Thoughts on Pop-Punk.

I am currently listening to the new debut album by pop-punkers Neck Deep and it's got me thinking about the micro-genre... 

For as much as I love some of it, I can't help but think the scene is stuck in the past. Pop-punk can't get over the skating burst of the 90s and the teen movie blast of the 00s. It's virtually had no musical advancement since Blink-182 released their self-titled effort in 2003 except from a handful of bands. And to be totally honest, I think it's one of the most elitist scenes out there. Admittedly, I grew up on bands like Blink-182 and Sum 41 and I still love them, however I believe they were just gateway artists into things more complex and mature. But does this lack of innovation give pop-punk its distinctive and dividing character? Or is the community just too adamant to look back in nostalgia and too 'hipster' to care?

Album Review - The Persecuting Society EP by Human Cull

The concept of grindcore is to play really hard really fast. And to counteract the traditional short song lengths, many bands in the scene just add more tracks to the album. This is gladly received, however releasing a 6-track grind EP seems utterly pointless, especially given that half of the tracks don't even reach a minute long with all of them being under two minutes.

Not only that, but the music itself is amazingly average. By all means not bad but never reaching anything merely interesting. However, there is one track, Will to Submission, which acts as the stand-out but ironically is the least grindcore of the lot, touching on a slower doom/sludge approach. 

With the music being entirely irrelevant and it's sheer length, or 'short-th' so to speak, Human Cull have won the award for Most Pointless Release of the Year So Far.     5/10

Album Review - Instincts by Sight Of Emptiness

As a morally and politically aware person, and in some cases an activist, it is refreshing to hear music that preaches the things I truly believe in. And in this particular case, as a bonus, the music itself is almost flawless. The Costa Rican melodic death metal sextet, Sight Of Emptiness, follow up their 2011 debut, Absolution of Humanity, with an utterly beautiful sophomore album representing what it really means to be a band, a group of musicians and a group of artists.

Instincts is their second outing of pummelling, and now perfected, genre-binding heavy metal. It sees the band becoming more aware of the world around them, telling of the danger mankind poses to nature. It's not every day you see a band labelled as a sub-genre of 'death' metal and juxtaposing their beliefs. A probably unintended thing to do, but nevertheless works perfectly well.

At times proggy in depth, but mostly crushing all round, Sight Of Emptiness combine influences drawn in from as wide a range as Soilwork to Meshuggah to Killswitch Engage to Rammstein. Also including flashes of poppy synths and piano, reminiscent but not to the huge scale of Crossfaith, too. Primitive percussion is used to portray the 'instincts' and natural state of the music at selected moments, which could also be a reference to Sepultura. They can sway back and forth from grooving, chuggy riffs to intricate and uplifting leads seamlessly, incorporating breakdowns and howling screams as points of anger and distaste at our very own species. The melodic choruses are sung by a variety of featured vocalists from a variety of bands. And while most 'true' heavy metal fans would claim that using guests on songs is a tad cringey and mainstream, Sight Of Emptiness are simply showcasing that allowing outsiders to be featured on the album is a way of connecting to people in more ways than just writing the music and lyrics. Oh, and the Costa Rican Minister of Culture is also featured on one of the songs if that isn't enough proof for you!

With great production yet remaining primal, Sight Of Emptiness prove they're awesomely talented musicians that deserve a shit-load more of recognition. Instincts can cater for all of you if you allow it to. Don't just listen to the music though, read their lyrics and allow yourself to see truth. Captivating.

9.5/10

Top Albums of 2013

2013 has been another great year in the world of heavy metal and rock music. Here's a list of albums that I find noteworthy. Granted, there are a few bizarre and surprising choices but that's the whole point in doing these isn't it?

Artist - Album Title

Acranius - When Mutation Becomes Homicidal

After The Burial - Wolves Within

All Pigs Must Die - Nothing Violates This Nature

Altar of Plagues - Teeth, Glory & Injury

Amon Amarth - Deceiver of the Gods

Amorphis - Circle

Antigama - Meteor

Arcane Roots - Blood & Chemistry

August Burns Red - Rescue & Restore

The Black Dahlia Murder - Everblack

Bleed From Within - Uprising

Born of Osiris - Tomorrow We Die Alive

Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal (No. 1 Album)

Brotherhood of the Lake - Desperation is the English Way, Vol. 2

Carcass - Surgical Steel

The Catharsis - Romance

Chimaira - Crown of Phantoms

Circles - Infinitas

Clutch - Earth Rocker (No. 2 Album)

Coheed and Cambria - The Afterman: Descension

Counterparts - The Difference Between Hell and Home

Dance Gavin Dance - Acceptance Speech

A Day To Remember - Common Courtesy

Dead Letter Circus - The Catalyst Fire

Deafheaven - Sunbather (No. 4 Album)

Deicide - In The Minds of Evil

The Devil Wears Prada - 8:18

The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer (No. 3 Album)

Dinosaur Pile-Up - Nature Nurture

Disfiguring The Goddess - Black Earth Child / Deprive (Double Album)

Dream Theater - Dream Theater

Erra - Augment

Evergreen Terrace - Dead Horses

Exivious - Liminal

False Tongues - In Which We Speak EP

Filter - The Sun Comes Out Tonight

Fit For An Autopsy - Hellbound

Fleshgod Apocalypse - Labyrinth

Ghost B.C. - Infestissumam

Glass Cloud - Perfect War Forever EP

God is an Astronaut - Origins

Gorguts - Coloured Sands

Hacride - Back To Where You've Never Been

Hatebreed - The Divinity of Purpose

Heart of a Coward - Severance (No. 5 Album)

Heights - Old Lies For Young Lives

Howl - Bloodlines

I Killed Everyone - Necrospire

Ihsahn - Das Seelenbrechen

Immolation - Kingdom of Conspiracy

Impending Doom - Death Will Reign

In Vain - Aenigma

Inquisition - Obscure Verses for the Multiverse

iwrestledabearonce - Late For Nothing

Jamie Lenman - Muscle Memory

Kanye West - Yeezus

Killswitch Engage - Disarm the Descent

Korn - The Paradigm Shift

Kvelertak - Meir

letlive. - The Blackest Beautiful

Liferuiner - Future Revisionists

Lord Dying - Summon the Faithless

Ludovico Einaudi - In a Time Lapse

Malevolence - Reign of Suffering

Mammoth Grinder - Underworlds

Ministry - From Beer to Eternity

Misery Signals - Absent Light

Nails - Abandon All Life

Norma Jean - Wrongdoers

Northlane - Singularity

Oathbreaker - Eros Anteros

The Ocean - Pelagial

Pelican - Forever Becoming

Pestilence - Obsideo

Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals - Walk Through Exits Only

Plastic Mind Frequencies - Plastic Mind Frequencies

Pomegranate Tiger - Entities

Protest the Hero - Volition

Red - Release the Panic

The Resistance - Scars

Revocation - Revocation

Rotting Out - The Wrong Way

Russian Circles - Memorial

The Safety Fire - Mouth of Swords

Satyricon - Satyricon

Scale the Summit - The Migration

Seasick Steve - Hubcap Music

Seeker - Unloved

Sepultura - The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart

Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed

Sodom - Epitome of Torture

Stone Sour - House of Gold & Bones, Part 2

The Story So Far - What You Don't See

Sub Focus - Torus

Suffocation - Pinnacle of Bedlam

Svart Crown - Profane

TesseracT - Altered State

This Is Hell - The Enforcer EP

Thy Art Is Murder - Hate

Touche Amore - Is Survived By

Toxic Holocaust - Chemistry of Consciousness

Ulcerate - Vermis

Uneven Structure - 8 (Reissue)

Vanna - The Few and Far Between

Vastum - Patricidal Lust

vildhjarta - Thousands of Evils

Voivod - Target Earth

Watain - The Wild Hunt

Within the Ruins - Elite

The Wonder Years - The Greatest Generation

Wormed - Exodromos

Wounds - Die Young


It's a very extensive list, but if you've made it this far I salute you! (And that's with forgetting a few) Hope you enjoyed, thanks.

Album Review - Common Courtesy by A Day To Remember

A Day To Remember are one of the more notoriously marmite-like bands on the current metal scene, you either love them or you hate them. They're also a tad schizophrenic leaping from pop-punk ballads to meaty metalcore barrages. But take away the ever so slight poser-boy image of the band and you have one of the hardest working groups today. Much like Bring Me The Horizon, they aren't taken anywhere near seriously enough and after their new release, Common Courtesy, recognition is more than deserved.

The hailing Florida post-harcore quintet have surprised many across the globe with their latest outing. From the largely adored Homesick and anthemic What Separates Me From You, where could they possibly go? Common Courtesy sees ADTR maturing, taking their musical experience and making it an expertise. The tightness of musicianship and flow of the album is just too incredible to ignore. City of Ocala seamlessly gliding through into Right Back At It Again is one of the best transitions to be heard on a record, not to mention the tracks are absolute bangers too.

Jeremy McKinnon's vocals, as usual, are perfect. From dirty wolf-like howls to soft harmonies he is vastly overlooked as a leading vocalist in the metal community. His lyrics are deep, personal and rhythmic. And more often than not, despite the instrumentals of the songs being very well executed, you'll find it's his voice that carries the melody. A true representation of what it means to sing.

Although labelled as being a post-hardcore group, A Day To Remember are just as genre-binding as say Enter Shikari. They do heavy well. They do pop-punk well. Even their intricate and sweet acoustic tracks alone are enough to make you well up. And yet, underneath all that overwhelming music, the production levels are spot on. With short spells of the band sharing jokes and smiles, even a dog barking in the studio, makes the whole experience filled with intimacy and surety that this band will not go lightly. They are the best of friends and you feel a part of that.

A Day To Remember are hugely under-rated despite being so big (massively due to screaming 15 year old scene girls). But don't that let put you off, and allow yourself to be open-minded to the genre-hopping. Common Courtesy is their best material thus far. A gathering of their perfected sound, maturation and intimacy. Engross yourself. They cater all moods. Brilliant.   9/10


Check Out: Right Back At It Again

Album Review - Sempiternal by Bring Me The Horizon

At the root of almost everything there is an opinion. Opinions are good, but let's throw them out the window at this moment in time. Bring Me The Horizon are definitely not to everyone's tastes, but being coined as 'not metal' is absurd. Whether or not a band just has flourishes of metal elements or they play purely metal songs, the fact of the matter is it's metal. The Sheffield greats come out to play with our opinions once again on their fourth outing, Sempiternal. Showing an array of several different experimentations the metalcore quintet prove that maturity, having fun and simply doing as they wish makes a perfect combination on creating their best album to date.

Having Jordan Fish join the band as keyboardist in place of now ex-guitarist, Jona Weinhofen, one should have anticipated a difference in their new sound. And one may also have expected that a synth player could make things worse giving that bands like Asking Alexandria enjoy being chaotic, and frankly, terrible on the keyboards. But in actual fact, Fish's contribution adds an extra depth and balance to BMTH's brand of metalcore. It's not cheesy and it's not over used. The synths create ambient textures drawing you in closely, making it all sound massive yet slightly claustrophobic at the same time. The catchiest you'll hear the synths are on opening track Can You Feel My Heart, but even then it works.

Despite losing Jona, an obviously great metalcore guitarist, Lee Malia doesn't seem to show signs of burning out or needing support. In fact, he proves just how great a songwriter he is by messing around with several tunings and types of riffs, his guitar sound on Sempiternal is another leap forward since There Is A Hell.. in 2010. It seems as though Lee has been allowed to write freely without much dictation resulting in epic tunes such as the punchy The House Of Wolves, groovy single Shadow Moses and even the slightly Hatebreed-esque Antivist which even shows off a short solo somewhat reminiscent of what a lot of deathcore bands do but can't do very well.

Another hugely under-rated member of the band is vocalist, Oli Sykes. In recent years Oli has suffered some difficulty with his vocals especially on the recordings for There Is A Hell.. which only took him three days to record his entire vocals. However, after some rest and quite obvious practise he his back and his voice is the best it's ever sounded. His screams and shouts are now pronounced with clarity and defiance, and believe it or not, but he can even sing. Who'd have guessed that after the bands abysmal debut effort, Count Your Blessings? He may come across as arrogant, but his lyrics suggest he certainly does have a heart, and a very warm, caring and strong heart that is. Oli's voice is flawless throughout, but he really comes into his own on tracks such as Sleepwalking, Shadow Moses and And The Snakes Start To Sing. One of the best vocalists in recent and upcoming metal history? Without a doubt.

Let's not forget that Matt Kean (bassist) and Matt Nicholls (drummer) have also wrote a large part of this album, showing that the band as a whole are incredibly gifted yet remain hugely misunderstood and under-rated. If you haven't given Sempiternal a chance yet, then do so now. It's a real testament to a band that against all odds have proven themselves worthy as great songwriters. Whether in reference to the ongoing divide of opinion, or that they and their fans believe that their music is everlasting, Sempiternal does exactly what it says on the tin.   9/10

Album Review - Earth Rocker by Clutch

With a career spanning around 20 years, US riff-lords, Clutch, just go from strength to strength. And it looks like Earth Rocker could be their strongest outing yet..

Clutch have always made it seem easy to spew out some Southern rock riffage and have never had bad material. But despite 2009's Strange Cousins From the West slightly lowering the tone Clutch have come back in 2013 with one of the best rock albums ever recorded. The title-track starts our journey through a subtle introduction only to be followed by a bouncing wall of sound. Neil Fallon's vocals teasing, weaving and mischieving bringing you an immensely grand chorus - 'I'm an Earth Rocker, everybody get the message?' - and it sounds as though his and the bands' intent is true. And the anthems don't stop there, tracks such as Mr Freedom and Unto The Breach throw massive riffs at you with a good splashing of Southern twang. Tim Sult's guitar playing, despite being less metal and more rock, even gives Zakk Wylde a run for his money. D.C. Sound Attack! is the epitome of what American rock should sound like - infectious riffs, punchy yet catchy vocals and a healthy helping of harmonica. Possibly sounding what the guys from Deliverance would sound like if given some intelligence and amps! A mellow halfway break is given through Gone Cold and though giving a change of direction and theme, it only readies you for the second pummelling of the album.. The journey doesn't last long enough and before you know it The Wolf Man Kindly Requests leaves you hanging on the edge of your seat for more. It's a sudden and crashing end but to only hint at more to come.

Earth Rocker is a fantastic album on record, but it's quite obvious to say that it's going to sound even better live. Clutch have sped up and now placed themselves comfortably in fifth gear - buckle up!

9/10


Check Out: D.C. Sound Attack!