After their 15 minutes of glory in 1996 with the hit song “Here In Your Bedroom”, the Los Angeles based quartet is back with a new album on a new label, Maverick Records. The new stuff is very strange and on the first listen, it really sounds like garbage, and you can see that John Feldman was quite influenced by his work with new acts as The Used, Good Charlotte and Story Of The Year. But after a couple of listen, you get to know that this 12 track disc is not bad at all, even tough it’s Goldfinger’s mediocrity at its best, and the one that is telling you this is a huge GF fan. I mean, the songs are weak, boring and a copy of the previous “Open Your Eyes”, but with maybe more ska hints. There is always Feldman’s positive attitude toward Veganism, which I totally support too, and “Behind The Mask” is clearly the best track here. Other good catchy pop punk tunes are “Stalker”, “Too Many Nights”, “I Want”, “Damaged” and “My Everything”, while songs like “Wasted”, “Oceansize” and “Walk Away” have good ideas but end up being boring. “Faith” is the classic rock ballad, as it was for tunes like “Margaret Ann” and “It’s Your Life”. In all, as a hardcore GF fan, I am happy I heard these new Goldfinger tunes and I love Feldmann’s lyrics, but I will not waste even 10 bucks to get my hands on the original copy.

This is a new quartet that does not play your average pop punk music: it is in fact a band that plays just for fun, with synth, rap singing and a lot of catchy hooks. Influenced from anything like Atom And His Package, Blink182, Weezer and Mc Lars, Hellogoodbye release an EP with six songs about having a blast: “Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn” opens the dances and it’s pure enjoyment as on tracks “Jesse Buy Nothing Go To Prom Anyways” and the final “Bonnie Taylor Shakedown 2k4″. The disc also has some more serious parts, as the six minute “Dear Jamie Sincerely Me”, which reminds me of Rivers Cuomo’s attitude a lot. Hellogoodbye is a fun band that has talent, and this songs are good, but overall, this EP is quite generic, as the band does not show too much personality through the songs.

Triple Crown is good at discovering new and talented bands. After Brand New, here comes Northstart, a new band that mix pop, hardcore, emo and rock all together to create a disc that is a little pearl in an ocean of mediocrity. The 11 song album in fact shows all of the band’s skills to write catchy, inspiring and harmonic melodies in every song and under any skin: “American Living” is a tune that has got fury, powerful guitar riffs and choruses all over, “Two Zero Zero” is an acoustic ballad made to be whispered, while songs like “To My Better Angel”, “For Members Only” and “Like A.M. Radio” are powerful pop anthems for the fans of Taking Back Sunday, Brand New and Jimmy Eat World who want to feel something new and good. Northstar is all about playing good music and “Pollyanna” is the disc that will make you turn into the right direction to hear some kick ass rock.

From San Diego, California, here comes The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower, a four rock’n'roll piece that is gonna get huge! These guys debut on Revelation with a LP filled with any sort of noise from punk to jazz-core for 24 minutes of revolutionary punk music. After sharing the stage with Q And Not U, The Locust and The Ex, The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower is ready to smash your stereo: the band plays straight in your face rock music with a punk attitude, which basically means that they put everything into their songs, from Johnny Cash’s rock to Refused’s screams, sounding like At The Drive-In playing Randy’s songs. “Love In The Fascist Brothel” is a disc made of socially aware content, politically active messages, clever lyrics and writing and non-conformal music.

The last relese from SHAI HULUD, “A Comprehensive Retrospective Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Release Bad And Useless Recordings”, is the blueprint to the band’s legacy. The disc is not really a b-side or a collection of outtakes, but it is a record compiled by Matt Fox where you can hear SHAI HULUD stuff that you never heard before. You can hear the earliest demo with the original singer Damien Moyal (As Friends Rust, Morning Again, Culture), warehouse recordings, a live session at NYU, and the four track demo where Chad Gilbert ( now in New Found Glory ) used to scream. This disc has got all of the rarities that any fan could ask for, without having to surf through eBay and paying a lot more.

Formed in 2001, This Day And Age is a new band that is going to become the next big thing, and this thanks to their album “…Always Leave The Ground”. The quartet, after touring with the likes of Mxpx, Taking Back Sunday and Midtown, theboys release a 13 song record that is the perfect soundtrack for all of the lovers of indie pop music. These songs are filled with catchy rhythms, melodic harmonies, emotionally active lyrics and energic anthems, made of hooky guitar riffs, piano driven tunes and a great attention for composition. The disc, produced by Ed Rose, is in the end a must have for die hard fans of The Format, The Get Up Kids, Mae and Motion City Soundtrack.

The Vagrant debut album from Emanuel is not the same disc that you may label as “already heard”: this young band is in fact making real loud music and I am really surprised from this debut album, which is so neat. I feared that this band was something like a From Autumn To Ashes clone, but “Soundtrack To A Headrush” really surprised my ears like a fist in the face. The disc starts with the heavy and fast “The Hey Man!” which is a rock’n'roll anthem for all the rock’n'roll lovers, and it goes on with such heavy tunes as “Make Tonight”, “Buy American Machines” and “Xerocide”, even tough this disc has got just 10 tunes for 33 minutes. I am not sure if Emanuel will get a strong response from the kids, but after I heard this disc, I am truly happy that Vagrant released this good album.

The new compilation on The Militia Group is what I like to call “a kick ass album”. In fact, this tribute to THE POLICE is basically amazing. First off, it’s a tribute album to a great band that inspired so many other bands that came after them ( and if you’re kids, just know what you gotta know: THE POLICE discovered punk before a lot of other so-called punk bands); then, this compilation is packaged with so many great bands playing great Police songs, and if that is not enough, the songs are all fantastic. The disc is opened by Brandtson, covering in a superb way “King Of Pain”: great guitar riffs, melodic hooks and super catchy vocals. Then it’s time for Fall Out Boy’s pop punk version of “Roxanne”, which is super catchy and good. Motion City Soundtrack do their job covering “Truth Hits Everybody”, with their love for indie rock and synth, and their love for pop harmonies. It’s not the same for No Motiv, who play “Synchronicity II” in a real rock’n'roll way: old school, that’s the way I like it. Limbeck seems to be turned out an all acoustic band, with their cover of “So Lonely”: they do well, but THE POLICE original version was better. Big Collapse is totally unique in the rnr world of today, and they show it on “Next To You”: it’s different, it’s raw, it’s heavy. Maxeen go totally original with “Murder By Numbers” and the cover dispalys all of the skills of this trio: amazing musicians. The Pale do cover “Walking On The Moon”, and it’s an average piano driven song, even tough I must say that the vocals are so neat. I also like Underoath, even tough the screamed version of “Wrapped Around Your Finger” might be appreciated more by the band’s fans rather than THE POLICE older fans like me. The disc ends with three of the most promising bands of today: Anadivine, who do work well on “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”; Watashi Wa, who play maybe the song I like the most, “Message In A Bottle” and I am too sorry this band just called it quit, if I don’t go wrong; and then the disc is closed by Copeland, whose version of “Every Breath You Take” is the most original and innovative for this tune: I always heard covers of this songs that were no different from the original POLICE version, while Copeland did a good job, with a piano driven song, clear vocals and perfect harmony. I think that the best tunes comes from Brandtson, Copeland and Watashi Wa, but all of the 12 songs are worth and this one is possibly the best tribute album I ever heard, maybe with a little more band it could also be better. Anyhow, I simply agree with what Chad from TMG says in the booklet: it’s time to discover THE POLICE if you never heard of this band, because these three guys basically played amazing songs, and while you are at it, also pick up “Every Breath You Take - The Classics”.

The Loved Ones debut with an EP featuring five tunes that are so inspiring and so good that I got my head shaking against the wall when I first heard them. Imagine me: in my living room, with the stereo so fucking loud that I was dancing and my neighborhood that got frightened as soon as “100K” got started. The band is a three piece made of Dave House on vocals and guitar, Micheal Cotterman on bass and Micheal Sneeringer on drums, all folks who had their punk rock career started in bands like KID DYNAMITE, THE CURSE, TRIAL BY FIRE and PAINT IT BLACK, where Hause also played. This new band is the perfect sum between the street punk rock of The Explosion and the Emo Core of Lifetime: in one word, it’s the bomb! Seriously. The Loved Ones play fast, pissed off, emotionally active songs like “100K”, “Chicken” and “Drastic” are a perfect and unique mix of melody, fast riffs, raw guitars, precise drummings and great songwriting, with a social-aware eye. The production, due to Brian McTernan is so neat that I would not wonder to find this band on the road with Thrice or some other major trendy band. The Loved Ones say they owe as much to Bruce Springsteen as Dillinger Four, but I guess The Loved Ones are totally innovative in their own genre, and I can’t wait to heard their debut full lenght. Really, please guys, if you’re reading this, drop by your tour and close yourself in some studio to record a LP, I am really anxious, anxious, anxious.

A Moments Loss is a band with loads of potential out of Reno, Nevada. Formed in 1999, they as a group have come a long way to put out 2004’s The Forgetting, their second release—having waded through numerous line up and sound changes as well as “disastrous” tours. Inspired by “boredom, pop punk, and local metal/hardcore heroes”, AML have honed a sound which mixes both intense screaming with harmony. While there is no surprise there with the amount of up and coming bands who try to perfect that sound today, what AML has going for them is that they don’t sound like a rehashed Thrice.
The album starts out with a two-track epic titled “Red/Handed”. Track 01, essentially “Red”, is a lengthy instrumental lead in to “Handed” and serves as a good introduction to just how talented A Moments Loss is. The vocals kick in on “Handed”, combined with excellent drumming and guitar work throughout. Part of what I like so much about AML on The Forgetting is their ability to write memorable parts as well as memorable songs, making them feel epic and larger than life without the songs feeling like the songs are just dragging on. I especially think of “Mere Death”, which caught me by surprise at being 7 minutes long. This may get old for some however, as nearly every song either breaks or comes close to breaking the 5 minute mark.
All in all, A Moments Loss has the potential to become a great metal-core band and The Forgetting is a step in the right direction. It’s recommended for those who don’t mind 5 minute long epics or the fact that it sounds like it was recorded in someone’s bathroom. My only beef with this group is that the lyrics are shaky at best—in Red Handed, the phrase, “Where’s the money, Lebowski?” is screamed to within an inch of its life. But either way, get your spot on the AML bandwagon now, it may start to fill up real soon.