You are browsing the Blog for music review.

Avenged Sevenfold “Waking the Fallen” Album Review

January 27, 2012 in Album RealViews, Music


01. Waking the Fallen Despite its brevity, ambience and mood are what make this a very listenable opener. Right off the bat, you can already tell the production is miles above and beyond prior effort, “Sounding the Seventh Trumpet”. Of course, this just means it sounds like any rock album should sound — no self-produced, cringe-inducing face-palms here! Shadows’ vocals are the star of this show, sounding great with background screams and a strong clean vocal over simple but effective instruments.

Grade: 75

02. Unholy Confessions One of Avenged Sevenfold’s more recognizable songs, “Unholy Confessions” perfectly embodied the sound of A7X up to that point in 2003. The hammer-on/pull-off guitar intro is distinct (well, it was back then) and the power slides bring a decent, if not a little underwhelming, variety to the mix. The drumming is nothing awe-inspiring, but its very tight and hosts a tricky double-bass pattern near the end. The vocals on this song alone are so much more enjoyable than “Sounding the Seventh Trumpet” was altogether. Shadows does a good job of alternating between his signature scream and his, well, signature clean vocals. The chorus is catchy and the harmonies enjoyable. There’s not much to question when wondering why this was A7X’s first somewhat big hit.

Grade: 88

03. Chapter Four The Rev steals the show with his constantly busy drum work. Gates and Vengeance are more than serviceable with their drop-D chugs and Shadows presence is strong throughout with his screams being layered over his clean vocals. The verses are on the quicker side while the two part hook has a slower, operatic first half and then it’s back to the fast pacing for a good kick in the teeth. “Chapter Four” is constantly changing up its landscape, never letting you drive down one road for too long, allowing for a varied trip. I love the quick choir-like lead-in for the decent breakdown and the brief harmonic solo that’s reminiscent of those 80′s/90′s metal bands we love.

Grade: 91

04. Remenissions M. Shadows lets loose a guttural growl over the reliably pummeled drums over the frisky guitars before slowing just a tad bit down for a great, thick verse. The standout of “Remenissions” are the perfectly-placed double pedal bursts and the ever-changing guitar work by Gates and Vengeance. It’s hard for repetition to set in if most musical segments, if you will, never last longer than 30 seconds and thank God Avenged  Sevenfold knows how to mix things up. The song slows down to midtempo chugs then bursts into punk-rock-paced onslaughts that soar from one height to another. It’s a fantstically varied listen and you have to tip your hat off to the musicianship present here. Special shout out to the Hispanic-tinged segment of the track, a great mixture to the proceedings.

Grade: 93

05. Desecrate Through Reverence The intro is deceptively bland because hot damn the verses are fantastic, featuring one of Shadows more higher screams — not to mention the great drum roll that leads into the verses. The chorus doesn’t quite match the verses in terms of quality, but hey, it’s not that bad of a chorus, no matter how forgettable it is. The harmony layered solo is simple and not memorable, but again, it provides a nice layer of variety. “Desecrate” burns out around the halfway mark until the climactic ending; had it kept the pace up, it could have been another home run, but sometimes a double is good enough, right?

Grade: 75

06. Eternal Rest No build up here — it’s an attack on your hearing senses right from the get-go, courtesy of Gates impressive fret work. Shadows screams through the punk-style-drummed verses before another another chug fest is slammed down upon us to great effect. The aggression during the slowed-down chorus is strong and the build up back to the more punk style is natural but you just can’t wait for those thick guitars to come buzzing back again — it’s hard not to nod your head along to these parts, no matter how simple the strumming of the guitars are. The clean bridge kind of comes out of nowhere and isn’t  written to as good as it can be. Other than that small gripe, “Eternal Rest” is a mosher’s delight.

Grade: 85

The guitar work of these two lends a lot to the greatness of "Waking the Fallen"

07.  Second Heartbeat Ah, it was too good to be true for the greatness to continue, huh? By no means do I mean is this song terrible by saying that, it’s just not quite as impressive as the prior tracks. It’s still a good number but I can’t help but feel like nothing separates it from the rest of the pack, sounding like a weird, sometimes mundane potluck of all the other songs on the album. It has some cool moments that include some tremolo picking, but they’re far and few in between. The long six-minute running time doesn’t help it, either, as it just starts to sputter out despite some of The Rev’s great fills. At least Gates and co. have an absolutely killer, Megadeth-like closing moment, with Synyster absolutely lighting up that guitar neck.

Grade: 73

08. Radiant Eclipse I’m not really a fan of the whole “haunted guitar” intro, but I do dig the Arabic-like second half of the intro before burst into some more of that chugging I oh-so can’t get enough of. There are parts in the verses where The Rev plays with the ride cymbals offbeat to great effect. The chorus is a great listen as Shadows’ gruff clean vocals soar, showing that these guys can write some really good choruses.

Grade: 90

09. I Won’t See You Tonight (Part 1) Ah, nothing like the sweet, sweet sounds of a pleasing piano to ease you into a near nine minute track and a bombastic opening that sees Gates fulfilling the lead well. Christ can actually be heard on the bass on the verses on the track and the guitars during the chorus are nice and thick in their simple chord progression.  There’s a simple but good in a moody kind of way solo around the 3 and a half minute mark that adds some variety to the song. The last portion of the song is led by a soft piano that builds up to a rather disappointing “explosion”, that is, until Shadows comes soaring in. “See You Tonight” is good considering its long running time, but I can’t help but feel that not enough was done to make me want to come back to this song, no matter how great the atmosphere is — there’s just something missing.

Grade: 64

10. I Won’t See You Tonight (Part 2) Talk about a chaotic opening, screeching feedback and all. So the second part of the decent “I Won’t See You Tonight” pair is definitely less brooding and more in your face. Shadows undoubtedly sounds great when he yells “IIIIIIIIII!” in certain parts, providing a chest-thumping bravado to the mix because, despite the quicker pace, I found some parts of the song to be more dull than the first part of the pair. The second half of the guitar solo sees a much needed boost of distorted guitars before going back downhill with a bland bridge. The only real good thing about this song is the cool descending factor of the choruses and the latter half of the solo. Other than that, there’s not much here worth listening to.

Grade: 53

11. Clairvoyant Disease A7X slows things back down to a midtempo halt, with an interesting intro and a musically calming verse. Had it not been for Shadows transition from clean to rough vocals in the chorus, I would have written it off as a forgettable one, but his scream injects a necessary dose of testosterone to the hook. “Clairvoyant Disease” is host to multiple solos, the first sounding decent and being technically sound, the second being less technical but it better amplifies the song. The bridge is a bland stretch that goes on for too long and I’d go as far to say to cut it out and just leave the second guitar solo there. At least the brief, clean outro is a pleasant way to end the song.

Grade:  51

12. And All Things Will End Once again, the soft leads to the harder pastures of distortion in “And All Things Will End”. For a good portion of the song, it’s a slugfest of chug-a-chugs and while it keeps the momentum going, it’s startin to get tiring hearing it when it’s not executed as well as it could be (i.e., not as varied as it is in their other songs). The slower parts of the song considerably damage the song as I found myself running out of patience — nothing about the instruments or vocals spoke to me during this near two minute segment. Thankfully, the gear is shift back up to 6, well, more like 3 or 4 because the transition back into the quicker pace falls flat. “And All Things Will End” has too many filler segments that drag the song down and had they decided to cut the fat or at least add more flavor to these segments, then perhaps it’s 8 minute length could have been forgiven, but with its too many dull moments, it’s kept from being something worth coming back to — sorry Gates’ closing solo, but that was one hell of a clunky and boring closer to end on.

Grade:  40

“Waking the Fallen” is, without contention, an undeniably vast improvement over debut album “Sounding the Seventh Trumpet”, which was a horrible album in retrospect. Literally every aspect of Avenged Sevenfold’s metal game has been injected with steroids and put through the “300″ workout. The two standouts are drummer, The Rev, and vocalist, M.Shadows. The Rev is constantly providing a soundcape chock-full of variety and impressive technicality and, while Shadows’ voice can be nasally and occasionally grating, when he soars, it’s hard to think of an equal. Vengeance is as solid as a rhythm guitarist can get an Gates has several moments where he shines but he doesn’t quite show here why he’s one of today’s best guitarists. “Waking the Fallen” has an absolutely stellar first half that’s a good ass-kicking of a listen while the last quarter of the album sputters out and ultimately ends in a disappointing whimper.

Report Card
Instruments: 89
Production: 81
Lyrics: 75
Vocals: 85

Overall
77    

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

Avenged Sevenfold “Sounding the Seventh Trumpet” Album Review

December 21, 2011 in Album RealViews, Music

01. To End the Rapture Ambient rain and gentle piano open Avenged Sevenfold’s debut album and the result is ho-hum. Singer M. Shadows’ vocals take some getting used to because of his highly-nasal quality, which could turn off some listeners. However, it is unique and it bizarrely adds to the tone of the opening melody that is somewhat catchy, but not exactly memorable since it’s barely over a minute long.

Grade: 64

02. Turn the Other Way Now for the real introduction of Avenged Sevenfold’s sound. A thick scream soars over chugging riffs and sporadic drumming — a bombastic opening, to say the least. Said bombastic opening, however, is the only hair-raising aspect of the song. The rest is generic metal with some odd screaming that isn’t really thick but not thin, either. It’s all one-note screaming, though, and at least it’s unique enough to distinguish them in the overcrowded genre, regardless of your feelings towards his vocals. There are quite a few instances where the instruments are out of sync since A7X produced the album before being professionally trained to do so, leading to quite a number of rather embarrassing sloppy moments throughout the album. The dragging running time considered, “Turn the Other Way” does is just serviceable as the albums headbanging opener.

Grade: 66

03. Darkness Surrounding Man, the opening was pretty cringe-inducing. It’s really evident that drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan played some crazy fast beat while the guitarist tried to keep up with him (they’ve actually said as much in a Revolver interview), neglecting a click to play along to. That being said, the drumming is impressive in its technicality, but rather rushed and forced in most spots. With a little more polish, the intro could’ve been great, but it just ends up being groan-worthy right off the bat — a damn shame, really. The screams start to get monotonous due to there being no variation in Shadows’ screaming pyramid, opting to stay in the middle rather than going low or scratching the roof with some highs. The clean vocals are lazily written and the beat change-up fails to excite or vary the song in any meaningful way.

Grade: 38

04. The Art of Subconscious Illusion Think of this as a metal-covered punk song. Actually, think of this as a metal-tinged punk song gone wrong. There’s a pretty horrific bridge that grates ear more than cheese and it almost made me skip the track. Again, the drums shine in some spots, but it’s also the drumming that shines the spotlight on the sloppiness of the composition. At least we get to hear Shadows’ higher screams, proving to be pretty satisfying. There’s a part here where he asks “who the fuck are you?” and it’s atrocious. Man, they were rough back then, huh?

Grade: 46

05. We Come Out at Night Okay, so this one isn’t bad, it’s just not as bad as the two prior tracks. The x-factor that keeps this from being dark green diarrhea — and it’s sad, really —  is the fact that there are no glaring moments of production amateurism. Everything sounds on-beat…every…mundane…note. Well, that’s not being entirely fair, as there is a decent bridge with a nifty growl from Shadows. The ending is soft and actually melodic, something of a rarity on “Sounding the Seventh Trumpet”, with its soft piano akin to the opener.

Grade: 55

06. Lips of Deceit I’m not a huge fan of vocalizations in intros and this song definitely does not change that. They just come off as cheesy and grating (I’m looking at you, Disturbed) if they’re not properly implemented. The guitars are good but cliché and the drums are just as solid (with a couple of hiccups sprinkled here and there). Shadows doesn’t do anything distinguishable from the other tracks, just more of his signature, same-y pipe work. Not a terrible or even mediocre song, it’s just a serviceable rock number that does neither harm or good.

Grade: 60

07. Warmness on the Soul If you’re not accustomed to Shadows’ clean vocals by now, then this is going to be “SAW” for your ears because that’s all your getting. However, if you’ve acquired the taste, then you’re treated to a rather solid and surprisingly tender melody via a love song from the soft spots of Avenged Sevenfold’s very angry hearts. The instruments kick in with just the amount of force, never over-powering the sing’s focus on Shadows’ vocals. His pipes here actually impressed me here and the fittingly cheesy, Faith No More-esque solo works just right in. Easily –and I mean easily – one of the album’s brighter spots.

Grade: 78

08. An Epic of Time Wasted Ah, shit, it’s about time we got some groove in our metal. The intro is a bit misleading in that “Aw, crap, here’s another bland intro” kind of way, but it quickly turns into a headbanger of an intro thanks to the hi-hat/cymbals work of The Rev. “An Epic of Time Wasted” is actually an enjoyable fast-paced number, unlike the rockin’ tracks before it. It’s nothing spectacular, mind you, it just stands out amongst the midst of pretty terrible songs on this album. It has its fair shares of generic breakdowns, but at least they don’t sound as lazy as the other tracks.

Grade: 70

09. Breaking Their Hold Shadows’ scream leads the charge over an escalating guitar progression that’s sure to have your toe tapping. It’s hard to tell that this is Synyster and Zacky as their material up to this point has been completely generic without a melodic solo in sight. But for a quick 71-second interlude, it’s not bad when taken into that context. It ends with the drums swelling up and Shadows’ doing the very tiresome scream by now, but again, it’s a quick listen so it’s not that bad.

Grade: 50

10. Forgotten Faces The Rev does some of his best work on the album here with some thunderously quick tom-tom rolls litered throughout, providing a very fun and varied listen. Shadows is forgettable here as it’s the instruments that get the spotlight on “Forgotten Faces”. The guitars, while never at a nightmare-level for tabbers, compliment the drummer’s work. The ending also sees a good adrenaline fix that ends the song on a high note.

Grade: 71

11. Thick and Thin And cue the strum one chord intro that each metal album is obligated to. It’s an aggressive song with some neat variations, but it never comes into proper fruition. The drumming, again, is the highlight of the song, with the guitars being its great backup singers. “Thick and Thin” is some good thrash, but with a little more polish, it could’ve been a real doozy…ah, how that’s the running theme of this album.

Grade: 70

12. Streets Iron Maiden takes the cake as the main influence on “Streets”. The guitar work isn’t quite as intricate as the metal gods that are Iron Maiden, but the foundation and essential are all there. I actually prefer Shadows to use his clean vocals but that’s probably because his scream can become so goddamn monotonous. The bassist and the drums go out of sync every once in a while, but it’s not a major offense.

Grade: 75

13. Shattered by Broken Dreams The acoustic guitar isn’t exactly a prominent instrument on “Sounding the Seventh Trumpet”, so it’s nice to hear A7X flex their creativity. Shadows’ clean vocals are back, but they’re iffy, especially when he wants to hold on to some notes. His screams are also present here, but they’re welcome because they’re just another layer rather than being the dominant force it is. While the harder moments aren’t memorable, they’re more tightly composed than most the songs here, automatically making it a better song than most of this album’s numbers. However, it’s sitting at an unwelcome, meaty 7-minute running time. I don’t even know if this song is a good closer because when I reflect back on the album, not many tracks distinguish themselves.

Grade: 60

“Sounding the Seventh Trumpet” was released back in 2001 and even taking this release date into context, I can’t imagine this being a standout metal album back then with some more distinguished bands all fighting for your neck. The production, as mentioned many times before, is embarrassingly sloppy but you can’t help but give these guys props for actually being able to throw this album together themselves without playing to a click (a time signature) — a feat in its own right. Based purely off the music, I don’t see how A7X made it onto the scene the way they did, but I can see how their image did so.

Not every song on “Sounding the Seventh Trumpet” is terrible, but its over-bearing mediocrity and too frequently bad, forgettable songs makes the album come off as the opposite of an enjoyable listening experience. I say only check this out if you’re a current Avenged Sevenfold fan to see their roots and its that novelty that makes it worth (“worth” is debatable) a listen to anybody. The only standout moment for me was “Warmness on the Soul”, the others you can just carry on your merry way without ever listening to them.

Report Card

Instruments: 68
Production: 39
Lyrics: 58
Vocals: 62

Overall

43

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1 Comment »

Dia Frampton “Red” Album Review

December 18, 2011 in Album RealViews, Music, Thoughts

Dia Frampton's "Red"

01. Don’t Kick The Chair (feat. Kid Cudi) – Yeah, you read that right.  Featuring Kid Cudi—a very interesting pick, to say the least.  After seeing the track listing for “Red”, I was intrigued by this one the most.  Would this be a good combination, or a sad attempt at adding diversity to the pop rock world, by adding rap?  Anyways, to make this simple, I FREAKING LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH, my go-to song off Dia’s album.  This track is all about you, meaning a song that you and I can both relate to, because let’s face it, everyone has had one of those days where we question why we even bother anymore.  The beat, the tone, the bass, the guitars…the drops and flow are all just so perfect to me, going along flawlessly with the dark undertone of the song itself.  Kid Cudi comes in with his own verse and sticks out like a sore thumb, but it does the job.  His verse is still overall iffy to me—sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t—but it doesn’t matter because Ms. Frampton’s wonderful — a soothing voice is what gets to me the most.  This song was a very good way to start off, displaying the variety to come, and makes the rest of the album seem very promising. Oh and hey, turns out this is the second single off the album. Success.

Grade:  90 

02. Isabella – The track opens up with an upbeat acoustic guitar riff, a pounding drum beat, and Dia’s voice jumping right in, really putting you in the mood that’ll make you just want to go out and do something—which is the mood I imagine this track is trying to put you in, because well, that’s what this song is all about.  Dia both serenades, and gives us advice, reminding ourselves that even in the lowest of the lows, we can’t stay there—we have to get up and do something, stop being afraid, and just take life by the handles.

Grade: 83 

03. The Broken Ones –  So what if I cried to this song? JUDGE ME GO AHEAD AND DO IT.  Just kidding, I didn’t actually cry (because I don’t cry, fuck that, I’m a thug), but I mean, I would be lying if I said this ballad didn’t touch my heart. The first single off of “Red” is backed up by a slow serene beat that gradually builds up to a fast-paced bridge—tastefully done and not disappointing at any degree.  You would expect this ballad to be somewhat of a love song about a boy she lost, and how she is healing (think Taylor Swift), but it’s not like that at all, which is one of the things I enjoy most about this song. Dia expresses her love for, well, the “broken” ones, giving us a sense that there is always someone that cares for us out there, even through all the bullshit we may have gone through. This is the kind of tone I would expect from Dia Frampton, reflecting off of her band’s first not-coffee-shop-only album, Meg & Dia’s “Something Real”.  So pretty much, a good reminder of why I fell in love with the Frampton sisters in the first place.

Grade: 87 

04. Good Boy – Jumping from the prior song’s deepish-emotional nature, we are led into a very upbeat story of a young innocent boy, and him growing up—breaking out of his cage built around him, and becoming a typical rebellious youngin.  Another “good-feelings” song from the album ends up being very reminiscent of “Isabella”, although Dia’s voice is much more flowing and bustling.  This melody is strong in its imagery, making it simple to play a little made-up music video in your head as you listen to the beats.  This is me being just a little nit-picky, because I’m sure it’s just an artistic touch or something of the manner, but, Charlie’s such a good boy, if you didn’t get it.

Grade: 75 

05. I Will (Feat. Blake Shelton) – Dia Frampton is accompanied in this track by her The Voice coach, Blake Shelton—a duet of some sort, I suppose.  These two musical geniuses join together to remind you yet again that someone is going to be there for you, always, even if you think you’re all alone.  First time around, it reminded me Lady Antebellum?  Yeah, I don’t really listen to Lady Antebellum so don’t take my word on that.  Anyways, it’s the album’s more “country”-ish song, which I guess, should be expected since it is featuring country star, Blake Shelton.  I, myself, am not a very big fan of country music, so of course, I skip it.  But hey, if you’re into that kind, by all means, listen to it.  I just found the entire track generic, to me atleast.

Grade: 68

Dia Frampton's "The Broken Ones"

A screencap from Dia Frampton's music video for "The Broken Ones"

06. Billy The Kid – First run with this song, I got a “Foster The People” feeling—it reminded me a lot of “Pumped Up Kicks” for some reason, and what do you know?  Turns out this track was co-written by Mark Foster of that very same band.  Finally, a different experience from this album—enough with the upbeat, and more of Dia’s raw voice paired with the dark indie tones!  Definitely a good song to just sit around and chill out to when you’re kicking it with some buddies.  Very much like “Pumped Up Kicks”, this is a story about a tough messed up kid (named Billy, DUH), except in this version, Billy has a bounty on his head and is being searched for, yet no one will give him up, because Billy fucks shit up to the fullest (well, I call it how I see it).  Proving to be very infectious, this tune has no problem with getting at least one element of the song stuck in your head, whether it be the beat or the chorus.

Grade: 82 

07. Daniel – Another taste of Dia’s diversity in her voice, this harmony throws away all electronic tweaks and artificial upbringing, and is replaced with the unrefined, but still beautiful styling of Ms. Frampton, with acoustic guitars as her only companion.  This simple acoustic melody is about regret of throwing away a past love, musing over the past, and wishing things went differently, perhaps a harder fight when things were going to end.  Regardless of the simplicity in this song, it is still poignant, and by no means a generic Taylor Swift-esque song.  It does a damn good job of relaxing very bone of your body, and can easily put you to sleep—and I mean that in a sense that it’s very serene and calming (don’t twist my words, maaaan).

Grade: 84 

08. Walk Away – I’ll be honest, as I was listening to this song to review it, I got a Facebook IM and I ended up tuning out the entire song—in other words, it just didn’t stand out to me that much.  It was kind of bland, actually.  It’s not a bad song…but it’s not a very good one either.  I’m not even motivated enough by this song to read the lyrics and try to decipher what it’s about exactly—not that it matter’s because if anything, all I do is listen to the whistling in the song, and not pay attention to the lyrics at all.  I guess every album has to have a not-so-good song.

Grade: 57 

09. Bullseye – This song had the same effect as the prior song did, to me.  I was going to review it…I was going to listen to it, and read the lyrics and say what it was about, but instead, I got really bored of the song, paused it, and listened to this acoustic version of Metro Station’s “Kelsey”.  Yep.  This song was another miss to me.  Dia Frampton and Isabelle Summers of Florence + The Machine join forces to bring this song together, and I was easily disappointed, thinking that these two alike artists would conceive a magical songbaby, which instead turned out to be shitty (I was going to make some kind of mutation joke but I didn’t want to offend anyone LOLOL).  Yet again, Frampton recycles a taciturn acoustic beat and a prominent pounding drum, to tell us, YET AGAIN, to run away (like in Isabella, except this is much more low-key).

Grade: 55

10. Trapeze – Easily my favorite track off of the album, easily the best song off of the album, easily the best pick to end this album on a good note after back-to-back let downs.  This track speaks to me, man, and I’m sure you will also find it somewhat relatable.    A acoustic riff and Dia’s haunting voice offers us the ability to be able to feel every single emotion being released as this song was written.  The ballad is beautifully written, lyrically explaining the thoughts of someone guarded—someone that doesn’t want to royally fuck up what they have by talking about their past, but reassures that even though this world is crazy—even though “this world is a whirlwind”, they are going to hold on, and they don’t want to lose what they have.  Relaxing my mind, and reminding me that people feel this way too, I fall asleep with ease to this song, usually keeping it on repeat.  Once again, Dia uses this song with retrospect, to revive my memory for why I fell in love with her music in the first place.

Grade: 95

Dia Frampton is freaking BEAUTIFUL

Aforementioned, Dia Frampton is a part of the indie-gone-pop-rock band, Meg & Dia, who then became apart of the reality show The Voice, ended as a semi-finalist, and has now released this solo album.  When I heard about it, I was really excited to see what work she would be able to come up with as a solo artist.  I love this entire album as a whole—I could honestly listen to it for hours on end (and I have), but there are, of course, the misses of every album.  Dia’s constant theme in this album is to keep calm, and carry on (see what I did there?), and that there is always someone that cares about you and will be on your side—a theme that I have always liked from the Frampton’s, because it’s not your typical lovey-dovey bullshit that most mainstream music revolves around.  If you fancy the indie-acoustic-feel of music and you’re looking for some diversity to that genre, go for this album.  It fits hand and hand with your tastes.  Ugh, I freaking LOOOVE this album.

 

Report Card

Instruments: 83
Production: 87
Lyrics: 95
Vocals: 93

Overall

90

Tags: , , , , , ,
No Comments »

The Maine “Pioneer” Album Review

December 14, 2011 in Album RealViews, Music

01. Identify The light guitars and John O’Callaghan’s soft vocals lead you into a generic, mid-tempo pop-rock number. There’s nothing particularly bad about the song, it just never escapes the someone-done-this-already syndrome plaguing it. The chorus is melodic enough and the production tight. I feel like a better opener could have been put here, as this feels like a mid-album kind of track.

Grade: 61

02. My Heroine Judging by the opening of this song, maybe this should have been the opener as buzzsaw distortion and punchy drumming kick things into procedure. Drop-in guitar over drums provide the groundwork for John’s plead to become apart of a girl’s life, whom he’s captivated by. The bridge is fun with quirky vocalizations and layered shouts. It’s not terribly catchy, but it’s a melodic enough party rocker.

Grade: 78

03. Time The soothing, head-nodding bridge serves as the highlight for this somewhat bland song. The verses are smooth and the chorus underwhelming. The vibe is very laid back, perhaps working against the mundane chorus. At least the beat temporarily changes for the last 30 seconds of the song, giving it a good uptempo note to leave off on.

Grade: 58

04. Some Days The Maine show they can inject some country swagger into their Kings of Leon-esque sound. “Some Days” has a great chorus and the verses that lead up to it are just as good. I love the guitar work of Jared Monaco and Kennedy Brock here. They don’t play anything highly complex, but that doesn’t matter since they keep things nicely varied and enjoyable. And speaking of variety, the bridge adds just that with soaring guitar work and a calm aftermath.

Grade: 86

05. I’m Sorry Deep kick-drums and a somber guitar nicely pave the way for John’s vocals, providing that necessary layer of emotion to an apology song. The writing isn’t anything great nor anything uncovered by almost every other band, but it’s not terrible by any means, either. However, the whole song is kind of cliché, going as far to include the obligatory violins to these kinds of songs. Thankfully,  there’s a simplistic guitar solo and John exploding in the last chorus to really convey the emotion he wasn’t really portraying for the first half of the song.

Grade: 71

06. Don’t Give Up On Us The opening of the track is very reminiscent of an Airborne Toxic Event song, which in my books, is never a bad thing. There’s a fun, bouncy vibe echoing throughout the whole song. Jared shows that you don’t need advanced technicality for compelling guitar work, just a good sense of melody. The chorus is appropriately uplifting and catchy. “Don’t Give Up On Us” is a great listen, especially evident when John soars in his plead for his better half to persevere.

Grade: 87

07. Misery O’Callaghan’s smoky vocals are nicely showcased in the opening minute of “Misery”. It’s a slow but methodical build-up to the anthemic chorus. I love the “Oooh’s”  and the lead guitar after the chorus, adding a variety. After the explosion of rock, things calm back down but it doesn’t bore. “Misery” excels in its melody, proving to be a very singable song to blast in the car on a rainy day.

Grade: 85

08. When I’m At Home Sure, the lyrics are sweet for the ladies out there, but there’s an overall mundane vibe to the track. The only exception to the humdrum of “When I’m At Home” is the intricate bridge, complete with background shouts and nifty guitars. The outro is soothing, but it’s too little too late. It’s not awful, mind you, just rather uninspired, showing only spurts of “good” here and there. The chorus should serve well as a lighter-waver, though, so there’s that.

Grade: 67

09. Thinking of You I feel like the bouncy pianos in the intro lied to me. “Thinking of You” is generic and lazy; not even the bridge saves the song from its one-note, dreadful listen. I couldn’t help but think that a piano-and-drums-only music track would have been a much more fun approach, but the guitars come in to throw away any innovation. Then there’s the weird voicemail that segue’s into the next track that was unnecessary. Don’t be deceived like me and skip it.

Grade: 48

10. Jenny The song’s pleasing to the ear, sure, but I, again, I was hit by the wave of colorless mediocrity. The song may be personal and, if so (and I apologize for any ignorance if any), that does add some depth to the track, but that doesn’t excuse the bland melody. Acoustic guitars, deep bass, and light electric guitar blend together for a soothing yet very boring music track. It’s worth a listen, though, but literally just a listen — no more than one.

Grade: 48

11. Like We Did (Windows Down) A slow build-up is the name of the game here and I’m pleased to say The Maine gets out of the little two-song slump with a catchy and thoroughly groovy track. The build-up, despite being slow, is aggressive in nature with subtle-yet-simple nuanced layers. O’Callagan’s vocals carry the track through an effectively simple music track, reminiscing about his younger days. “Like We Did” is a great song and one of the album’s better tracks.

Grade: 85

12. While Listening to Rock & Roll The opening has hints of souls with it’s softly strummed chords and steady hi-hat. It’s a down tempo song but a good one at that. “Doo-doo-doo”-like vocalizations add welcome subtlety and O’Callaghan sounds great in his desire to listen to some rock and roll. I appreciate the fact that this song never explodes and I applaud The Maine for taking the better ground of keeping it on the softer side. Ironically, this adds more of a punch to the lyrical content. There’s also a very gentle outro interlude that kicks up after the main track dies off. It’s very introspective and has reflective qualities and is neither great nor bad.

Grade: 81

13. Waiting for My Sun to Shine The Maine decide to strick to their strength (namely, a midtempo jam) to close their album. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like their flexing that muscle as hard as they could have. I feel like maybe this track and the prior should have switched places because I’m not too hot (I’m not particularly down, neither) on this track. “Lukewarm” is my mindset on this song, as I really do want to love the guitar variations, but I’m left wanting more from the drummer (an issue throughout the whole album). Around the 8 minute mark, there is some soft guitar, once again, playing foundation to O’Callaghan’s hazy vocals. It’s very soft and soothing before bursting into a rather blasé explosion of sound. ”Waiting for My Sun to Shine” is a weak closer but as a track, it’s not bad at all and is actually listenable.

Grade: 76

The Maine’s “Pioneer” album is pop/indie-rock akin to Kings of Leon and The Airborne Toxic Event. It’s a tightly produced album with every instrument given its share of the spotlight. John O’Callaghan’s vocals are consistently great and his great tone really give almost every song an edge to it that  even saves some of them from being completely generic. The guitars by Jared Monaco and Kennedy Brock never impressed on a technical level, but they were appropriate for the sound of the band. Drummer  Pat Kirch and bassist Garrett Nickelsen are only serviceable in their roles, never stepping into the spotlight to impress but only to supplement The Maine’s sound. “Pioneer” won’t be making any “album of the year”-like buzz, seeing as there are a couple of fillers and a handful of mediocre and lazy songs, but when it’s good, it’s great for fans of The Maine.

Report Card
Instruments: 72
Production: 86
Lyrics: 77
Vocals: 88

Overall

79

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

Brand New “Your Favorite Weapon: Deluxe Edition” Album Review

December 6, 2011 in Music

Now, unlike Pauly V., I will not take the time to dissect each of these tracks individually because not only is that a lot of work, but if you haven’t heard the album before, you really should experience it without my input. Plus, reviewing an album track by track ten years after the fact seems mildly ridiculous.

Delux Edition Cover

I’m not going to lie to you when I say that Brand New has been consistently in my top 10 favorite bands since I first heard their album Deja Entendu. To commemorate their first album, Your Favorite Weapon, dropping 10 years ago, a deluxe has been released. I had to dust off the old username and password to write this review, because of reasons.

Brand New is, as cliched as the saying is, like a fine wine. With time, they have matured, and in the process, created one of the most beautiful albums of the past decade (The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me). It’s kind of fun to look back on their first record just to really admire how far they have come. The sound on this album, when first released, went right along with their contemporaries such as Taking Back Sunday. Now, it reeks of emo cliche, but despite that fact, is still fun to hear.

I guess I should get down to a review because that’s what I’m here for. The old album sounds great, in a nostalgic way. The fun thing about this release though, is that they included seven demos and quick takes, including three that sound quite different than the published song (properly labeled “throwaway demos”). The demos remind us that this band is just a bunch of friends who make music. Call me sappy all you want, but there is something special about hearing lo-fi recordings of songs you’re horrifically familiar with. It takes you back to the essence of music. Singing about that girl that fucked you over, or that one time you sat on the overpass with your friends, reminiscing, and realizing you want to stay 18 forever. That’s what this is all about.

Essentially, I wrote this article as less of a review, and more of a check-this-out-right-now type of thing. It’s not the greatest music in the world, but it’s still fun in the same way that listening to early, early Blink-182 is still fun. They may have deviated from this sound over the years, but this is where it started. If you’re a fan of Brand New, you’ll love the demos. If you’re new to Brand New, listen to their later albums, and then come back to this, check it out, and laugh at how immature it is.

GRADE

Instruments: 78

Production: 95

Lyrics: 88

(Jesse Lacey is a goddamn god, but they were a bit immature)

Vocals: 90

(I like his voice, shut up bro)

OVERALL

87.75

Tags: , , , ,
No Comments »