Rise Against – Endgame

Tim McIlrath and his band of punk rockers haven’t changed much on their 6^th album, “Endgame”, but ultimately come up short.  Every song on the album seems as if it has been done before and it’s actually quite easy to find a counterpart for each song on an earlier Rise Against album. 

Rise Against’s song formula has not been altered whatsoever so each song pretty much consists of fast, repetitive drums and aggressive guitar (with a pick slide every 5 seconds).

I’d recommend this album for long-time fans of the band that are looking for more of the same. Rise Against sticks to what they’re good at on “Endgame” which for some might be exactly what they’re looking for.  For me, there are only so many pick slides I can handle. 

Rating- 6/10

Recommended Songs- Architects, Help Is on the Way, Satellite 

Protest the Hero- Scurrilous

Toronto’s progressive-metal group, Protest the Hero has slowly been getting more and more popular since the release of their first album in 2005.  Their style is very technical, Protest is known for their guitarists, bassist and drummer’s pure skill along with their frequent and strange time-signature changes. 

There are few differences from the previous two albums on this one, noticeably the absence of lead vocalist Rody Walker’s screams.  He sticks to singing on “Scurrilous” but really goes all out and sounds fantastic.    

The band as a whole sounds great on the new album- both the instrumentation and lyricism are absolutely terrific. 

My only complaint is that, while the songs are all brilliantly well put together, a few of the tracks are a bit forgettable.  Progressive music often risks becoming generic and repetitive and they do a good job of avoiding that for the most part but there are still a few songs that could have been done without. Who knows, though, Protest the Hero songs have a way of growing on me.

Rating- 9/10

Recommended Songs- C’est La Vie, Hair-Trigger, Tandem, Dunsel

Panic! At the Disco- Vices & Virtues

Panic! At the Disco has completely reformatted since their questionable sophomore album, “Pretty. Odd.” They have returned to their roots on their 3^rd album, “Vices & Virtues”.  Almost the entire band left after the second album, leaving lead singer Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith to create a baroque-pop sound more like that of their first album. 

The songs show off Panic!’s classic, catchy blend of synthesizers, string instruments and some instruments that are less often employed such as the marimba and xylophone. 

Vices & Virtues starts off very strong but slows down as the album reaches the halfway point.  The last few songs are nice but lack the memorability of the album’s first few songs. 

Rating- 7/10

Recommended Songs- The Ballad of Mona Lisa, Let’s Kill Tonight, Hurricane, Ready to Go

I’m so tired…

Write the most coherent essay/story possible using only names of songs from your Itunes.   

No?

Well if anyone wants to, send it as a reply or somethin

I’ll do it later…

peace

Oh, Crash Kings- they’re sort of like a piano-based Cage the Elephant.  The band uses piano as most bands would a guitar, they put some distortion and effects on it and they’re good to go.  They released their first album (eponymous) a year and a half ago, it’s pretty solid.  Their two singles- You Got Me and Mountain Man  are definitely the most catchy tracks on the album but they are very similar in style.  Personally I prefer You Got Me, if not for the subject matter alone but also for the transitive nature of the song.  The rest of the album is very nice, even though the two singles are essentially the same song just made up differently.  14 Arms is probably my favorite song on the album besides, I could only find a live version- deal with it.

I also started listening to Lit, this pop-punk band from the late 90s- most of their stuff is pretty weak but I figured out how to play this song My Own Worst Enemy and I’ve been jamming it a lot recently, it’s a lot of fun.  The song was pretty popular a while back and pop-punk is really not my style (I find it horribly obnoxious) but this song is tolerable and good which just goes to show that no genre should ever be ruled out completely.

Enjoyy

First things first, synthesis.  Dubstep meets Halloween, both are very relevant things.

Enjoy-Halloween theme song remixed by Chrispy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1DghEk0zNo

Enter Shikari has a new song Destabilise which I posted the other day. It’s delicious and dubsteptacular you should listen to it immediately.  

Now for Halloween. I watched the first Saw again today, I think it might be my favorite movie.  The fantastic orchestral theme song Hello Zepp by Charlie Clouser might be the reason the ending to that movie gives me chills every time.  Not ‘im scared’ chills, ‘this movie amazing’ chills.  I saw the 7th and final saw movie in 3d yesterday it was kinda bad but it was nice to get some closure with the series and the traps were pretty brutal.  Chester Bennington (singer from Linkin Park) was in it actually, that guys all about the cameos.  I still haven’t reviewed their new “album”, or whatever they call that thing they released I can’t bring myself to do it, I used to love them so much and now It’s like I don’t even recognize them but enough about my abusive relationship with Linkin Park.

Escape the Fate started streaming their new album on their myspace page.  Their 3rd release is for some reason eponymous.  I guess bands do that to represent a sort of rebirth or progress, a re-establishment for what Escape the Fate is and a fresh start as if to say “let’s go from here”.  Anyways, the album sways from their usual post-hardcore style and presents an ambitiously eclectic mix of all sorts of shenanigans from electronic-based songs to ambient rock songs.  The album even has a song that for some reason reminded me of the Backstreet Boys, something I do not enjoy being reminded of.  All boy-bands aside, the album features a conclusion to Escape the Fate’s series of “Guillotine” songs.  The first 2 songs are magnificent and are 2 of ETF’s greatest songs. The third, while a good song and one of the best on Escape the Fate’s new album falls short of the absolute wonder induced by the original 2.  Anyways here’s the trilogy: The Original, The Sequel, The Finale

It’s strange how the third one borrows a riff from the second while the second was only sort of reminiscent of the original and took lines from My Apocalypse which just so happens to be my favorite Escape the Fate song.  It could be yours too.  The first step is listening.

I saw Gorillaz live last month it was ridiculous, I’m going to try to upload some videos I took soon so I’ll post those when I get around to it.  Glitter Freeze was definitely the best performance of the night for me although everything Damon Albarn and his slew of supporting musicians (including the surviving members of The Clash) performed was magnificent.  

I just saw Enter Shikari for the second time a few weeks ago, the first time I saw them headline and it was LEGENDARY.  I won’t get into it here because I’m tired and I think I’m probably boring y’all.  I’m reaaally sleep deprived I’ve literally spent the last month doing nothing but homework and studying but don’t fret I’ll have a full review of the Enter Shikari show up eventually. Until then stay hard, mad respect to any Lions out there.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about go listen to every song by Enter Shikari, appreciate them, enjoy them, love them, live them, accept them, understand them and then come back and we can be friends. :)

Stand your ground, this is ancient land

I was guided here by the spirit’s hand

We shall meet

At Hell’s gate

This is fate

This is fate

Not all is lost

The spirits shriek

You will be hunted

We shall seek

Perseverance

Turn the page

Enter Shikari

Enter Shikari

In the constant struggle between the system and the system-to-be, change is only an unbroken rule away

puppetchildren:

Ok we get it, you’re different, you’re not mainstream. You’re proud your a hipster? What do you stand for? I guess just going against the norm is what you stand for. Chill. You listen to music I’ve never heard of? You may not be “mainstream” but you still follow hipster trends. The Dr. Dogs & Of…

This reminds me that I never did a day on Skindred.  Next post will be about them.

Wow, it’s been a while- lots of music to catch y’all up on.  I’m going to start reviewing albums rather than just picking out the ones I recommend listening to.  There have been a few pretty bad albums out recently and I’d like to start recommending what not to listen to as well.  

I started listening to City and Color, Dallas Green’s acoustic folk solo project which deserves kudos for the name alone.  While Dallas Green plays guitar and sings in the post-hardcore group Alexisonfire, City and Color really showcases his abilities as a singer and a songwriter and shows an impressive contrast between the styles of music he is capable of producing.  

City and Color - The Girl

Alexisonfire - This Could Be Anywhere In The World

B.o.B’s newest album, while horribly mainstream, isn’t that bad.  His lyrics are fairly terrible but I find his songs a lot more tolerable than most of the stuff on the radio these days so here are a few begrudging recommendations.

The Kids

Airplanes Part II

Papa Roach released a live album along with 5 new songs on a CD called Time For Annihilation.  The new songs are the usual Papa Roach style but are actually a step up from their last album Metamorphosis which left a lot to be desired.  The live part of the album is fine.  They’re not bad live but they’re not outstanding. Since they no longer release new songs in their old rap-rock style its nice to hear a few of their classics live like “Last Resort” and “Between Angels and Insects”.   If you’re in the mood of some hard-hitting punk rock and/or want to hear Papa Roach play live check it out.

…To Be Loved Live

(I can’t find any good links for the new songs so just listen to any of them- they’re all about the caliber none of them really stand out)

Disturbed has a new album out called Asylum which is a huge step down from their previous releases.  Indestructible (their last album) was absolutely amazing and you should go get it right now along with their first album The Sickness which has recently been remastered and re-released and is nothing short of legendary. The singles off of Asylum sound like something you’d find as filler on any of their other albums.  The melodies are uninspired and the guitar solos are expected.  This album brings nothing new to the table and almost every song could have been B-sides off of any previous Disturbed album.  The album starts off strong with a nice intro song Remnants which makes the album seem like It’ll take off in a new direction.  Alas, it does not.  The first track after the intro, Asylum, is probably the best track on the album and also has a pretty cool video so check it out.  Disturbed also whips out a cover of U2’s Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For which isn’t as bad as one would think.  They manage to pull it off while adding a bit of their own signature sound.  The rest of the album is horribly generic and can be missed.

Kele from Bloc Party released a solo album called The Boxer which essentially sounds like Bloc Party with electronics replacing all the instruments.  The first single off the album, Tenderoni is great and extremely catchy.  If you like Bloc Party, check it out.

That’s plenty for now.  In the next few days I’ll try to write about Osheaga, a music festival in Montreal which I went to this summer and Linkin Park’s new album which is just a huge mess, I can’t even get started on it here.  I’m also seeing a bunch of concerts in October so I’ll review all of those too.  

It feels good to be back.

New motto: I no longer believe in the existence of bad music, there exist only music that I don’t like yet.

With the right conditioning we can grow to enjoy any sort of sounds, so our musical taste is merely representative of our current state of mind.  People ask me why I have so much music on my Ipod, I must not even listen to half of it.  It’s true, there must be thousands of songs on my Ipod that I haven’t listened to once. I haven’t listened to these songs because I haven’t been in the right mindset, when the time comes for that genre or band then they will be right there at my fingertips (literally).  Let us praise Steve Jobs for the invention of the 120 gig ipod classic.  Without it, we might be forced to discriminate between our music.  What a wonderful analogy- lack of space leads to discrimination…

It’s 2 in the morning, sleep deprivation gets me philosophical.  My sincerest apologies.

So I’m going away to camp for 6 weeks and I’m sure to be back with some new music of all of y’alls.  

Since i haven’t posted in a while here are some random selections across the genres:

Reel Big Fish is a great ska-punk band. Their music is upbeat, their lyrics are amusing, their style is varied.  Here’s a song.  They really shine in their live performances and their live album,  quaintly titled “Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album”, is easily one of my all time favorite live albums.  A great example of this (for those of you who are not yet convinced by my enthusiasm) is their live performance of their song “Suburban Rhythm” where they perform the simple song in about 10 different genres.  They also do a great cover of “Take On Me” by A-ha.

Maximum the Hormone is a Japanese hardcore band which I’ve grown fond of if only for the fact that they somewhat pull of what they’re trying to do.  This one’s my favorite.

If you like rap/hip hop then you’ve probably already listened to Eminem’s new album and realized that its pretty bad (I mean that you are not and will never be in the right state of mind to appreciate it).  Check out the Canadian rapper Classified, he has tons of albums and pretty much every song is good.  This one was pretty popular recently and got Class some recognition.  

Out of those three bands/Classifieds you should be able to find something you like

I no longer believe in the existence of bad music, there exist only music that I don’t like yet…and some really terrible music.

My motto is hereby rebuked.

Enjoy your summer :) 

Oh, and check out my Deviantart page, i posted some poetry and a bunch of light painting pictures i did recently.  

Watch as our community

Enforced by endless scrutiny

Walks calm across its path

But degrades to rot and ash

-

Our unopposed lucidity

Destroyed by creativity

A system of production

Created by destruction

-

We hover in between them

The absolutes of Eden

So retain your false composure

And sway clear of full disclosure