“Keep It Going” is the fifth studio album by The Mad Caddies, the ska core punk band from California that became famous thanks to such albums as “Quality Soft Core” and “Duck And Cover”. I remember when I first discovered those two records: they were huge, and I spent summer days listening to those songs. After some line up changes and personal tragedies, the band released albums that were cool, but not as good as the first two, as “Rock The Plank”.
Luckily, now they are back with “Keep It Going”, which I consider their best effort ever. The album, produced by Wayne Jobson (No Doubt, Gregory Isaacs, Toots & The Maytals) is a musical journey from the lively Jamaican dancehalls to the punk rock clubs of America. But more focused on the ska and reggae side than on the punk one.
As you hear tunes as “State Of Mind” and “Backyard”, as well as on the sloer “Reflections” and “Coyote”, you can hear how the Mad Caddies are still able to play kick ass, energic, powerful and furious punk rock as well as very rhythmic, danceable and melodic ska, with a mix of various sub genres like reggae, dixieland, country and pop. But who needs labels anyway ? “Keep It Going” is a fourteen track album that never disappoints.
Tracklist 1. The Dirge 2. Backyard 3. State of Mind (MP3) 4. Today 5. Without You 6. Reflections 7. Lay Your Head Down 8. Tired Bones (MP3) 9. Coyote 10. Don’t Go 11. Pyramid Scheme 12. Souls for Sale 13. Riding for a Fall 14. Whatcha Gonna Do
Los Felize is the newest release by Chuck Ragan of Hot water music fame.Los Feliz is a live performance acoustic guitar set recorder February 19th in Los Feliz California.
This album is a strong and compassionate release with a very strong presence in the live performance with every song sticking out lyrically with many new songs, but also includes some Hot water music covers, and some un-released hot water music songs.
Chuck Ragan continues to be an outstanding musician.If you are a fan of Hot water music, and enjoy acoustic guitar then you will really enjoy this album.The recording is great quality with many songs hardly sounding like they were recorded live.
After leaving major label Atlantic, on which they released “You Come Before You”, Poison The Well are releasing their brand new album. Recorded in Sweden with producers Pelle Henricsson and Eskil Lovstro - the masterminds responsible for Refused’s “The Shape Of Punk To Come” , “Versions” is a collection of post hardcore music fused with the melodic hardcore roots of the band.
Poison The Well never stops to show how they want to keep on developing the new sounds, and never stop to make you wonder. “Versions” is a record that cannot be labelled as hardcore or metal, because it is such an unique thing that you could not dare to put a label on it. The new songs sound more complex and diverse, with an intense attention for the production and the details, and it looks like Poison The Well wanted to take their time to make these tunes perfect: such songs as “Breathing’s For The Birds” and “The Notches That Create Your Headboard” not only sound so compact and dynamic like no other Poison The Well’s songs, but they also have that special rip that will make you fall in love for the extreme sound, which is loud, furious and melodic at the same time.
The album, which is made of twelve pure anthems, comes out with as a creative, artistic and original masterpiece of heavy music, where the most heavy side of the band comes in touch with the deeper one: the result is “Versions”, which is the most anticipated album of 2007 to me, and Poison The Well do not disappoint, since: this record is incredibly huge.
Tracklist 1. Letter Thing 2. Breathing’s For The Birds 3. Nagaina 4. The Notches That Create Your Headboard 5. Pleading Post 6. Slow Good Morning 7. Prematurito El Baby 8. Composer Meet Corpse 9. You Will Not Be Welcomed 10. Naive Monarch 11. Riverside 12. The First Day Of My Second Life
After a self titled debut album on Mono Vs Stereo, Maylene And The Sons Of Disasters are back with a more complex, intense and unique concept album, where the band expunds on the true tales of 1920’s gangster Ma Barker and her prohibition era. The band plays the role of six assassins united as heavy music’s new “Public Enemy Number 1″, to fight against the four sons of Ma Baker, who had purged a path of infamy throughout the South.
Featuring Dallas Taylor (ex lead singer of UnderOath), Maylene And The Sons Of Disasters play furious metallic music, running wild with a monolithic three guitar assault ad a metronomic rhythm section: the songs are not simply heavy, but fuse the rock and roll with the extreme power of hardcore, creating something new, songs like “Memories Of The Grove”, “Raised By The Tide” and “Everyone Needs A Hasting”, where the fury and the glory come all together.
The sound of Mayleve And The Sons Of Disasters is a very intense mix of metal and hardcore, where there is no space for “already heard” music or riffs: if I had to pick the biggest surprise of 2007 so far, I’d pick Maylene And The Sons Of Disasters.
Tracklist 1. Memories Of The Grove 2. Dry The River 3. Plenty Strong And Plenty Wrong 4. Darkest Of Kin 5. Raised By The Tide 6. Wylie 7. Death Is An Alcoholic 8. Everyone Needs A Hasting 9. Don’t Ever Cross A Trowel 10. Tale Of The Runaways 11. The Day Hell Broke Loose At Sicard Hollow
Lovehatehero is a very young rock band and they are back with their sophomore album on Ferret. Differently from their previous album, which was a mix of pop and screamo, the new record “White Lies” is more focused on originality. The album is in fact a good cross between the pop sensibility and the emo metal side, and the result is the creation of a very dynamic, catchy and heavy at the same time music.
The disc has got songs like “I’ll Make It To Brigades” and “Red Dress”, where you can hear how the fast rhythms come together with melodies and metallic guitar riffs
“White Lies” is a great collection of heavy, melodic and original tunes, that will not leave fans of pop hardcore music disappointed.
Tracklist 1. Goodbye My Love 2. I’ll Make it to Brigades 3. Red Dress 4. You Got Served 5. Amity 6. Of Sound and Fury 7. Running with Scissors 8. Move On 9. To the End 10. Hollywoodemia 11. White Lies 12. She Puts the Ho in Homewrecker
The Chariot is the band formed by Scott Scogin, ex lead singer of metal band Norma Jean, and if possible, his new band is even more extreme. With “The Fianceè”, The Chariot deliver their third release, after a debut LP and an EP, and this new album is a complex concept album about love, loss and rebirth.
The record has got a very intense sound, made of metallic guitars fused with screaming vocals and hard sounds: the basslines are stronger than on the other releases, and so are the drums. The rhythms are always so intense, but sometimes the silence takes its place, and in these slow moments, you can hear The Chariot experimenting new ideas of noisy and unique melodies.
“The Fianceè” is a very intense, extreme and experimental album, where you will be able to hear heavy metal as well as pop melodies. (Ps: the artwork for this album, done by Invisible Creature, is absolutely amazing.)
After a couple of releases on independent record label Indianola Records, Life In Your Way singed to Solid State last year, and “Waking Giants” is their debut album on the new label. The band, which fuses a nice mix of hardcore punk music and metal, changed a little bit its sound, making it more polished, clear, and less raw than in the past.
“Waking Giants” delivers twelve songs of inspired music, where the hardcore roots of the band are fused with more the more modern sound of emo, as a fushion of very fast guitar riffs, with screaming vocals and more melodic melodies, as on the anthemic punk song “We Don’t Believe”. The record, which is a very fast, without a moments of stop, and never ending melodies, is really great because you never get bored, as songs pass, you always want to hear me.
The album is a kind of extreme mix between pop melodies and hardcore punk sound, with a special attention for harmonic vocals, choruses and catchy guitar riffs: if you like bands as Comeback Kid and Set Your Goals, but more intense and unique, check out Life In Your Way now.
The third full length album on Solid State by modern emo rockers Haste The Day is a record where you will be able to hear how a band can change, reinventing itself and developing a new sound, keeping their roots intact: with a view on the past but looking to the future, Haste The Day has been able to reinvent their sound, from a metallic hardcore to a more melodic influenced music.
“Pressure The Hinges”, which features the brand new singer Stephen Keech who took the place of Jimmy Ryan (who recorded the first two albums), is filled with a lot of melodies, made of a mix of harmonic vocals and choruses that alternate themselves with screams and raw sounds. The guitars sound really clean on the most tracks, making this sound almost like a pop album, but when the distorions come out louder, you can really hear the noise of their post hardcore influences.
The production of GGaarth (of Rage Against The Machine, Voodoo Glow Skulls fame) stresses the perfection of the sounds even more, especially on tracks like “The Minor Prophets” and “Eye Of The Needle“, where the guitars and bass lines get more raw yet clear.
Oh no not stereos self title release is a very well done album with amazing show of musical ability.Many of the songs swing between very melodic vocals with dazzling display of guitar playing ability to very fast and sometimes harsh (sounding) vocals.
Their style of music is very clean with the vocals being very intelligent but not harsh at all.If you like bands like MXPX, pennywise or bouncing souls then you will really dig oh no not stereo.I can’t compare any previous experience to their last album but this album should be really enjoyable if you enjoy this style of rock and roll.
Oh no not stereo has been around since 2003. The band consists of only 2 members; Sky Nielsen and Myk Agee.This is their 2nd release following their previous independently released album in 2005
Check out Oh no not stereo at warp tour this year (2007) or check their website for other tour dates this year.
Holly crap is this poppy!Yes it is very poppy, with every song something you can sing along with.Their previous album “Crush * boyfriend * heartbreak” which was also a very enjoyable album has nothing on Heartsickle.Girls singing about heartbreak and boys, you have to enjoy that.Everything is a sing along.
The only downside to this album is every song is about heartbreak/love/relationships etc.Which is really sad because so many of these songs are great, but the subject matter is all the same.
This album is really worth checking out, and would be a blast seeing live.
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