Review: We Are the In Crowd - Best Intentions

 If I'm honest, this isn't an album I've been too excited for listening to. The image of We Are the In Crowd isn't one that's too appealing for me. Fair enough, they loof all bright and cheerful, which is always nice, but I look at We Are the In Crowd and imagine that listening to their album is going to cause me to get suffocated by sweetness and honey. And the idea of that is somewhat unbearable. However, making judgements based on images is no way to live by. I had similar thoughts of having a sugar coated ear massacre before listening to VersaEmerge, but their debut Fixed at Zero, sounding like Paramore meets Nine Inch Nails really taught me that you should never judge a book by it's cover. So, is a similar idea conveyed on We Are the In Crowd's debut Best Intentions?

Well, Best Intentions is certainly sweet in that sense but not to the extent that it's sickeningly sweet. Presenting listeners with a collection of short and slick glossy pop rock songs. However, We Are the In Crowd are a cut above the rest as the pack a heavy and fiery punch with their music that shows a considerable influence on less than cheery feelings both musically and lyrically. On Your Own carries with it an atmosphere of spite and anger, while You've Got it Made takes on a more melancholic and hopeless atmosphere. Needless to say, there is a prominent display of glee on the album. Most notably Kiss Me Again, which some may find to be very uplifting and have an overall pretty sound about it. For others, it may create a result similar to eating too much Haribo Starmix (because they're sweets).
 This parade of emotion is effectively presented to listers by the bands fiery and heavy musical delivery. Taking various electronic elements and mixing it with infectuous hooks and the odd breakdown every now and again, the Poughkeepsie quintet gives listeners a ridiculously catchy pop punk backdrop for their emotional roller coaster, which is possible to headbang to. Also wonderful are the dazzling vocals of Taylor Jardine and Jordan Eckes, as their soaring voices reammy manage to emphasise the message they want to deliver.
 Best Intentions effectively shows We Are the In Crowd to be a pretty solid and flawless pop rock band and shows them to have real potential and the ability to take the world by storm with their slick pop punk power that only the most miserable of bastards won't be able to get into.

 We Are the In Crowd's Best Intentions is out now via Hopeless Records. The band will tour the UK in January with All Time Low and The Maine.

You should probably check out Shot, Down South.

 I've never really done a feature that focuses on one new band before so I'm hoping this goes well.
 The mixture of fusing elements of metalcore with elements of electronic music is a musical style which has exploded over the past few years. Some bands mnage to carry it off really well really well and can make a really kick ass sound, like Bring Me the Horzon, Asking Alexandria or Sleeping With Sirens. If the fusion is put into the wrong hands, you get Attack Attack!, who to be fair, are absolutely hilarious.
 So recently I've been getting into the music of a very new band who are doing this kind of thing and doing it well. Hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Shot, Down South are delivering their own take on the fusion to the world. On their lead track Restless, the group mix brooding synth drums with their furious heavy metal with shredding that is reminiscent of Pantera, guttural screaming which is off-the-wall in it's fury from Josh Baires and a wild rythym section from Tyler Patterson and Harrison Rowland. Their other track Sharpen Your Knives just sees them going totally mental where you have no choice but to lose yourself in the awesomeness. Which is then contrasted in the acoustic version of the song which packs a more emotional impact.
 I've mainly gotten into this band after talking to and getting on pretty well with guitarist Jason Fontaine through Google +. He's a really cool guy who shows a real passion for making his music. He's also got his own blog coremusic, where he posts any info aboutnew stuff from well known and any up and coming metalcore bands, be it in news or new music. There's some good stuff be found and hopefully new material I can use for ROARF.
 So everyone should check these guys out, they're a hard working bunch of guys with a real talent to give glory and respectibility to the rising of metal/electronic bands. And if they become the biggest band in the world that means they will owe it all to me ! (Evil laugh).

 

Review: IKILLYA - Recon

 Being a state that is associated with such high class glamour and having such a considerable influence on popular music, my first thoughts on New York's music scene is that it would never be home to many major metal artists. The research on Anthrax and Cannibal Corpse happened and I was proven wrong. Further inspection on the city's metal scene showed the city to be the home of Type O Negative, Life of Agony, plus it showed the city to be a mjor home of thrash, also homing Nuclear Assault and Overkill. With this is mind, the recent beginning of what seems to be a rise of popularity for fellow NYC thrash act IKILLYA is something that's excited me. Having recently appeared in Kerrang!'s introducing section, their debut Recon has appeared on the page of the magazine causing a greater rise of interest to the band. Rightfully so. The album is pretty damn awesome.

 Recon shows that IKILLYA are a band who manage to combine the rapid and intense classic thrash stylings of Anthrax or Testament, with the more modern brutal pummeling techniques of Lamb of God, or Bury Your Dead. A LoG reference is effective in describing IKILLYA, listeners can often find Jason Lekberg's fierce bottom-of-lungs growling vocals comparable to those of Randy Blythe. We are treated on this album to an intense session of groove orientated heavy metal that is filled to the grisly brim with a furious and war-mongering energy. This tight and vibrant groove work from Dave Kerr gives tracks like Razorblades and Godsize a very-much fighting based attitude, making them the kind of of song that you will want to have playing as... you destroy things. It also makes Escape Plan pretty much definitive of a metal hook.
 So, if that's your kind style, you should be kept entertained througout the whole album. Hopefully you will, because there's not a lot of diversity to be found, sadly. Especially when the likes of Machine Head and Lamb of God bring such a passionate and fresh sense of dynamism and unique charm to all they play and these are the kind of groups who have been an obvious influence here. The lyrics amongst the album about... violence, war, killing and fun aren't exactly the most sophisticated lyrics I've ever heard and have the tendency to make Five Finger Death Punch look like Mastodon in terms of intelligence.
 Overall, Recon shows IKILLYA to have a real talent and have the real potential to become as respected a metal act as LoG has become over the past few years. But there will need to be some improvements along the way. This band needs more work in terms of better production, more creative lyrics and a little more creativeness. Once that is done, I may have a new favourite band on my hands.

IKILLYA's Recon is out now.

Review: Aiden - Some Kind of Hate

 These days in the world of rock music, the act of releasing two albums in same year is a rare thing and these days can be an act that is viewed on with heaps of cynicism. Maybe it's down to the witnessing of major pop artists having a yearly album released as a means to ensure the remain relevant and rich in the everchanging spectrum of what is popular, meaning that rock fans can be assured that a two to four year gap between their favourite bands releasing an album will ensure that their next release will have a lot of hard work and focus put into it. Sure things don't always work out that way but the fact that people will still come back to a band even after being away for so long shows a sense of everlasting devotion proving rock bands to be muh more timeless. It's why there's a lesser sense of nostalgia as you would find in pop music when radios play hit singles from 1998, asking people if they "remember this one?" It's because much rock music that has existed througout its rich history still tands as strong today as it ever has.

Anyway, now that I've lived by the name of this blog, lt's move on with the review, as Seattle horror punk quartet Aiden have released their sixth album Some Kind of Hate just seven months after the brilliant Disguises. On listening I can't really tell if it justifies my previous rambling or proves I wrong.
 I mean, Some Kind of Hate is by no means a bad album at all. This is an album that's clearly made with a fiery passion to be seen as something that is definitive of Aiden. The punk riffs in There Will Be Blood and Freedom From Religion come thick and fast and carry with them a characteristic sense of hopelessness and doom, even though the rapid hardcore sound is far from any kind of doom metal styling, which fits their horror influence effectively, plus the epicly hooky Deactivate carries a spirit of fun in it's bouncy strucure. It also features a spoken sample from Trainspotting, so it shows Aiden have a great understanding of things that are totally bleak. This gives Some Kind of Hate the obvious sign of strength that is clearly prominent.
 If there were any weaknesses in the album, it's probably in the two covers featured. It's not that they do badly with them. They just don't make them truly unique, so I can only really compare them to their originals, which are ultimately better. Their take on Misfits' London Dungeons is ferocious enough, but doesn't have the same chilling atmosphere that Glenn Danzig managed to create on the original. The cover of Joy Division's Transmission also feels weak in comparison to the original as well, plus frontman Wil Francis sound like he's trying to impersonate Ian Curtis at various points. It gets a little awkward at times.
 But on the whole, Some Kind of Hate is a pretty strong horror punk collection. If Disguises was just a collection for the more fun gory type of horror films, Some Kind of Hate is the collection of more gripping edge-of-your seat horror thrill inspired songs.

Aiden's Some Kind of Hate is out now via Victory Records.

Review: Insomnium - One for Sorrow

 Since 2002, Joensuu metaleers Insomnium have delivered a style of metal that is extreme and brutal beyonds words but remains rooted in utter bleakness and despair. It's always been able to create an intense atmosphere which triggers a reaction of pure awe and appreciation. On latest release One for Sorrow, a similar response is made from listeners, but to a greater level, because this album is truly awesome.

 One thing that makes this album so beautiful is the way that while a sense of bleakness is extremely prominent throughout the course of ten songs, created through Ville Friman and Ville Vänni's axe shredding which pretty much pummels listeners into oblivion, plus the morbid growling of Niilo Sevänen, which has the ability of dragging listeners dow into Hell, but within all this misery, One for Sorrow is far from being all doom and gloom. In fact the overall atmosphere this album makes is one that is very uplifting and heart warming, which possesses a spirit, which is not to dwell in the total bleakness but rather to rise above it and fight back.
 This feeling is present in such tracks as the overwhelmingly powerful Song of the Blackest Bird which hits listeners hard with a depressing feel but also builds up a sense of inner stength as chorus patterns and solo sections present the idea of this darkness being blasted away for new light. The fighting back spirit is also present in the much angrier Every Hour Wounds which packs an extreme engery that provides the kind of furious and strong state of mind that I've come to expect more from Lamb of God, rather than a band known for creating music intended for sadness.
 Now lyrics are never something that I dwell on too much, but in spite of the uplifting nature of the music, the lyrics are very much rooted in a sense of doom ("And gently Death will speak/ Softly Death will hum and whisper:/ 'Fly again my bird, fly again over the world'").
 One for Sorrow, if you listen for the music is actually an album that will lift one's spirit if it is listened to properly. It shows a real talent of melodic death metal, which carries a sense of class and beauty at the same time. So, musically this album could be used as something to listen to following a bad day. It will surely help you combat all the horror and sorrow of life.

Insomnium's One for Sorrow is out now via Century Media. The band will perform in the UK in November with Before the Dawn and Mygrain.

Review: Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto

 From the moment their mellow debut of simple and charming alternative rock songs Parachutes hit the store shelves back in 2000, Coldplay became huge. Finding themselves with massive of airplay and an ability to divide opinion that has never been seen before, Coldplay have used their mellowness to take the world by storm. It was in 2008 however following the release of their dynamic fourth effort Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends that the London based alt rock quintet became a household name and frontman Chris Martin officially found himself to be an icon among the popular music culture of todays society. The kind that is ruled by Top 40 charts and Radio 1. Basically the kind of musical culture I detest. So, now that they have released an album during the stage in which they reside in these dimly lit pop culture thrones, it's clear that being put in such a position has had a fairly large impact on the music they make.

 Not to criticise it fully in that sense. The album carries a sense of grace and unique charm that is unlikely to ever be found on most songs that dominate the charts. The synthesized backdrops on Hurts Like Heaven and Every Teardrop is a Waterfall carry an etheral and very pretty feel and carry an incredibly uplifting atmosphere and credit must be given to the collaborative compositional work from Brian Eno throughout the album. It's sophisticated tranquility that still carries an atmosphere of fun and energy is pretty top-notch.
 And though the extra uses of synthesizers and pop-inspired backdrops suggest listeners will find themselves on unfamiliar grounds, there's actually the odd moments that are reminiscent of various moments of Coldplay's back catologue. Us Against the World has the qualities of a somewhat happier version of A Rush of Blood To the Head and U.F.O has a clear reminiscence to the kind of material found on Parachutes.
 But as I say, the influence Coldplay has had on popular music and the image of how massive they have become is clearly identifiable in this album. It's a point that many cynics could dwell on in great depth. All the songs seem to be made with the intention of being non-controversial radio friendly songs or sound good for their massive stadium shows. There's enough "Woah-oh" moments in Paradise to keep the entire O2 Arena jumping. But, really there's no real problem with a song being radio friendly. It doesn't mean it can't still be charming and the remarkable synth work allows this to be achieved. Creating a pretty is the ultimate goal of Coldplay's music after all. They don't need to shock. Not every band has to be the Sex Pistols after all. And if it gets them radio play, I can only congratulate their success of making songs that gain them a large following.
 If there's any problem to be found in this album, it's that musically, the use of synthesizers and backdrops is so vital, it can be hard to truly appreciate the full band effort. If I had no knowledge about this album prior to hearing it and someone had told me it was a Chris Martin solo album, I doubt I would question their statement. With the exception of a fairly remarkable bassline in Major Minus from Guy Berryman, it's difficult to find any other members add something to the album that could be considered outstanding, and perhaps implies an element of limelight hogging from Martin.
 Overall, Mylo Xyloto sees Coldplay create an on-the-whole flawless set of synth rock songs that will hopefully introduce a greater sense of elegance and joy into what is a fairly soulless world of modern pop music, while generating an interest from lovers of alt rock. Plus it's probably the most mainstream sounding set of music released this year that I can get into.

 Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto is out now via Parlophone.The band will tour the UK in December.

Review: Lou Reed and Metallica - Lulu

 It's hard to think of an album that has had such a overwhelmingly negative build-up than Lulu, the collaborative effort between vintage, artful rock and roller Lou Reed and Bay Arena metal titans Metallica. Be it in the initial disgust spread online when the collaboration was first announced, the hostile reaction to The View and even an online poll that popped out of nowhere calling Lou Reed "rock's most overrated lyricist.", there has been a largely dark cloud spread over the hope of this album being approved by the masses. Listening to it, it's easy to understand why.

To quote Metal Hammer writer Dom Lawson back in June when the collaboration was first announced:
 "[a collaborative album] might be fucking brilliant. It might just be a bit weird and pretentious. It could even be a load of sloppily-played, third rate metal riffs accompanied by the sound of a miserable pensioner muttering about heroin and cancer."
 Lawson's third choice pretty much sums up Lulu. Reed's incoherent rambling using his frankly uncomfortable sounding vocals which are spoken but include the occasional melodic note, which usually make him sound like he's having a heart attack. This is clearly no longer the man who once astonished many with his rapid energy and glee heard in The Velvet Underground's Sister Ray.
 But of course, the idea of creating an uncomfortable and disgusting feel is intended, as Lulu is not to be viewed as a collaborative album, but instead a theatrical adaptation of Earth Spirit and Pandora's Box, "The Lulu Plays" which are the two best known pieces of work of German playwright Frank Wedekind about the tragic life of a young dancer Lulu, who rises through German Society following numerous affairs with some of it's wealthier members but eventually falls into prostitution and bleakness. The idea of the album is for us to picture this within the lyrics, if we're able to catch what Reed is saying. He does sound like a drunk old man after all. As this goes on we picture Reed as the narrator of the production, while Metallica provides the background music, with a sense of extra drama added whenever James Hetfield throws his more agressive vocals or Kirk Hammet adds a guitar solo into the mix. However, when I see a play, I expect to feel a sense of enlightenment and a sense of something learnt and a real emotional attatchement to it's characters after it has finished. I certainly don't expect to leave a play with a burning desire to cut my ears off with a hacksaw. I can get behind the idea of the album's premise to be viewed as a musical narration to a theatrical adaption. But if this album were a play that I were watching on a stage, the cast would all be drunk or hungover, stumbling over their lines and scaring the audience in a manner that is simply mean-spirited.
 As I say, this album could have been more enjoyable. However, the performance of Metallica is just so lacklusture and sloppy that it means listeners have no way of divering themselves away from Lou Reed's horrifying lyrics. And yes, diversion is required. Frustration and Little Dog will surely cause listeners to smash their heads off of a wall and scream "MAKE IT STOP!!!" But Metallica spend the whole time playing bleak and unsatisfying doomy thrash riffs which sound like a gathering off all the material that was rejected from 2008's Death Magnetic. It really sounds like they don't care at all which is probably a bad sign for the band's future considering the large amount of passion they've displayed towards the album in recent interviews.
  This album... is frankly a mistake. It is the worst thing I have heard from both acts and I say that with Metal Machine Music and St. Anger in mind. At least you can laugh at the former. This is also a large dissapointment as hearing the initial ideas for the album really excited me, and anyone who read ROARF could probably identify the exitement I felt when album details were announced and for this to be my payoff is simply horrendous. This just causes readers to feel bleak, depressed and probably suicidal in some cases. And the worst part is that this is the pure intention of the album. As an album that wants to present us with a theartical production that will shock, chill, depress and make people feel like they will lapse into an eternal sense of doom, Lulu manages to do just that. And I really wish it didn't exist.

Lou Reed and Metallica's Lulu will be released on the 31st of October via Vertigo Records.