reviews or gtfo

Artist: The Acacia Strain
Album: Wormwood
Genre: Metalcore/Deathcore
Year: 2010
Website: http://www.myspace.com/theacaciastrain

Download > http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DTG9IZ7A

Escape The Fate [2010]
Oh Ronnie where art thou?
That question immediatly comes to mind after listening to the newest ETF release, their self titled third studio album, and simply their worst. With an EP and a full studio album, Escape The Fate were picking up fans…and fast! Until, that fateful day when it was revealed that their frontman Ronnie Radke (who practically was ETF) got kicked out of the band. Only to be replaced by the world’s biggest wannabe loser Craig Mabbit, former vocalist for Blessthefall. Now I told myself I wouldn’t be biased in this review by expressing the review purely on my hatred for Mabbit and sorrow for Radke who is currently in the new band, Falling In Reverse. As hard as it will be to make this review non biased, it shall be done.

When ETF’s second album, This War Is Ours, came out. I certainly expected it to be horrible, however, it wasn’t too bad. Don’t get me wrong, it was not nearly as good as Dying Is Your Latest Fashion, but it at least wasn’t the death…this album is. Tonight I gave this album a chance. I downloaded it and listened to it respectively and would have admitted if the album was a good effort, as a reviewer, however, I wasn’t just bored, I was confused. I don’t understand why ETF have changed their style to become more rock oriented. They had a nice post-hardcore sound to them, and they blew it all away for this cheap and predictable cheesey new sound. TWIO was gradually leaving the post-hardcore scene and progressing towards this however, this album has completely left the post-hardcore genre almost. The songs sound like they are trying to be “epic” ballads influenced by Queen, see the album cover, and the songs that are radio friendly don’t really do anything at all. Sure, the songs are somewhat catchy, but I would more describe them as boring then catchy. The only promising attribute to this disappinting album is the guitar work. Every now and again there are good guitar solos presented in the album but that’s about it. Everything else is pretty mediocre to low. Especially Mabbit’s boring vocals.

I’m sorry for the fans, if I sound like a hater but I can assure you that I am not being biased for this review. I personally think Mabbit is a better screamer than he is singer and as to why he doesn’t scream more often is beyond me. So to conclude the review, whilst some songs contain good lead guitar work and catchy choruses, most of the album shares way too many flaws and doesn’t prove to exceed it’s predecessor. Hopefully Ronnie’s new band that should be releasing an album fairly soon will show this release up because it’s a legit thumbs down from me to this new installment and I guess better luck next time boys.

4 out of 10 

Listen to:
Massacre
Issues
and The Aftermath (The Guillotine Part III)
in order to determine what you think about this album and Escape The Fate’s new sound.

- Jacob.

There Is A Hell Believe Me I’ve Seen It, There Is A Heaven Let’s Keep It A Secret [2010]
Bring Me The Horizon enjoy change. Listen to their previous two albums and EP and you will be able to hear the differences in each one. Whether they change for the better or for the worse, their talent for writing music is maturing. Everybody enjoyed Count Your Blessings when it came out. It was a well structured deathcore release, not too heavy, however not lacking any expectations. If you take a look at the lyrics however, they are immature. Mainly about killing sluts and a lot of fuck you’s to frontman Oliver Syke’s ex girlfriend. Note, see: Medusa. Suicide Season was quite a dramatic change in music style. It was more original, it was hard to put in one genre, often just classified as metalcore, however, we all know there’s more to the album than that. The album was fun yet still heavy which pleased fans. It’s downfall was that it, at times, sounded fair messy and unorganised, but only slightly. Not to worry though because There Is A Hell improves on these areas. Now let’s look at this new release.

The album’s title is quite ridiculous along with the weird artwork. Well, that is, until you look into the concept of the album. I won’t spoil anything for people who want to figure it out for themselves but it is quite an intellectual concept, and I hope to master it sometime soon. I think BMTH have always liked creating long songs because it is quite a lengthy album clocking in at around 52 minutes. Normally I would think that is a mistake for a hardcore/metalcore band but this is definatly an exception. Reviewers are loving this album, it scored 5/5 in Kerrang and I do not think they are overexaggerating. BMTH have become more experimental and it is working. The music is just simply more original, with featured vocals on almost every song, each track holds a variety.

A song that caught my attention almost as soon as I heard it is the epic, Blessed With A Curse, which follows the nice instrumental Memorial. You can hear some classic guitar near the end of the song which makes it quite the masterpiece in my mind. Another standout track is the opener, Crucify Me. This song going for over 6 minutes may seem ridiculous however, BMTH pulls it off yet again. Their likings for electro music is put in good use here. Despite what arrogant and ignorant people say, this is the album we were all waiting for when we knew of BMTH’s change and Suicide Season’s mediocre effort. Despite a few songs sounding a little the same, (but this is a very minor problem in the almost flawless album) they have finally pulled off something great and I think it is one of the strongest releases of 2010 and definatly their strongest to date.

9 out of 10 

Top 3 songs.
1. Crucify Me
2. It Never Ends
3. Blessed With A Curse

You can catch BMTH at Soundwave early next year.

- Jacob.

Whether it was intentional or not, these three albums are seen as hipster. This is shown by listening to the songs themselves on each album and by understanding the concepts. The albums (two post-hardcore and one metalcore) are displayed below in an order of how “hipster” they were and still are seen as today.

3. Bring Me The Horizon: There Is A Hell Believe Me I’ve Seen It, There Is A Heaven Let’s Keep It A Secret
At first, the silly album title and awkward artwork caused people to doubt this album before it had been released. However, with the release of It Never Ends, minds were definatly changed.
Standout “hipster” tracks: Crucify Me, It Never Ends, Fuck

2. House Vs. Hurricane: Perspectives
There’s not much to say here because the only thing you need to do is listen to the songs presented on this album and the lyrics, then you’ll understand why I’ve included it here.
Standout “hipster” tracks: All of them, however strongly, Leaps & Bounds

1. The Amity Affliction: Youngbloods
Did you really not see this coming? Everything about this album earns it as the number one of this short list. From the music itself, to the album’s cover and even the track names such as “Fire Or Knife.” For fuck’s sake, one of the song’s is even titled “Anchors”
Standout “hipster” tracks: Anchors….

- Jacob.

Review requested by an Anonymous.

What Is Love? [2010]
Never Shout Never is one of those American musicians that you’d think would rarely leave their country and go to Warped Tour every single year. However, he is on the 2011 Soundwave Lineup so fans can finally catch him in Australia. It unannounced whether he will be having a side show or not as of now. Anyway, he releases new music quite frequently. He had released nothing but EPs up until this year. 2010 saw him release his debut mini album titled What Is Love? and then his debut album titled Harmony, which I am yet to listen to and possibly review.

I stumbled across Never Shout Never about a year and a half ago with the release of his EP Me & My Uke, which I enjoyed very much and led me on to listening to his previous EP called The Yippee EP. Some time later he went on to release another EP called The Summer EP. The one thing I’ve noticed about these releases is that with each new EP, Christofer’s music and songwriting improves. With What Is Love? being one of his newer releases, it is quite a good mini album. It holds eight songs which none go for longer than three minutes with the exception of the last track, The Past, which is a deep song coming from Ingle’s heart, no doubt. The songs are fun to listen to, nice and catchy and they hold a special happy feeling within each one. Even with the songs that sound strong and emotional, you can still feel the happiness that Ingle possesses in his songwriting. What Is Love? is an amazing song, being the strongest on the album as the title track. Another bonus about the mini album is the fact that Ingle does not just proceed with acoustic guitar only for every song, he has included other instruments to suit each track respectively and it is an ultimate positive.

All in all, What Is Love? is an improvement no doubt for Never Shout Never, and I’m sure the new album Harmony is even better. If you are a fan already then this release can not disappoint because it matches all expectations from a musician like Ingle. Also, if you are unaware of the project that is Never Shout Never, then welcome aboard with his strongest release to date.

- Jacob.

With the departure of their old vocalist Damo, The Red Shore went through a rough time and changes, such as genre, members and the big one, whether to carry on. As we know they still are. During early Novemeber, The Red Shore went on tour with US hardcore heavyweights The Acacia Strain, and just before they set sail on this massive tour, Jamie Hope and Jake Green, The Red Shores vocalist and drummer at the time, decided to leave. Jake had to leave due to sustained injury from that fatal crash that ended the lives of Damo and Andy (Close friend) and was affecting Jakes performance on the drums, with his leave Tim Shearman, Ex Samsara and Her Nightmare drummer has perminantly filled the gap. Jamie Left due to personal reasons, coping with the crash and other things and Ex Before The Throne vocalist Chase Butler had briefly taken roll as Vocalist then it wasnt till after their tour with The Acacia Strain, it was confirmed that Chase Butler was vocalist for The Red Shore.

With everything set and underway, the next thing to do was to record a new album. The highly anticipated The Avarice Of Man. From from their Demo and EP as a Deathcore genre then moving to the Deathmetal genre with Unconsecreted and Lost Verses, They decided to stick with the Deathmetal scene and made another album, which is a bit more tech but soundes pretty mediocre. Chase Butler is good at what he does, but Jamie Hope was The Red Shore, he could do highs, lows, pig squeals, fast and slow, where as Chase just dows low stuff, all the time and it gets rather boring, kind of sounds like Phil Bozeman from Whitechapel. The riffs are good, the first time you hear it. Most songs repeat ALOT, but it is technical as fuck, same goes with bass aswell, less chugging and more sweeps and tapping, which just sounds amazing, but like i said, repedative. The drums are insane but repedative, no breakdowns, nothing but blast beats all the time. With the repitition of instruments and long songs, it makes this album very medicore, which is rather upsetting, because The Red Shore are one of my favourite bands and I had very high expectations for this album. Still listen to it cause its The Red Shore and its good deathmetal :)

For fans of Whitechapel, new Thy Art Is Muder, The Black Dahlia Murder and Oceano.

6 out of 10

Top 3 songs.
1. The Seed Of Annihiliation.
2. The Avarice Of Man.
3. And It’s Own.

Catch The Red Shore with Thy Art Is Murder on Despised Icons last Australian tour ever!

- Brodie.

Lost Boy [2010]

I stumbled across this album a few weeks ago. I was looking for more music to download and I was asking mates of any hardcore albums / bands that they reccommended for me. I was told that MyChildren MyBride were a good hardcore band and that their new album Lost Boy would fit what I was after quite nicely. For some reason I had a feeling that they would just be another average hardcore band that wouldn’t stand out to me. I decided to give the album a chance. It only took me a couple of listens to realise how wrong I had been.

The thing that makes Lost Boy such a great hardcore album is the fact that the band is able to create songs of melody that contain the right amount of heaviness and breakdowns. A lot of hardcore bands are only able to master one of these styles which they lack skill at the other. MyChildren MyBride is one of the rare bands that can master both such as The Ghost Inside and Hand Of Mercy can. The album brings melody with every song and if just that is not enough, you find on every song, after a great melodic structure, the song will comfortably and respectively maintain that same heaviness the band possesses by including a breakdown which does not feel like it has just been thrown in regardless of the song structure just for the kids to throwdown to.

The musicians play their parts well throughout the whole album. As I write this, trying to think of a flaw the album holds, I struggle to think of one. However, I have not heard any of the other albums by MyChildren MyBride therefore i can not compare this album to their past records, however, I can compare it to what the hardcore genre demands in a good solid hardcore album, and this album fits these expectations perfectly with a successful new release.

- Jacob.

Hello followers, Jacob and I are rather appologetic as to the lack of our posting of reviews, due to school with Yearly and School Certificate exams, holidays and other extracurricular activities.

This blog is not dead, we are still keen to do reviews and take requests, whether it be Music, Games or Movies. We hope you have not forgotten about us, and we shall be posting reviews ASAP. :)

Future reviews.

Movies.
Law Abiding Citizen
American History X

Albums.
The Acacia Strain - Wormwood
Parkway Drive - Killing With A Smile
Hold Your Own - What To Call A World.
Bring Me The Horizon - There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It, There Is A Heaven, Lets Keep It A Secret.
The Devil Wears Prada - Zombie EP
Miles Away - Endless Roads
The Red Shore - The Avarice Of Man

Games.
Dead Rising 2

If we have forgotten any previous requests, please message us.
Again, a thousand sorrys and much love.

- Brodie.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Best Animated Feature: won
Berlin International Film Festival: Golden Berlin Bear: won
Spirited Away overtook Titanic (at the time the top grossing film worldwide) in the Japanese box office to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history.

As you can see this Japanese animated film was highly successful and is absolutely huge. The film was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli (a Japanese animation film studio who have produced such films as, Howls Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbour Totoro and the new highly anticipated Ponyo [aka Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea]). The film follows a sullen ten-year-old girl who is in the process of moving to a new town (presumably in the countryside) with her family, and chronicles her adventures in a world of spirits and monsters.

Hayao Miyazaki is such a talented man with a huge imagination. All of his films are so enjoyable for people of all ages. Spirited Away is one of my all time favourite movies and I could watch it so many times yet still be entertained. Everything is so bizarre but in a good way. The images, graphics and colours are a stunning experience. Everything about this film is adoring. The film is fairly long for an anime film, running at 125 minutes. That is not to worry though because the film does not dull down or lose interest at all. I don’t think I could write too long of a review here because it is basically a perfect movie in my eyes. I just wanted to include it to share how spectacular it actually is.

There are seventeen proper Studio Ghibli movies all up now, most being written and dircted by Hayao Miyazaki himself. It is my recommendation that you see as many of them as possible because they are all completely original and of a high anticipation. All in all, Spirited Away remains to be one of my all time favourites and is a unforgettable experience of a film. Whether you think I am talking it up too much for what it is or not, I really couldn’t care less because in my eyes, the film is perfection.

- Jacob.