Review: Five Finger Death Punch - Back for More

 To further excite fans across the world for their upcoming third album American Capitalist, LA's Five Finger Death Punch have allowed the track Back for More to be acquired for free with every pre-order of their album on iTunes. I think it's also included as part of the soundtrack on the video game Madden 12 but I'm from Scotland and hate most sports, never mind sports video games, so this is no real issue for me. It's also been a single for quite some time so I apologize for my lateness.

 A notable feature of FFDP's music is the way that they constantly make use of the same techniques in all their songs, and yet no two songs sound the same. Back for More sounds like nothing one would hear on The Way of the Fist or War Is the Answer despite consisting of the exact same musical ingredients formed to make those songs. Chugging riffs played with a hefty dose and intensity and fury, a slick widdly guitar solo from Zoltan Bathory, and the switch between scream and melodic vocals from Ivan Moody. Yet still manages to sound fresh as ever. Musically, this is one of the better structured FFDP songs being a short and simple 3 minute run, packing a severe punch, as well as allowing for a little more creativity, sort of. I at least admire Moody's deep spoken vocals during the pre-choruses, that's quite a memorable moment. It's pretty reminiscent of Chimaira.

 If I have any criticism of the song, it's probably in the lyrics. Now I'm not really one for picking on lyrics when listening to music, I've always been more into the rhythm and riffage in songs, and Five Finger Death Punch are musically talented enough for lyrics not to be a real concern, but the lyrics for Back for More would be something of an off-put. Many have criticized FFDP in the past for not having the most intelligent lyrics around, and if you're main reason for listening to a song is to find any creative and dynamic lyrics, all I can say to you is stay the hell away from this song. Lyrics like "It's do or die / Time to settle the score / Gotta give it all you got / And then you give it some more" sound more like the kind of thing you might find in a family sports movie. It's hardly pushing boundaries or showing a sense of danger.

 Overall though, Back for More would be a great example of Five Finger Death Punch's skills of creating a modern update o heavy metal, and while lyrics have never always been their strong point, they definitely have the ability to hit you with their music. Hard.

Five Finger Death Punch's American Capitalist is out on Tuesday via Prospect Park. 

R.I.P Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

 Though by no means a musician, today the world has mourned the loss of and paid their tributes to a man who managed to change the way we listen to our music and changed the way for the purchasing of media forever, taking us into the modern age. We mourn the loss of Apple founder Steve Jobs, a true visionary who revolutionized the world of technology with the creation of such products as the iPod, iPhone, iPad and the MacBook, who passed away last night at his home in California following a seven year battle with pancreatic cancer.

 Jobs was a man with a real sense of technological dynamism and creativity, making products far more technologically advanced that anything else on the market, seen from the first Macintosh, released in 1984. Following some dips in company profits following overwhelming competition from Microsoft, and various attempts of reinvention over the next two decades, including the Newton platform and the Macintosh portable laptop, Jobs finally managed to bring Apple back to the forefront of popularity with the creation of the first iPod, a sleeker, visually appealing take on the trending market of MP3 players. With the ability to store 10GB of music, it was an instant hit, and as the years progressed the iPod models got sleeker and the memory amounts larger, Apple became one of the most successful and richest brand s of the modern age, with a Net income of 14.01 billion US dollars, with over 297 million iPods sold worldwide.

 Along with the introduction of the iPod came, with the iTunes Store, a mass online distribution store of music, films, television shows, games audiobooks and many other items, that has revolutionized the way we purchase media forever. It allows us to purchase entire albums with the click of a button, the option to purchase only one song from an album, plus has played a major influence in the aiding of a song to reach the top of the charts, serving in 2009 as the main place where mass amounts of the British public purchased Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name, allowing it to gain the Christmas No. 1 spot, beating that years X Factor winner Joe McElderry's single The Climb. A true victory and moment of union for rock fans nationwide. 

 Jobs took his technological expertise to a further level following the overwhelming success of the iPod, updating the technology for a brand new design in 2007, with the iPod Touch and the further improvement on that, the first iPhone. Once again, with the touch screen technology, genuinely decent phone cameras and a wide range of "apps", designed to help with any task imaginable, or just provide us with endless amounts of fun addictive gaming had seen Apple revolutionize the world.

 Jobs' final big creation with the initially critical iPad, who many saw as an unnecessary oversized version of the iPod Touch, however have come to fall in love with it's true ideal of  a portable personal computer and became popular enough for a second model, the iPad 2 to be launched.

 However, it was in 2004 that Jobs was sadly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which did not affect him until 2009, in which he had to go on medical leave which involved the undergoing of a liver transplant. At the start of the year 2011, illnesses had further affected him causing him to have to step down as Chief Executive of Apple, feeling he could not cope with the demands of his role anymore. Last night, at his home in California, Steve Jobs sadly passed away at the age of 56.

 Though Jobs was not a main inspiration to me, I'm very much in debt to his creativity and the items produced as a result of his creativity. It was only when I received my first iPod that I truly started to develop a severe interest for music, and the endless hours of browsing the iTunes store looking for bands I could fall in love with which no one else knew about has given me the diverse rock taste that I am known for and thrive on today. Of course without my iPod I'd have no way of showing all my friends this music, no way of having something cool to listen to during endless amounts of traveling, nothing to help me persevere through all my sessions in the gym and you can forget all prospects of this blog existing if I never had something to allow me to play music endlessly. So, the iPod has allowed me to achieve and easily maintain the life I lead as a rock fan, and for that, I thank you Steve.

Review: Blessthefall - Awakening

 Doing some research about Blessthefall, I've only recently come to discover this band was previously fronted by metalcore vocalist Craig Mabbitt. I had no idea. This means that Blessthefall can officially be associated with the overly complicated world of changing lineup and constant troubled members that is Escape the Fate. The most recent songs I heard from Escape the Fate bored the hell out of me and has made me worry about wether Blessthefall will sound just as boring. Also, Mabbitt's christian, which I suppose is the reason why we never see any more glamorous adultery-themed lyrics that were present in the Ronnie Radke era of Escape the Fate, and of course, the new place to find this is in Radke's new band, Falling in Reverse. Actually a funny story about the making of this new Blessthefall album is that they wanted Radke for some guest vocals, which is just awesome and most likely a way to get back at Mabbitt. Anyway, yeah. Radke pretty much epitomizes the rockstar life and that cannot be denied.
 Now that I've finished losing my head and obsessing over Ronnie Radke, it's time to move onto the more relevant issue of the new Blessthefall album, Awakening.

Awakening presents listeners with the type of emo and metalcore amalgamation that Atreyu and the earlier work of Avenged Sevenfold is popular for, but presented with a much more polished production. So the overall style of the music is the jagged punk riffs accompanied by frequent groove orientated breakdowns, with moments that provide a real sense of warmth and soulfulness within the flourishing choruses featuring the soaring and impassioned vocals of Beau Bokan, a vocalist who remains largely melodic throughout, though his screaming vocals sound more like a more guttural Roger Miret, giving the album more of a traditional hardcore feel, which fits the gleaming production of it all. That's not to say the album comes without it's brutality. The music itself bleeds an intense feel of spite and anger, with an intent to cause pain, and the lengths the band goes to to achieve this is astounding. The initial response to such belters as I'm Bad News, In the Best Way and The Reign is to throw oneself into a powerful array of body movement.
 However, it often feels like this is the only real motive for the album. The metalcore is brutal and frantic enough but it's slick production takes away some sense of realism and sugar-coats over the rough edges that better examples of albums of this fusion of genres possess, like A7X's Waking the Fallen.
 This makes Awakening a much more accessible metalcore album and serves as the kind of album that one may use as a first stepping stone into the genre alongside their friends, or rivals, in Escape the Fate and Falling in Reverse. With that being it's intent, I suppose the album works, wether that's a good mark to achieve in making music is another issue.

 Blessthefall's Awakening is out now via Fearless Records. The band will tour the UK from the 15th-18th October with Pierce the Veil and Motionless in White.

Review: The Answer - Revival

 Like many, my knowledge of Northern Irish hard rockers The Answer on ly emerged after discovering they spent a whole year playing as the opening act for AC/DC as part of the mammoth Black Ice World Tour. Unlike many more, I didn't forget about their existence immediatley after hearing this. Has such undeserved non recognition dwelled up any bitterness and despair in these guys? If it has, the mood they play in on third album Revival manages to disguise it really well.

The modern take on classic rock and roll with hints of country and heavy metal thrown in that is heard on Revival really makes The Answer the British answer to Danish hard rock-representatives Volbeat, and Revival really could be described as the chilled Irish cousin of their 2010 release Beyond Hell / Above Heaven. Both album take on similar styles and influences and have the same kind of hooky structures and riffage that makes their albums as cool party rock music as anything heard from AC/DC. Revival has some really good examples of this, like the energetic opener Waste Your Tears and the danceable Vida (I Want You), which more than anything are just great fun to listen and move to. The slower, more blues inspired tracks like Tornado and Destroy Me are also wonderful as well, they are simply bursting with soulfulness with an overwhelming sense of power that rises from this.
 All the songs serve us this herd rock through a selection of chunky slabs of guitar riffs and frantic drum beats. Plus Cormac Neeson's vocals make him sound like he's fronting a rock band from the 1970s, sounding like the cross between Bon Scott and Robert Plant, making him suiting for the overall classic vibe the album provides us with.
 So it's barely a revolutionary sound and one could probably excused for thinking this could be an album from the late 1970s or early 1980s, but that was never going to be the main goal for these guys. The Answer keep things cool and have some hard rock fun played with the intention for all listeners to have fun as well, and I'd say they achieve this. Who knows if this will finally get them the recognition that they should have gotten a while ago? I mean, if playing alongside AC/DC isn't a way that helps you expose yourself to new fans, I don't know what is.

 The Answer's Revival is out now via Spinefarm. The band will tour the UK this month.

Review: New Found Glory - Radiosurgery

 Floridian pop punk quintet New Found Glory are one of those bands who despite the height of the popularity having passed a while ago, are still a band who seem to be riding high in the world of music. The group used to be more in the public eye during the pop punk craze of the early 2000s with 2002 single My Friends Over You reaching Number 5 on the Billboard modern rock chart. However pop punk faded out of the public eye, replaced by indie rock. However, the band have maintained a sense of relevance and popularity with a devoted following who see them as defenders of traditional pop punk, while Blink-182 and Sum 41 got too serious and other groups split up. After this New Found Glory found themselves influential figures for a new rising of pop punk figures during the later part of the decade like Fall Out Boy and All Time Low. But the devoted NFG following were never too keen on these bands and continue to at their favourite band to deliver golden-era pop punk as it should be. And that's the essential way to define seventh album Radiosurgery.

 Radiosurgery gives listeners a healthy dose of fun catchy and hooky pop punk that New Found Glory are adored for. There's very little dwelled upon in the way of negativity. The songs are nice short and sweet with the overall musical sound creating a sense of fun and fancy-free. Of course the crunchy and jagged punk riffs serve as great music that one may jump around and headbang to, similar to what you'd see in the My Friends Over You music video, with perhaps a greater influence from the early works of Green Day and NFG's favourite group, The Ramones, which would make sense following a set at the Bamboozle 2011 festival which was a full tribute to the California punks and featured Marky Ramone on drums. Certainly the album does manage to keep the spirit of early 2000s pop punk alive. And at that point you really need to ask yourself how good a factor that really is.

 See, Radiosurgery really doesn't have much of a highlight, apart from maybe the more memorable closer Map of Your Body, however there's very little variation between songs. It's just a straightforward collection of 2-3 minute punk songs. To say it threw me overboard with excitement would be a total lie.

 So though Radiosurgery is hardly the most dynamic album around, it at least demonstrates New Found Glory's ability to create infectious hooks and write sincere lyrics of young love, freedom and having fun that many can relate too, and the songs are really catchy pieces of pop punk. Really, it's a sign that New Found Glory won't be moving off of the pop punk throne any time soon.

 New Found Glory's Radiosurgery is out on Tuesday via Epitaph. The band will tour the UK in February with Sum 41, letlive. and While She Sleeps as part of the Kerrang! Tour 2012 Sponsored by Relentles Energy Drink.

Review: You Me At Six - Sinners Never Sleep

 Sinners Never Sleep is a big step musically for Surrey's You Me At Six. It sees them dropping the chirpy pop punk with simple lyrics of girls, gossip and heartbreak that graced their first two releases 2008s Take Off Your Colours and last years Hold Me Down. But now, the band have felt a desire to mature taking on a harder rock sound and more complex lyrics and taking more of an influence from the likes of the Foo Fighters and Biffy Clyro rather than previous inspiration from Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy of old. It all comes together to create a much more serious sound with a real sense of emotion.

 Straight away, it's clear that the change of style from pop punk to hard rock is a good choice from the band. It is a style that suits them much better. While the overall tone and feeling from the first two releases seem somewhat artificial, Sinners Never Sleep sees a real emotional drain throughout. It's emphasized in the new style of riffage. Max Heyler plays guitar with a more streamlined hard rock style rather than the increasingly repetitive jagged pop punk riffs heard previously and they really help covey the albums themes of bitterness, melancholy and tragedy. The sheer power the rest of the band deliver, including the occasionally widdly solo from Chris Miller really manages to take these feelings to an extra level of depth and a real sense of fire and fury is flowing through the veins of all the band. Most likely since we are essentially hearing the band's therapy of relieving themselves of various touring pressures and bitterness developed towards each other, or more significantly the tension that built between the rest of the band with frontman Josh Franceschi, who is sounding better than ever on this album. Franceschi's soaring vocals have the tendency to feel a little out of place on Take Off Your Colours, but here they are really in their natural element, as like they music, they also serve as a fantastic way to convey the emotion of the song. His mellow vocals used on the more melancholic songs like Crash and When We Were Younger really deliver the underlying message of hopelessness and self-loathing the songs intend to deliver. When he wants to sound angry in such tracks as Bite My Tongue and Time is Money, his change of tone manages to convey the mood effortlessly. However those two tracks have a little more to keep this feel of anger flowing.

 See much speculation and thought from fans was put forward after it was discovered these Bite My Tongue and Time Is Money was to feature guest vocals from two well known practitioners of metalcore, Bite My Tongue featuring guest vocals from Bring Me the Horizon's Oli Sykes and Time is Money featuring Parkway Drive's Winston McCall. Their vocals are awesome and really help emphasize the aggression the band were aiming to deliver on the songs. There is a chance that they might divide opinions among fans, particularly McCall's more guttural, death growls, however hearing such vocals does really elevate the fury of these songs and as a fan of all types of rock, the idea of Parkway Drive and You Me At Six collaborating is just so surreal that the whole premise of it alone makes it great instantly.

 And so all these elements, the guest scream vocals, the more streamlined hard rock sound, the increase soundscaping and general creativity makes Sinners Never Sleep a really great album. An album that may annoy some long time fans, but at the same time rope in a whole lot of new listeners. With a more mature sound and a more serious and passionate attitude for making music, You Me At Six have come back with their best album to date.

 You Me At Six's Sinners Never Sleep is out on Monday via Virgin records. The band tour the UK from the 9th-15th October.

Review: Machine Head - Unto the Locust

 Since the last time I discussed Oakland bruisers Machine Head, I've listened to more music they have to offer, in particular, 2007s thrash masterpiece The Blackening. This was a magnificent collection of metal that wasn't going to be easy to top. For that reason when latest release Unto the Locust is put into comparison with The Blackening, there is a slightly underwhelming feeling to it. However don't let that put you off it completely. There are a lot of golden moments to be found here.

From the second opener I Am Hell (Sonata in C#) grips you in with it's unsettling choral intro, you are aware that this is going to be an album that is perhaps going to creative and dynamic, but definitely going to be extreme. And suddenly, you are proven right as out of nowhere monstrously sludgy and heavy jagged guitars blast into your eardrums. It's angry and doom-laden. It's an instant dose of the characteristics Machine Head are loved for.
 On Unto the locust, the group continue the combination of elements of thrash and doom metal that was present on The Blackening, with Be Still and Know sounding like the amalgamation of Metallica and Electric Wizard's sounds. The phrase "deaththrash" is one I've seen once or twice to describe Machine Head, and it's a reasonably accurate phrase. Certainly Machine Head do a great job of revealing the bleaker, despair-filled side of thrash, unlike the more rapid ecstasy fueled thrash one would hear from Megadeth or Anthrax. Thrash-wise, this, alongside the majority of Machine Head's work, is closer to the overall sound of Metallica's ...And Justice for All, an album I am often reminded of when hearing many Locust songs due to the regular highly tuned lead guitar squealing.
 Of course I'm also reminded frequently of The Blackening, with a somewhat lighter sound. The main reason why Unto the Locust seems somewhat underwhelming next to The Blackening is due to the fact that The Blackening was far more aggressive. And that's what you listen to a Machine Head album for. The aggression. That's not to say this album isn't aggressive at all. Robb Flynn's vocals are sounding as furious as ever and the riffage from Phil Demmel manages to stay devastatingly brutal even when at it's most hooky. Pearls Before the Swine is a good place to see what I'm talking about. However there are various elements of the album which makes it that bit lighter sounding. Most notably in Darkness Within, which though ending as a thick slice of intense thrash, plays for the most part with a grunge-like sound. Especially at the beginning, where one could be excused for mistaking it for a Seether song. (MH fans worldwide are probably going to kill me for that statement.)
 As we end on Who We Are, the overall tone is surprisingly uplifting with a rousing sing-along chorus which is either performed by Flynn or some only marginally annoying high pitched clean vocals, which actually does sound more like the fun joyful thrash that we'd be more used Scott Ian or Dave Mustaine delivering to us. It's quite nice to hear though, and leaves listeners with an overall feel of positivity and suggests all is well in the Machine Head camp.
 So Unto the Locust presents listeners with an intense display of despair powered thrash insanity. It comes fast and hard and shows the band doing what they do best.

 Machine Head's Unto the Locust is out now via Roadrunner. The band will tour the UK in December with Bring Me the Horizon, DevilDriver and Darkest Hour.