Watertank – Destination Unknown

Posted on July 8, 2015 by News Team

Save for the album title, Destination Unknown (Solar Flare Records), from the French Alternative Rock outfit Watertank, is a focused and honed full-length, featuring memorable riffs and emotive harmonies that resonate long after album’s end.

Destination Unknown is the nine-song follow-up to the Nantes-based band’s 2013 debut, Sleepwalk. Clocking in under forty minutes, Destination Unknown takes to typical Alt-Rock tenants with ease: melodic riffs, anchored by pummeling percussion, deliver the band’s brand of all-purpose “heavy” through down-turned guitars, pristine production quality, and thoughtful songwriting.

Opening track ‘Automatic Reset,’ introduces Watertank’s sonic signature in big refrains and assertive vocals, as second track, ‘Fever,’ plays as a Foo Fighters-style, chord-driven anthem. Favorite track, ‘Contrails,’ calls up post-90s riff Rock ala Verve Pipe or Jawbox, and Watertank is expert in mingling precision and fuzz for the era-reminiscent sound.

‘DCVR’ follows with heart-bending notes, and the ‘Last Lost Hope’ is the album’s most sentimental and melancholically sweet. Watertank conjures up considerate melodies on ‘Surrender,’ which truly reign and ring on ‘Doomed Drifters’ and ‘Scheme,’ which deepen in the songs’ overall soft skin.

Closing track, ‘Destination Unknown,’ quiets the album to a close, and reflects and rests upon the album’s steady, consistent hearth.

Destination Unknown soars in equal insouciance and solidity, and each track composes a harmonious sum that is overall enjoyable and moving.

6.0/10

LINDSAY O’CONNOR

Audio: Rock Supergroup Nekokat Debut Single- Gimmie A Break

Posted on June 11, 2015 by News Team

Nekokat, Photo courtesy of Razor & Tie

Nekokat, a new band formed by members of The Ready Set and The Summer Set have released their debut single ‘Gimmie A Break’. Coming off of their forthcoming EP Communication (Washington Square/Razor & Tie), which drops on June 23rd. You can hear ‘Gimmie a Break’ at this link, or below:

https://soundcloud.com/wearenekokat/gimme-a-break/s-AKMXJ

Comprised of Jordan W from The Ready Set, musical conspirator Cameron Walker, and drummer Jess Bowen of The Summer Set, Nekokat recorded their EP with producer Eric Palmqist (Bad Suns, Night Riots) over five days earlier this spring.

Jordan W commented on his perspective of making music with a new band, after a long touring cycle ended with The Ready Set:

“I wanted to be at the beginning of something again that feel fresh and new.. That’s where the idea for the band came from. I tried to make an effort not to pursue sounds of the moment, but to create something that’s distinctly ours in a natural way.”

Nekokat online

Nekokat on Facebook

Nekokat on Twitter

Nekokat on Instagram

Dawn of a New Day – Mikko von Hertzen of Von Hertzen Brothers

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Steve Tovey

It’s a pleasant spring evening in one of the up and coming, trendier areas of North London and Ghost Cult is enjoying a coffee and a chinwag with Mikko Von Hertzen of Von Hertzen Brothers. Our discussion takes in musical choices and, of course the new record, New Day Rising (Spinefarm)…

“It’s YOU, isn’t it?” A 30-something woman looks somewhat star struck, gazing at the man stood next to me. “You’re the SINGER aren’t you?” My tall, elegant companion is polite enough to acknowledge that, indeed, he is the singer and it is, after all, him. The singer in question is Mikko Von Hertzen, lead vocalist with Finland’s finest rock band, the Von Hertzen Brothers and this, dear readers, is what being a rock star is all about; meeting and greeting fans and generally being far too cool for school.

Mikko poses for photos, takes hugs that go on ever so slightly too long and then it’s down to the business of meeting the media. Well, in this case, your humble Ghost Cult scribe. It’s a pleasant spring evening in one of the up and coming, trendier areas of North London and we are enjoying a coffee and a chinwag with Mikko, right at the start of the band’s UK tour in support of their latest and, perhaps, greatest record to date – the fresh and spiky New Day Rising (Spinefarm).

The seemingly inexorable rise of the Von Hertzen Brothers from hardworking studio grafters following in their father’s footsteps to feted cult progressives and now into internationally acclaimed rock band looks probably more swanlike to the outsider than the actually reality of matters for the band, but Mikko seems relaxed ahead of this leg of their European tour.

It’s 4 weeks to the day since New Day Rising came out. How have you felt about the reaction to it?

I feel good, man. Although it’s been out for only a month, we had the record ready since mid-November last year so, yeah, this is a case of living in your own shit for quite a while before you can get the record out! When you’re doing international releases like this one you need a long lead time for all the teams to be ready, to do the planning of the release – the marketing and so on.

As artists, of course there were moments when we we’re thinking “Is this too far to the mainstream?” or “Is this too rock or too pop?”, but this last month it’s been very encouraging. Our fans love this record and it’s been pleasing because, in addition to that, we have been able to gain a lot of new territories, new audiences. There are people who are looking at us for the first time, taking an interest in what we are doing, wanting to review the album, interview us for the first time so, yeah, it’s been a good few weeks.

Personally, I was hesitant about the album around Christmas time but now I feel very confident about the album being good, and it’s been fun to work the last month with better crowds than we had for the Nine Lives (also Spinefarm) tour.

If truth be known, everything feels like we are riding a bit of a wave…..

How do you deal with the pressure of having all these expectations on you – the production teams, marketing, management and so on demanding new songs? Does that affect you at all?

It doesn’t affect me that much to be honest. When I am writing songs, I am only thinking about the songs and I don’t really think about whether people are going to like it, but I do put a huge pressure on myself to want to pull something out that is good, to find new ways of doing things, to bring out new ideas for songs. Of course, we then have the discussions about what songs should be the arrowhead for the new record, are we going to go with a rock song, a pop song, a prog song…

Because we do all of that…

Indeed they do. New Day Rising is striking for its diversity of styles yet, running through it all has also been a straightforward approach that has perhaps only been hinted at on previous releases. Our conversation moves on to the band’s musical diversity and its effect on their relationship with their dedicated and knowledgeable fan base. In particular, the UK prog scene has been a particular champion of the band’s work. I wondered whether there was a risk that they might alienate their following and, in effect, inadvertently end up biting the hand that fed them. Mikko is reflective:

I think that we might be going through a cycle, he explains. Let’s look back at where this band has come from. The first album was, if you will, a bud that we…. probably…. took too early: it wasn’t a flower in bloom. It was an idea. It wasn’t a fully formed idea but we just went with it, you know? The second and third records were the Prog records where we nailed it but, and I have said this before, I don’t just want to do an another Approach (Dynasty).

We want to find something new, do something different. The reality is we like different types of music. We’re not just prog heads who like just Dream Theater and Pink Floyd. We love Abba. We love Dire Straits.

This love of different things was ingrained in us from a very early age from the stuff that was played in the family home. In some ways, the new stuff is often a reaction to the older stuff so this album especially we have reached the point where we have become the most straightforward as we are likely to.

It’s all about simple structures, simple rock songs or pop songs. It might be that the reaction to that will be an out and out prog record!

His smile is genuine and genuinely mischievous as he says it.

von Hertzen Brothers on Facebook

MAT DAVIES

Falling In Reverse – Just Like You

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Steve Tovey

“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

X Japan Planning Massive Show At Madison Square Garden Next Month

Posted on September 24, 2014 by News Team

Ground-breaking and beloved international rock favorites X Japan are closing in on their long awaited comeback show, their first in three years, next month at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Led by Yoshiki, their 11^th concert in 20 years at the storied venue has been much hyped, befitting of their status as icons, cult pop taste makers and showmen beyond compare. In the bands’ 32-plus years of existence they have at times defied classification, but have aligned themselves musically with thrash, progressive rock, symphonic metal and other styles, all done in concert with the flair of biggest production spectacles around. This event is the start of a likely very busy slate from X Japan who are planning a new album for release in 2015 from Warner Music.

Watch the trailer for the MSG concert here:

From The Press Release:

Internationally renowned rock icons X Japan announced today that tickets for their highly anticipated October 11th concert at Madison Square Garden will go on sale this Friday at 10:00AM EDT at http://www.ticketmaster.com/XJapan-tickets/artist/723909. The Madison Square Garden concert event is sponsored by New York Comic Con.

X Japan, led by co-founder, drummer, pianist and songwriter Yoshiki, will return to New York City for their first concert since 2010, performing both fan favorites and previously unreleased music from the band’s decades of recordings. This Madison Square Garden concert marks a significant milestone for the band who made their U.S. debut with a Rockefeller Center press conference over 20 years ago, which presented the fierce J-Rock stars to an American audience. The band is finally fulfilling the promise they made to the fans to return. The group has since toured 16 countries, sold over 30 million albums and singles combined, and sold out Japan’s 55,000 seat Tokyo Dome a record-setting 18 times. The concert trailer for X Japan Madison Square Garden can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/qI-zQehlQaI

X Japan has had a notoriously tumultuous career, even among the world of rock, which includes the loss of two of its five founding members to tragic death. Amid death and breakups, the band has steadfastly maintained X Japan’s vision and this year brought themselves together to perform where their U.S. story started, in New York City.

In line with October’s Madison Square Garden concert, Yoshiki and X Japan will appear at New York Comic Con, where Yoshiki will participate in a panel with Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee and discuss the pair’s collaborations, including the comic based on Yoshiki, Blood Red Dragon. New York Super Week is an immersive and inclusive experience that will bring the energy, passion and color of the entire pop culture universe to every corner of all five boroughs of New York City. Featuring concerts, comedy shows, gaming events, lectures, podcasts, storytelling, food tastings, and more – New York Super Week will take place October 3-12, leading into the East Coast’s biggest and most exciting convention – New York Comic Con.

About X Japan

X Japan returns to the United States this October bringing their legendarily edgy brand of rock to New York City for one night at the iconic Madison Square Garden. The concert event marks the band’s first show together in 3 years and will feature fan favorites as well as previously unreleased and never before performed music. X Japan is revered in their native Japan and around the world as a genre-defining and boundary pushing group, and have mesmerized audiences across the globe with their incendiary live performances. With worldwide sales of over 30-million, they’ve headlined a staggering 18 sold out shows at the 55,000-capacity Tokyo Dome known for historic concerts by Michael Jackson and Bon Jovi. Since forming in 1982, they’ve continued to challenge not only themselves but rock n’ roll as a genre.

X Japan first landed on American soil in 1992. Signed to Atlantic Records at the time they held a massive press conference at Rockefeller Center debuting their eye-catching personal style. Embracing a combination of flamboyant futurist imagery and Japanese history, X Japan’s “Visual-Kei” style would go on to immensely influence the anime and cosplay that’s so commonplace today. Prior to the group’s 1998 breakup they released five albums —Vanishing Vision [1998], Blue Blood [1989], Jealousy [1991], Art of Life [1993], and Dahlia [1996]—solidifying a sound that’s equally scorching and soaring.

The death of original guitarist Hide profoundly shook the band, but in 2007 Toshi and Yoshiki, friends since childhood, reunited. They paid tribute to Hide on tour by utilizing a hologram of the deceased guitarist—long before 2Pac’s appearance at Coachella – during that first Japanese reunion run. After hitting sixteen countries, the United States tour commenced with a triumphant debut performance at Lollapalooza 2010 and was followed by sold out shows from Los Angeles to New York.

In 2011 X Japan faced another deep loss with the death of original bassist Taiji. The band continued with him in spirit, and X Japan were named Best International Rock Band at the Golden Gods Awards in 2012.

In 2014, Yoshiki, Toshi, Pata, Heath, and Sugizo embodied that mentality in working on the upcoming release on Warner Music, scheduled to be released early next year.

Buy tickets to the show:

X Japan on Facebook

Boris – The Atlas Moth – Subrosa: Live At The Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA

Posted on August 11, 2014 by News Team

This has been a mighty year already for quality heavy and experimental music. When Boris puts out new music, it is a major happening across the fan base of many genres of music. Praise from critics is always nice, and Ghost Cult gave Boris a 9/10 for their new album. But when you hear more people talking up Noise (Sargent House) than many other big-ticket band releases this year save for a few, you know something cool is happening. Adding to that mix, The Atlas Moth, riding high off of their June album The Old Believer (Profound Lore), you have two of the most dynamic and interesting bands right now on the same tour. Then top it off with some avant-doom madness from Subrosa, and you have a can’t miss show top to bottom. While having three bands of a certain mystique and quality (especially Boris) brings out the super fans, it was a weird mix of indie hipsters, death metal beardos, bro dudes (hey it’s Boston) and even a few vest wearing dudes and chicks all together in a weird soup of humans on a Tuesday night in Beantown. Every metal show is basically an interesting social experiment!

Subrosa was up first and I was a little stunned at the hefty early crowd, already entranced by the first notes. Playing their deft, drone-y sludge, they hit you hard and deliberately. It’s hard not to be transfixed on the performance of front woman/axe slinger Rebecca Vernon. Her soul shaking vocals and skillful playing just smokes fierceness. Violinists Kim Pack and Sarah Pendelton pack in the drama with their intense, layered parts. I have spent reviews complaining about the the weird room that The Paradise is, and how it doesn’t do bands any favors sonically. Some of the highs from the strings were eaten up by the depth of the room, which is a shame since on record they are towering. Kim’s vocals were also a highlight tonight. The set leaned heavily on No Help for the Mighty Ones and More Constant Than The Gods (both on Profound Lore), and between the two, I favor the earlier album. Despite that, the bands’ best song on the night was ‘The Usher’ from More Constant…, and featured Dave Kush from TAM on guest vocals. Still, it was impossible at the end of their set not to feel tipsy from the strength and creativity of this band. I need to see Subrosa play a headline set, just once in my life. Just once.

Over the years I have learned how to spot greatness in bands, sometimes before they even know it. Usually, I am usually right about these things and The Atlas Moth is going to be a band that years from now, we point to this moment when they took off. They hit the stage tonight with a purpose and the poise of a veteran band that they have become. I have seen others shoot their collective load too fast when opening for Boris (because Boris is Boris), but not these guys. They just went up like any other show and eased into their set with ‘Jet Black Passenger’. The now mostly full room was just feeling it big time! Or it could have been some of the superb herb I sensed going around nearby me. Bathed in a wash of blues and reds (cool to watch from the crowd, crap for photographers), front man Stavros Giannopoulos and Kush on the conjoined vocals of shrieking despair and smoothness just melted the entire room. The entire band was just crushing tonight, as they jammed mostly new material from The Old Believer. The now modern classic of ‘Holes In The Desert’ was also welcomed to my ears on this night, and its a track that I hope never leaves the set. Kim from Subrosa came out and lent her playing to ‘The Sea Beyond’, which also was a treat. When the entire band gets to singing, screaming together as it does, it can be quite moving. Andrew Ragin, who produced the new album, also chimes in with synths, guitars and vocals is a powerhouse live. He is a difference maker. The secret weapon of the band is Dan Lasek on the drums. He has really upped the ante in terms of power and groove since he joined. Not since the mighty ISIS played some of their final shows in this very building a few years ago has post-metal been so well executed here. Bring on the headline tours boys!

Finally it was time for Boris. Some of the beardos had left after the penultimate act and there were some drunken bros who were loud as fuck the rest of the night, which pissed me off to no end. Moving right a long, Boris hit the stage with a boom, launching right into ‘Melody’ from Noise. Professional;, perfectly played, and most of all fun; Boris knows how to start an album or a party with uptempo, melodic bliss inducing rock. Takehashi Ohtani rocks the double-neck guitar/bass and moves flawlessly between either neck depending on what the parts require. Vocally he is a wizard: able to morph his voice to whatever the style of the songs call for. Atzuo Mizuno behind the kit is a powerhouse, as both a drummer and a performer. His vocals are also excellent and when he and Takehashi sing together, it is magical. Plowing right into ‘Vanilla’, another new song, the crowd let out a loud cheer. It was almost like a sporting event atmosphere in the room with many “oohs” and “ahhs” all night long. The opposite of her cohorts, Wata on guitar is quite restrained in her performances physically, but she is a beast on the axe. Her stoicism is only matched equally by her mastery of riffs, the occasional lead part, and feedback of course.

Although the band leaned heavily on the just released Noise, they mixed it up well with Pink and Amplifier Worship also represented too. The set list was constructed expertly as you would expect from this band. Raging rock and metal, introspective mellowness, followed again by waves of crashing melodies and other weirdness. Mid-set cuts such as ‘Ghost of Romance’, ‘Heavy Rain’ and ‘Cosmos’ just send you on an emotional rocket ship to space and back . Speaking of space, Boris has never been afraid of the space rock, but really labels can barely describe what this band does. They are reference points for those who need a paint by numbers experience. It’s much better than to let go and feel the show, rather than make mental notes such as “pop song, drone song, instrumental, thrash number”. Or maybe that is just me.

Closing out the night with panache, they chilled out with the somber ‘Angel’, then rocked with ‘Quicksilver’. After a drawn out feedback and noise rave-up, a friend of the bands’ came on stage and there was a sudden wedding proposal! The things you see at a show, man. Then the band returned and played ‘Vomitself’ and bid us all a good night!

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Boris Set List:

Melody
Vanilla
Pink
Statement
Ghost of Romance
Heavy Rain
Taiyo no Baka
Cosmos
Angel
Quicksilver

Encore:

Vomitself

Boris on Facebook

The Atlas Moth on Facebook

Subrosa on Facebook

WORDS: KEITH (KEEFY) CHACHKES

PHOTOS: MEG LOYAL PHOTOGRAPHY

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