Falling In Reverse – Coming Home


Infamous vocalist Ronnie Radke is renowned for over-introspection when it comes to his music. His band’s direction on previous album Just Like You, was a throwback to his Escape The Fate days as he felt people were yearning for that nostalgia trip. Having gotten that out of the system, fourth album Coming Home (Epitaph) was about finding and defining a style, and staying focused to a conceptual thread throughout the music. And there’s something very interesting going on in the Falling In Reverse camp this time around.Continue reading


Architects – All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us


Architects- All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us ghostcultmag

 

For the most part, Metalcore is a genre with an air of defiance and empowering; normally a genre that is anthemic and uplifting with a positive message throughout. On latest album album All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us (Epitaph), serious credit has to be given to Brits Architects as they break this notion and offer an album with a towering message of bleakness and the need for us to stand up for change, in one of the boldest releases in the genre to date.

What is immediately striking about AOGHAU is how genuinely angry it sounds. Far from the faux rage of many of their peers, Architects have genuine reasons to be pissed off. As vegans and environmental activists, much of the album’s focus is on humanities destruction of the planet, and the sentiment of it is undoubtedly clear and real. Frontman Sam Carter in particular gives his most impassioned displays ever and very rarely drops from a full throttle roar, which amplifies the tone even further. The guitar work of course is very prominent and has a much darker tone than the genre is renowned for, whilst keys, rather than dominate, increase the atmosphere with subtle usage.

Aside from the soundscapes and textures, there are other signs that Architects are going for greater ambition than many of their peers, namely the 8 plus minute closer ‘Memento Mori’ which interjects the album’s trademark heaviness with passages of brooding, near ambience before erupting once again in sheer, white hot fury. In a genre that for all its greatness can prove stagnant at times, these signs and moves put Architects in a class of their own when it comes to vision in the genre, and thus have not only exceeded all their own greatness, but have further proven why they are one of the shining lights in the style, and for British metal itself.

9.0/10

CHRIS TIPPELL

 

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Video: A Day To Remember – Bad Vibrations, New Album This Summer


A Day To Remember, photo credit James Hartley

A Day To Remember, photo credit James Hartley

A Day To Remember has announced its highly anticipated new album due to drop August 19th entitled Bad Vibrations from the bands’ own ADTR Records/Epitaph. The band has released the video for the title track, which you can watch at this link or below:

 

‘Bad Vibrations’ is the second single for the album, following ‘Paranoia’. A Day To Remember recorded the new album with producers Bill Stevenson (Descendents, Black Flag) and Jason Livermore (Rise Against, NOFX). Mixed by Grammy winner Andy Wallace (Foo Fighters, Slayer) Bad Vibrations is the follow-up to 2013’s Common Courtesy.

Frontman Jeremy McKinnon commented on the new album:

We completely changed the way we wrote, recorded and mixed this album. It was one of the most unique recording experiences we’ve ever had. We rented a cabin in the mountains 30 minutes outside of town and just wrote together in a room, which was the polar opposite of the last three albums we’ve made. And working with Bill was an awesome experience. He was a bit hard to read at first, so I think we subconsciously pushed ourselves harder to try to impress him. As a result, we gave this album everything we had.”

The band kicks off a US tour soon with Blink-182 on July 21st in Sand Diego CA, and will also headline the 2016 Journeys Alternative Press Awards fueled by Monster Energy at Schottenstein Center in Columbus, OH.

A Day To Remember online

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A Day To Remember onYoutube


Parkway Drive – Ire


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Holy fuck. Like Sergey Bubka in 1991 and his incredible year of breaking and re-breaking his own world records, the bar that was well and truly upped this year by While She Sleeps, Lamb Of God and Bring Me The Horizon, amongst others, has been raised yet again by Aussie moshers Parkway Drive and their fifth album, Ire (Resist/Epitaph). 2015 is proving the year of the big boys, and has seen belter of an album follow belter of an album. I don’t know what’s has been stirred into the metal waters this year, but bands are falling over themselves to release classic and defining moments.

While the main focus is still here in the now frontier, by opening the floodgates, as with the newest Trivium album, Parkway have allowed themselves to write a batch of great metal songs that reference classic rock, traditional metal, 90’s groove metal and metalcore while still sounding resolutely and proudly Parkway.

There’s no shame, or hiding things, either. From the outset, like Louis Van Gaal dropping trou. pointing to his nadgers and telling his Bayern Munich players not to take him on as had the biggest balls in the dressing room, Parkway let the new elements in their sound stand proud. Apparently spurred on by the realization that they’d painted themselves into a corner, with vocalist Winston McCall bravely stating “When you’re playing the same style of riff, the same drumming, the same vocals and same breakdowns for ten years, what point is there in people listening to your new record or even recording one if it sounds the exact same as the last one?”, there is no doubt things are different, superior and enhanced, this time around when ‘Destroyer’ kicks things off. A building lead guitar motif, cavernous drums and gang vocals build before a classic metal riff that would have graced The Last In Line (Vertigo) swaggers in, bold as brass.

Make no mistake, Ire is no 80’s worship, it just allows the elements that had previously restricted their song-writing to flourish.  All through there is chunk and menace, with groove – heavy guitars are still the dominant feature. McCall does an excellent job in maintaining intensity;  it would have been easy to have succumbed to peppering the album with by-numbers clean vocals, instead he mixes up death metal growls with ‘core gravel-throated shouts, to some melodic yet howled moments, and when his throat shatters, spitting “Twelve years I’ve fought for this! Twelve years my heart still beats for the ones who stood beside me!” in ‘Dedicated’ you can taste the validation. Ire is the album Parkway always had in them, but were too pre-occupied to write before.

From the massive Dio testicles of the opener, to the down-tuned stomp of second track ‘Dying To Believe’ we move onto ‘Vice Grip’, which is simply huge – Parkway refereeing a no DQ bout between In Flames and AC/DC. But there is no let up whatsoever as ‘Crushed’ chins the masses, being the best 90’s Roadrunner song since, well, 90’s Roadrunner, as if some pre-Roadrunner United amalgam had brought Max Cavalera, Dino Cazares and Robb Flynn together in 1995 to produce one of the hugest grooves this side of the Mariana Trench.

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Parkway Drive

Elsewhere, ‘Writings On The Wall’ is menacing, taking a stalkers change of pace, not too dissimilar to King 810’s slower numbers but more effective, with McCall ominous, while ‘The Sound Of Violence’ revisits ‘Sleepwalker’s urgent groove, a song on the prowl. In an album full of massive bangers, ‘Vicious’ stands its ground and stands out, even deep in the album running order, a bone fide anthem, before ‘A Deathless Song’ is a more sombre epic that takes us home in a sea of guitar harmonies.

There is no other way to say this, Ire is Parkway Drive with a super power-up; bigger and so much more larger-than-life than expected. The rampant aggressive grooves that define their sound fleck every track with reckless abandon, but by allowing the very best of the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 00’s to infiltrate where appropriate, Parkway Drive have created an absolute monster.

 

9.5/10

 

STEVE TOVEY


Faith No More – Refused: Live At Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, Boston MA


faith no more refused tour dates

August 4th, 2015 was a special day in Boston, MA history and not because of the freakishly sized hail and multiple thunder storms. This night was the return of the legendary Faith No More. The Blue Hills Bank Pavilion was packed in tight with fans (some still damp from the storms) ready to have memorable sing-a-longs with Mike Patton and company. Before they were to hit the stage, the crowd was warmed up by opening act, Refused.

Refused, by Meg Loyal Photography

Refused, by Meg Loyal Photography

Never having a chance to listen to them previously, I made sure I was right on time to catch the entire set from Refused. The lead vocalist, Dennis Lyxzen, was entertaining to watch as he danced around the stage and was literally oozing charisma. There were a few occasions where he even jumped down into the crowd, walking among the rows of seats filled with fans, and high-fiving everyone. As for the set list, they played three tracks from their latest release, Freedom (Epitaph Records), and then mixing in older material as well. One of the bigger pops of the set came during ‘The Deadly Rhythm’ when the band hit the interlude and busted out the intro section of Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood’. Overall, Refused did a great job in getting the Boston crowd pumped up and ready for Faith No More.

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

After what seemed like hours waiting for the set to start, Faith No More was on stage and delivering hit after hit. The stage was completely white outside of the large array of plotted flower arrangements all over the stage. The set list was stacked from the opener, ‘The Real Thing’, down to the closing encore tracks, ‘Motherfucker’ and ‘Just A Man’. Given that this tour was to promote the latest album, Sol Invictus (Reclamation Records), it did not surprise me that a majority of the tracks would come from this album. Some favorite new tracks played include ‘Separation Anxiety’, ‘Superhero’, and ‘Matador’. Since barring the recent show this spring, Faith No More had not been in Boston in a handful or two of years, it was imperative that the rowdy fans got to hear some old classics. ‘Be Aggressive’, ‘Midlife Crisis’, ‘Evidence’, ‘Epic’, ‘Ashes to Ashes’, and of course their cover of ‘Easy’ were some of the highlights of the set. During the last song of the evening, ‘Just A Man’, Mike Patton crowd surfed into the seated audience while still belting out the lyrics flawlessly. Certainly a first in my concert going experiences. After the encore ended, most fans stayed for a few extra minutes trying to work a second encore out of the band, but security unfortunately ended this quickly.

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

Overall this was everything I had hoped for and more for my first time seeing Faith No More after listening to their music for the better part of fifteen years. The openers, Refused, got everyone worked up and ready to go. Faith No More’s live presence, the set list, sound, really everything, was downright flawless. I could go on about how I really wanted a different song here and there, but I consider myself beyond fortunate to see this band play live since when I started listening to them, they had already broken up. It was an absolute pleasure watching this band live and I was not let down as these guys still bring it!

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

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WORDS BY TIM LEDIN

PHOTOS BY MEG LOYAL PHOTOGRAPHY


Letlive Tease Return To the Studio For New Album


letlive., Photo by Boston Chuck Photography

letlive., Photo by Boston Chuck Photography

In a post to the bands’ Instagram account, letlive. have indicated they have entered the recording studio to begin tracking their fourth album. Their last album, The Blackest Beautiful was released in 2013. An expected late year/early 2016 release on Epitaph is forthcoming.

 

start. #20XX

A photo posted by letlive. (@letliveperiod) on


On The Road… with Retox and Whores


retox and whores

Retox is on the road touring behind their just released killer album Beneath California (Three. One. G Records), destroying stages in droves and playing to their rabid fans in sweaty packed clubs. Teaming up with the manic noise psychos in Whores, this has surely been one of the best bills of the early year so far. On a recent stop in Cambridge MA, the band played The Middle East Nightclub. On this night they were joined by I Am Become Death and Fucking Invincible (not pictured) as well. Special thanks to Meg Loyal of Meg Loyal Photography for this photo set from the tour.

Retox (22 of 32)

Retox, photo by Meg Loyal Photography

 

Retox (27 of 32)

Retox, photo by Meg Loyal Photography

 

Whores, photo by Meg Loyal Photography

Whores, photo by Meg Loyal Photography

I Am Become Death,  Meg Loyal Photography

I Am Become Death, Meg Loyal Photography

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PHOTOS BY MEG LOYAL PHOTOGRAPHY


Falling In Reverse – Just Like You


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“Na na na na, I’m aware I am an asshole” chirps Ronnie Radke seconds into the perky title track of the third Falling In Reverse album, Just Like You (Epitaph); a relevant self-aware line for the people who find the former Escape The Fate frontman a hurdle to get over in and of himself. While some won’t listen to Megadeth because of Dave Mustaine’s crazy-ass bollock spouting (rather than the valid reason they haven’t done anything worthwhile for 25 years), liking Falling in Reverse shouldn’t mean forgiving or condoning his actions, as there has to be a separation between the man and the band.

Because, while Just Like You is not the album where Radke and his compadres grow up, it is the one where they produce a convincing, enjoyable slice of modern pop-rock fun and catchy metalcore.

‘Chemical Prisoner’, an energetic tune that recalls A at their best, kicks things off as the opening quartet of tunes of the album bring the sun and the fun, with staccato rock bouncing shoulder to shoulder with pop sensibilities. There are dashes of My Chemical Romance as spirited verses drop to half-time anthemic choruses, while English lead guitarist Jackie Vincent shines with a series of Yngwie-esque classical tinged solos. Some of the lyrics are dreadful, and the “OMG! You make me cum!” on ‘Sexy Drug’ will make parents the world over cringe, but the sugary swagger, the hook-filled rapid-vocal delivery in the verses and the festival-friendly chorus more than make up for it.

There’s plenty of looking to the big hitters for influence as ‘Just Like You’ could be Blink 182 jamming with Fall Out Boy while choruses throughout point to Def Leppard and Warrant albums in the collection. Elsewhere, ‘Guillotine IV’ and ‘The Bitter End’ showcase the other side of Falling… as they head back to beatdown town and out Asking Alexandria Asking Alexandria as they churn through the metalcore, but never at the expense of the chorus or the song.  ‘My Heart’s To Blame’ is a slower, more considered number, not a million miles away from some of the more thoughtful moments of Sempiternal (RCA/Epitaph), and ‘Wait and See’ flits from Eminem to King 810 to Panic! At The Disco, further showing the diversity on offer.

What is interesting is that, while the grind of a track like ‘Die For You’ spices up proceedings and adds an impetus, where Falling In Reverse truly shine is when they cast off the trappings of trying to hang with the heavy, and let the pop rock bravado shine through. These guys can write hits, and while they could be a great rock band, they’re not much better than average when they do their metalcore thang – it makes you wonder if they’re trying to prove something that doesn’t need proving.

However, when all is said and done, Just Like You is a swag-bag full of new toys for their hordes of teenage fans to sing along and lose their shit to, and I have a feeling Ronnie and the boys are going to do pretty damn well out of it, thank you very much.

OMG.

 

7.5/10

Falling In Reverse on Facebook

 

STEVE TOVEY