www.vagrant.com

http://www.myspace.com/thebled

This is the third release by the Bled.  The Tucson, AZ band recorded “Silent Treatment” in Baltimore, MA  with the help of Brian McTernan.

Silent Treatment is a aggressive, and sometimes intense album that supersedes the pervious releases by The Bled.  The songs titles flocculate between heavy and aggressive songs to a few more melodic heartfelt songs. The heavy songs are the ones that really caught my ear like “Platonic Sleepover Massacre” which was one of my favorites on the album.

The band has a really interesting sound, with many hardcore underling sounds and I would guess influences.  I don’t know if I would call The Bled hardcore though, or if the band would want to even be classified in the hardcore category. Like I said they have some of the hardcore sounds and a few of the songs are just downright aggressive, but the album comes off as more artistic and aggressive instead of just aggressive as most hardcore falls into.

All in all this album is a great 3^rd release by The Bled.  Go check out their myspace and check out a few of their songs and if you dig them like I do you can order off their myspace as well.

Track Listing

1 Shadetree Mechanics
2 You Should Be Ashamed Of Myself
3 Three’s Away
4 Asleep On The Frontlines
5 Platonic Sleepover Massacre
6 Starving Artiste
7 Silver Lining
8 Some Just Vanish
9 Breathing Room Barricades
10 Beheaded My Way
11 My Bitter Half

 
www.myspace.com/dlitb
 
This is the type of punk rock I love. Insane, out of control punk rock with snappy funny lyrics. Don’t look in the basement.  These guy s are really fast paced with a few anthem style songs but always a bit cooky, always fast and a bit of horror theme thrown in for good measure.

You can really tell these guys have a bit of vandals and Guttermouth influence (in the insert you can see flyers on their walls for both) which is always good in my book. Guttermouth has always been one of my guilty pleasures I try not to mention to most people.  Their not exact duplicates of either bands and do not ripoff “the sound” of either bands; but if you do like either of these bands you will really dig Don’t look in the basement. This CD is well worth the $6 bucks they have it listed on their myspace  so go get it. And if your in the New York area go check them out as their local to that area.

Release Sept 18^th 2007

www.myspace.com/fellfarbehind

“Reaching the Red Line” is the second full length release by Fell Far Behind. This album has 8 songs all ranging between pop-punk energetic songs to kind of indie rock style and sound that slows down and cools off a bit.

The album is very well written with many of the songs lyrics ranging from slow and emotional to fast and though provoking.  I would have to say one of the best aspects of this album is the lyrics which should be the highlight for anyone who does buy this album.

The final song is an acoustic song which I normally can’t stand (give me electric or give me death!) but again the lyrics are great and was able to make me ignore the fact that it was an acoustic song.

This album is a independent release by the band which is always great too see as it seems many great bands are skipping out on working with the big names of the music industry and keeping their art in their own hands.

Change! is a CD/DVD compilation of 21 tracks and 17 videos of various artists ranging from metal to emo.

Some of the artists on the comp are: As I Lay Dying, Aiden, Silverstein, Chiodos and many more.

I’ll start with the bad first and get to the good.

To start the album is only available at Hot Topic. I guess while your buying your WWF t-shirts and random but witty saying t-shirts you can pick up this album…

Also because it’s only available at hot topic the videos and songs have all profanity removed from the album, which in my opinion ruins just about every song that has profanity. Songs have profanity for a reason and every time the song is censored it ruins the entire flow of the song or video.

These 2 reasons are why I am rating this album as only a 5. I’m sure the album will sell very well regardless but when it comes to an album I find it offensive that a label would censor their own artists work simply to sell at a specific location. Censoring punk rock? Come on people.

One other thing that bothered me was the DVD/Video section didn’t let you skip videos, you had to manually find each video or go back to the main menu; not a big deal but it’s the little things that you have to watch out for like this.

Now for the good.  The album really has many great bands on the release and I really did enjoy the majority of the bands on this release.  The videos and songs have a great flow between artists.   This album really has a great track listing of bands people have heard of; but at the same time artists people might not have heard of before, but would be interested in.

Another fine point is that 5% of the proceeds will be donated (though the hot topic foundation) which I guess is good; but as I have 0% trust in hot topic as a company doing any good for anyone but themselves you can make your own decision if this is a very good thing.

But regardless of the negative aspects of this album which are really just specific to my opinions I do think “the kids” will enjoy this release. It will have some great bands that I’m sure you all ready like, but will also be a great way for you to find other similar artists that you should get into or at least check out. But most likely if you’re an anti-hot topic person like myself or don’t shop at the malls you will most likely never hear this album.

 
http://www.myspace.com/astepbehind
 
This is the 2^nd album form this Houston TX band “A Step Behind”.
 
This is what we’ve become is a independent release by the band and is set to be released November  6^th.

The album “This is what we’ve become” is a 5 song release which really makes it hard to get into the band. The songs on the album are intriguing and interesting with many of the songs about the band members life experiences as individuals (not sure if they are the experiences of one person or all members in the band).

The album is full of energy and really is enjoyable to listen too.  The band has a great rock sound but are still very melodic though the most of the short album.

I would suggest checking out the band on their myspace. Since this is a self release I would guess you can find them on all the usual sites like itunes and interpunk.  Normally I never like short albums like this and prefer to buy individual songs, which I would guess is what the band will be going for too, so check them out on one of these sites and buy a few songs  (truth be told is a great song to check out).

 Track Listing

• 
  
  Kicked our fate and killed desire


• 
  
  Truth be told


• 
  
  Don’t ask me how. I’ll tell you


• 
  
  This could be happening


• 
  
  This is what we’ve become

2/2/2008

Hellcat Records

www.hell-cat.com

This is the first release for Time again so it’s very surprising that this album is so good.  Many of the reviews I have seen popping up online about this band have been very negative as the band has a very similar sound to old Rancid records.  But so what, the album can still kick ass.

Yes their sound and style is very Rancid like, but it’s not an exact duplicate of Rancid. I would say that Time Again “Darker Days” sounds more like how rancid should have sounded these days. The band took a pre-existing style of drunk singing/rough vocals, poppy and fast sound and style and went with it.

Regardless of the Rancid style the album is full of great fun songs.  Many of them you can sing along with, are very humorous and really enjoyable driving to songs.

I would say just about anyone who enjoys rancid or other hellcat releases will really enjoy this album. There are plenty of people out there who hate this style of pop-punk and it is pretty obvious they will hate this album and shouldn’t get near it otherwise you will just have a bitch fest of how much they sound like rancid.

This is a band I will really look forward to seeing as you can tell just from the album their shows would be energetic and pretty chaotic and fun.  If your not planning on buying the album but will be going to Warped Tour (I’m assuming they will be playing warped) you will need to make it a point to see them.

Track Listing

1.       Day like this

2.       Soon it will be

3.       One way or another

4.       Lines are faded

5.       Darkder days

6.       Lucky

7.       Montreal (street kids)

8.       Lookin back

9.       Movin on

10.   You’re goin down

11.   Tv static

12.   Shell Casings

13.   Gonna get mine

14.   Outcast

Angels & Airwaves, the new project of ex Blink-182 guitar player Tom DeLonge, are back with the second part of their concept production. If on their debut, “We Don’t Need To Whipser”, the band told stories about love born in the middle of a war, on the new “I-Empire”, the band explores the deepest and darkest sides of humanity and feelings, talking of love, lost people, and loved ones.

The new songs are quite different, and unique: you can go from the long, harmonic and melodic ballads, to the super catchy power pop songs, as the first single “Everything’s Magic”, or the awesome “Love Like Rockets” and “Sirens”, which have amazing choruses.

The general feeling you get is the one of a dark record, where Tom DeLonge sings about his emotions on his anthemic songs, filled with melodies keyboards and harmonic guitars, where the emotion is driven by the sound.

If you want to experience something new, I highly recommend “I-Empire”.

Tracklist

1.Call To Arms
2.Everything’s Magic
3.Breathe
4.Love Like Rockets
5.Sirens
6.Secret Crowds
7.Star Of Bethlehem
8.True Love
9.Lifeline
10.Jumping Rooftops
11.Rite Of Spring
12.Heaven