After the masterpiece/almost rock opera album “…Is A Real Boy” on Doghouse Records (then re-issued as “…Was A Real Boy” by J Records), Say Anything is back with their sophomore studio album. It’s been some years since the band released the previous album, and due to Max Bemis’ health problem, the band took some time to write and record the new songs, with a never ending live activity on tour that took Say Anything on tour with anyone that matters in the world, and this shows in the guest vocals on the new record (that I won’t mention, because this is a Say Anything record).

The new album is intended to be a rock opera, and in fact it’s a double disc with 27 new tunes, where Bemis sings about love disasters, all through sex metaphors, straight in your face “fuck you’s” and religious references. I had a hard time listening to the new songs, because I was so addicted to the older anthems “Spidersong” and “Every Man Has A Molly” that for me it’s been hard to lend my ear to the new stuff, but really, it works.

The first CD is filled with more poppy songs, and more electronic clashes, as  the single “Baby Girl, I’m A Blur” or the song “Shiksa (Girlfriend)”, with their electric beats and catchy choruses. But the real sweetness comes out on tracks like “No Soul” (one of the best songs of the record) and “The Church Channel”, where Max sings about his past few years. “Retarded In Love” and “Died A Jew” are my personal favorite tracks, because of the lyrics and the fact that they sings about sick stories.

The second CD might be called as the “hardest part”: it is filled with anthems, punk rock songs, and less melody. “We Killed It” sounds like a demo, with its 1.53 minutes of pure madness and genius at the same time, while “Have At Thee!” is the rock and roll song. “Spores” kills me every time I heard it, while “The Word You Wield” and “Vexed” are awesome in their simplicity. “Hangover Song” is the best minute of music you can hear for 0.99 bucks.

It’s really hard to label this record with a few words, but I must say “In Defense Of The Genre” is the most intense trip I did this year. Without drugs.

Tracklist

Disc One:
1. Skinny, Mean Man
2. No Soul
3. That is Why
4. Surgically Removing the Tracking Device
5.This is Fucking Ecstasy
6. The Church Channel
7. Shiksa (Girlfriend)
8. Baby Girl, I’m a Blur
9. Retarded in Love
10. People Like You are Why People Like Me Exist
11. Died a Jew
12. An Insult to the Dead
13. Sorry, Dudes, My Bad

Disc Two:
1. Spay Me
2. In Defense of the Genre
3. The Truth is, You Should Lie with Me
4. The Words You Wield
5. Vexed
6. About Falling
7. You’re the Wanker if Anyone Is
8. Spores
9. We Killed It
10. Have at Thee!
11. Hangover Song
12. Goodbye Young Tutor, You’ve Now Outgrown Me
13. I Used to Have a Heart
14. Plea


Listen to new songs here.
Purchase “In Defense Of The Genre” here.

After the amazing “Trainwreck”, Boys Night Out is back with the brand new, self titled, album. The Canadian boys develop a new style in their music, with a more pop edge sound and a less aggressive attitude, with more pop hooks and less screams. The result is a sick album where you have the pop melodies and the melodic rock and roll guitar hooks.

“Boys Night Out” has got twelve tracks of powerful pop punk, with the five guys developing new rhythms, to create new harmonies and trying to play more than just a Fall Out Boy ripoff. And they also can make it on such tunes as “Get Your Head Straight” and “Let Me Be Your Swearword”, which sound fresh, new and original.

I personally loved “Trainwreck”, but this new record has been quite a disappointment for me. Not for the songs - there are some great pop punk tunes here - but for the general mood: too many fillers and I skip a lot of tracks when I listen to this.

Tracklist
1. Get Your Head Straight
2. Swift And Unforgiving
3. The Push And Pull
4. Up With Me
5. Heirs Of Error
6. Let Me Be Your Swearword
7. Hey, Thanks
8. Fall For The Drinker
9. Apartment 4
10. Reason Ain’t Our Long Suit
11. It Won’t Be Long

Purchase “Boys Night Out” here.

Every Time I Die’s new effort is the most intense, crazy and unbelieavable album I heard in a long time. It’s a crazy mix of hardcore and punk played in rock and roll songs, with a straight fuck you attitude.

“The Big Dirty” is quite different from the band’s previous works, where the hardcore rhythms dominated; on this new effort, it’s the rock and roll crazyness to take advantage of the other faces of the band, and it’s incredible the way Every Time I Die can play such anthems as “We’re Wolf” and “Rendez-Voodoo”.

The record is very good if you love to experience new music and destroy the borders between what’s melodic and what is noise.

Tracklist
1. No Son Of Mine     
2. Pigs Is Pigs
3. Leatherneck
4. We’re Wolf    
5. Rebel Without Applause
6. Cities And Years
7. Rendez-Voodoo
8. A Gentlemans Sport
9. Inrihab
10. Depressionista
11. Buffalo Gals
12. Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Battery

Purchase “The Big Dirty” here.

After “Hunter”, A Life Once Lost are back with their brand new disc. “Iron Gag” is a record where the band starts to play even - if possible - a more intense kind of hardcore music.

It’s not really melodic or harmonic music, put those words away from “Iron Gag”: the new album shows how the band can displays a lot of angry metal music. Someone would label this metal-core, but to me it’s just metal.

The record does not have any ups and downs, and it passes away very fast, with its very fast guitar riffs, metallic chords and screaming raw vocals.

If you liked the previous works by A Life Once Lost, you’ll enjoy this one too.

Tracklist
1. Firewater Joyride
2. Detest
3. The Wanderer
4. Worship
5. All Teeth
6. Meth Mouth
7. Masks
8. Pigeonholed
9. Others Die
10. Silence
11. Ill Will

Purchase “Iron Gag” here.