monotonous yell sounds the same in every uninspired song.
It’s time to hang [...]
Hot Cross “Risk Revival”
Hot Cross
“Risk Revival”
Equal Vision
Hot Cross has been around for about six years and was born from the ashes of Off Minor, You & I, and Saetia. The band while finally abandoning its DIY roots have created an album that well, sounds like it should have been released in 1999. This is not [...]
Betrayed “Substance”
Betrayed
“Substance”
Equal Vision
Betrayed broke up before they even got started. I believe this record was out for about 2 weeks before these boys called it quits. It’s a damn shame because this is a solid debut.
Betrayed was made of members from Champion and Carry On and was produced by Kurt Ballou of Converge. “Think Twice” and [...]
Have Heart “The Things We Carryâ€
Have Heart
“The Things We Carryâ€
Bridge 9
This is the best hardcore record of the year. “Life is Hard Enough†will make you want to karate kick your mom and do a front flip off your couch. Put those Gorilla Biscuits records back in the crate they came from and show some respect to the new [...]
Misery Signals “Mirrorsâ€
Misery Signals
“Mirrorsâ€
Ferret Music
The first shouted vocal assault on this record goes like this: “YOU BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELF!†Take one part Most Precious Blood and add a bit of Coalesce and you’ve basically got Misery Signals. Misery Signals have a new singer named Karl Shubach and he adds a whole new element to this crushing [...]
Alexisonfire “Crisisâ€
Alexisonfire
“Crisisâ€
Vagrant Records
Despite putting out two mediocre records, these Canucks have finally gotten the right formula down. This is more than your run-of-the-mill screamo record. Singers Dallas Green and Wade Macneil trade screams and beautifully sung vocals that are reminiscent of “Jupiter-Era†Cave-In. “Crisis†is the biggest surprise of the year.
“Crisis†is an epic record. [...]
Seemless “What Have We Become”
Seemless
“What Have We Become”
Equal Vision
Jesse Leach has come a long way since leaving Killswitch Engage. “What Have We Become” is a rock and roll powerhouse. Progressing from their self-titled debut Seemless unleash a brutal assault of powerful guitars and intense lyrics.
Leach’s lyrics once again deal with hope and struggle. “In My Blood” is a slap [...]
Action Reaction “3 Is the Magic Number”
Action Reaction
“3 Is the Magic Number”
Hope Division/Equal Vision
Action Reaction is a husband/wife team from my neck of the woods in Northern New Jersey. Bella and Sal, formerly of Element 101, recruited Jason Gleason who was the former frontman of Further Seems Forever for this new project. Action Reaction is a traditional alternative rock band. [...]
Versus the Mirror “Homeâ€
Versus the Mirror
“Homeâ€
Equal Vision
Versus the Mirror have basically punched me in the face for the review I gave their rotten EP a couple months ago. “Home†is a 180 degree turn for this band. The vocals are brutal, but cleaned up. And the best part is that they recorded all the guitars [...]
Crucified Barbara “In Distortion We Trust”
Crucified Barbara
“In Distortion We Trust”
Liquor & Poker Music
Crucified Barbara sounds like Kittie without the death metal vocals, even though they are displayed in all their metal chick glory on the cover of this bad boy. Crucified Barbara, despite their horrid name, have created a cheesy and fun All-Girl, think a dirtier Donnas, hard rock [...]
The Sounds of Animals Fighting “Lover, The Lord Has Left Usâ€
The Sounds of Animals Fighting
“Lover, The Lord Has Left Usâ€
Equal Vision
The Sounds of Animals Fighting are a super group. I have no idea who is responsible for this experimental train wreck, nor do I care…ultimately it serves as mildly entertaining background music.
“Skullflower†sounds as if it was ripped directly from that last Mars Volta record [...]
Some Girls “Heaven’s Pregnant Teens”
Some Girls
“Heaven’s Pregnant Teens”
Epitaph
I’ll be the first person to tell you that American Nightmare aka Give Up the Ghost was the best hardcore band since about 1988. I even dug craziness of The Locust for a while. So when Wes Eisold of AN and Justin Pearson of The Locust get together and start a thrashy [...]
Girls in Hawaii “From Here to Thereâ€
Girls in Hawaii
“From Here to Thereâ€
China Shop Music
Girls in Hawaii are good for a sunny drive home and are a perfect way you get you out of your “winter depression.” Hell the boys even agree with me with a song titled “Time to Forgive the Winter.” Taking cues from Radiohead, The Pixies, and REM- “From [...]
Jonah Matranga “There’s a lot in Here”
Jonah Matranga
“There’s a lot in Here”
Equal Vision
Jonah makes girls panties melt. It’s official. After watching and hearing the way the ladies shriek at him you’d be hard pressed to determine a reason why he’s not as popular as Chris Carraba of Dashboard Confessional.
Included in this CD/DVD package are two lives shows, one in [...]
The Banner “Each Breath Haunted”
The Banner
“Each Breath Haunted”
Ferret Music
The Banner are horror-hardcore from Dirty Jerz. “DEVILHAWKS†is a great homage to Danzig and destroys everything in its path. The party keeps rolling as “Venom and Hope†makes me want to do a front flip off a stage. “Each Breath Haunted†sounds like His Hero is Gone and Deathreat with [...]
Lovehatehero “Just Breathe”
Lovehatehero
“Just Breathe”
Ferret Music
Lovehatehero went to the Geoff Rickley school of Emo Rock. This sounds so much like Thursday it’s not even funny. “This Dream Called Life,” “Second Chance,” and “These Fists are Grenades” are all passable emo/screamo myspace songs for 16 year olds.
There’s thousands of bands that sound like this in the United States. [...]
Scarlet “This Was Always Meant to Fall Apart”
Scarlet
“This Was Always Meant to Fall Apart”
Ferret Music
“This Was Always Meant to Fall Apart” starts out with “Obsolete”, a quiet indie rock jam that sounds like Hopesfall or Code Seven. I started to think, hey maybe Ferret put out another good record like the Boys Night Out disc–then the second track started and it [...]