Will

The War Is Over, Because Gin War Just Won (“Piece of Moon” by Gin War Review)

Having never heard Gin War before, I was very excited when I was told that they were very much like Weezer and that I was getting the awesome opportunity review them. Despite this, I tried to keep an open mind, so I could fully enjoy the style and not just hear Rivers Cuomo (Weezer) the entire time. I’m glad I did, because if I had I probably would not have been able to appreciate the fun, high…

“We’re Only Chasing That Ten Year Aniversary Tour” (Review of “They’re Only Chasing Safety” by Underoath)

Everyone has them: bands and albums that they originally misjudged but came to love eventually. For me, that would be Underoath, and above all, their album They’re Only Chasing Safety.  When it came to Christian metalcore, I had always been more of a Confide man, but that all changed when I had the opportunity to purchase this album…

Feels Like Fem-Punk (Review of “Feels Like” by Bully)

I must confess that I have a weakness for fem-punk. If it sounds even remotely like The Muffs or other old school punkers, you might as well have just taken the money from my wallet. I usually don’t find too many releases with female vocalists that sound like they might just kick your teeth in, but Bully is definitely one of those…

One of the worst feelings that a human being can feel is disappointment. We have all felt it, for a number of reasons. For music fans, an album that falls far short of expectations is almost as bad as never having Dad at any of your games. One of the most prominent disappointments for music was Blink-182’s comeback album, Neighborhoods. From the get-go, the listener gets this strong sense of…

When people talk about pity sex, it is usually a pretty depressing conversation. Unless you are talking about the band signed to Run for Cover Records, that is. Despite their sad lyrics rooted in 1990’s emo, you have to admit that they make you pretty freaking happy. Everything they have released is simply superb, and they have…

If there’s one thing that Man Overboard does well, it’s getting their songs stuck in your head. They continue this trend with Heavy Love, a good addition to their pop punk catalog. Sounding closer to their self-titled effort than to Heart Attack, it features a set of songs that demonstrate the pop sensibilities they have adapted as well as the fun, bombastic blast beats of Real Talk. “She’s In…

When it comes to the paths that bands take throughout their career, Senses Fail is an interesting subject. Where most bands move towards a more mature, mainstream sound that many would consider “selling out,” Senses Fail moved in the opposite direction, where many of these bands came from to begin with. With the release of Renacer,…

When I first listened to What Lies Beneath the Parkway North by Flammable Animals, I was taken back to freshmen year of high school, where I discovered bands like Finch and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. The heavy instrumentals combined with melodic vocals are an art often put to practice these days, but not many artists do it quite the same way as artists did back in the early 2000s. Opening…

One thing is for sure: you will not be grinning and bearing your way through Range Wars. Grin & Bear have found an interesting sound, meeting somewhere in the middle of the Front Bottoms and classic The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die. It’s incredibly fun, creative, and refreshing. The band successfully infuses emo sensibilities with their punk roots, without sounding…

Over eight months ago, Michael Frazier and I stood talking and watching a mutual friend play his first show with his new band.  There, he told me that he was writing music similar to the Clash, which is a departure from the band he had been playing with for over half of a decade.  The result, an EP named Virginia Son, exceeded all of my expectations. 

With help from friends that he met throughout his many tours with Random Holiday, he recorded the EP, which features five songs that are cohesive yet diverse.  It shows growth, shedding the pop punk sound that is often associated with his name, and trading it for more mature musicianship.  Instead of covering Fat Lip or Dammit, Mike Frazier sounds as if he would be right at home covering “Keepsake” by Gaslight Anthem or “When You Know” by Hostage Calm.

Tracks “Bones” and “Sunflower Soul” are what I would imagine a punk band fronted by the legendary Bob Dylan would sound: personal, honest, a little folky, and absolutely captivating, while still bombastic enough to keep fans jumping up and down. 

Speaking of bombastic: “Keep US Free” (US capitalized in a well-placed display of satire) explosively introduces us to what Mike thinks about war.  He sings “It’s not about right/About wrong/It’s about you/Beat them down/Show them how they’re meant to feel,” as he calls out the American attitude that war is the answer to everything, and that we are always right.  It’s well-crafted, purposeful prose packs as much of a punch as its Green Day-esque chorus.

This leads me to the best track on the album: “War On Love” is an upbeat, anti-war number with Frazier declaring “I won’t die for you” as he wages his own war on the American ideal one last time.  As the closing track, it is the song that most blatantly demonstrates his growth lyrically.  It captures exactly what punk was meant to be about: making change.  It’s catchy, it’s punky, it’s fluid, and it’s purpose is crystal clear.

As a whole, Virginia Son is an excellent EP.  The title track is excellently chosen, tying the album together.  It displays the personal touch that Mike shows in many of his songs, along with the new political savviness that he’s really had all along, but is just now bringing into the fold.  While these songs are not the pit-worthy pop punk jams that he is well known for, Mike Frazier has crafted something that hits a little deeper, with well thought-out ideas and concepts that are more complete than ever before.  As far as new beginnings go, I think that this is a far better start than many could ever hope for.

I’m going to be blatantly straightforward: The Maine’s American Candy is a good album. It’s just not up to the standards they have previously set with releases like Black and White and Forever Halloween. I think that is the hardest obstacle to overcome when listening to this album: understanding that it is a very good album, when you have the memories of all the feeling that their previous catalog has given you.

When the band announced the album, they stated that it would be less of the darker tones that we have become so acquainted with, and they have delivered. Songs like “English Girls” and “Diet Soda Society” are delivered with a double rainbow overhead compared to the lyrics that John O’Callaghan has been writing for the last four years.

The darkness is still present on this record, however (The Maine could never release an album without at least one song to rip at your emotional stability). Standout track “24 Floors” sounds like it would have been right at home on their previous records. Abandoning the pop punk roots that they nostalgically infused in the lighter hearted songs, O’Callaghan confesses a time in his life that he contemplated suicide. The result, while not tear jerking like “These Four Words” from the previous record, is a glimpse into the darkest moment in a man’s life. This moment, deterred only by the words he imagined someone close to him would say, is captured elegantly in three minutes and forty-three seconds. The way O’Callaghan describes the effects of his surroundings (“The TV talks at me/Apocalyptically/Fosters the fear in me”) is what validates the situation he is describing: in the worst moments, the human mind picks at the littlest things, fixating.

Like I said: the Maine’s American Candy is not a bad album. It’s honestly a good one, it just feels like a step sideways instead of a step forward for a band that has constantly evolved and leaped ahead in their sound. With the feel good vibe present through most of the album, it feels as if it were meant to follow Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.  If American Candy had come before Pioneer, or even Forever Halloween, it would have felt much more like a true contribution to the bands impressive catalog.

              There are few albums that truly affect a person in such a way that every time we hear it, it captures our attention.  It grasps our throats, and with the gentlest death grip, screams the secrets that is within its confines.  With the spit, sometimes mixed with tears brought on by these words, drying on our faces, we wonder what life was like before we heard this collection of songs.  So it is with 2010’s Almost Everything I Wish I’d Said The Last Time I Saw You… by Wakey!Wakey!

              The album title is a mouthful, and would almost be off-putting if it weren’t for the shear sadness that this simple phrase conveys. Michael Grubbs bares his soul in every single number on the album, in a way that just rips you to pieces and puts you back together.

              Featuring an interesting brand of traditional rock n’ roll infused with classical influences and just a dash of pop, Wakey!Wakey!’s first full length is a powerhouse of schizophrenia as every song decides its own identity for itself.  With very few similarities between songs, this makes for a disjointed feel when listening to the album as a whole.  When paired with Grubb’s confessional style songwriting, however, disjointed feels more than appropriate: it feels necessary.

              One of the best tracks on the album is by far “Dance So Good.”  Showcasing the slowest tempo of the album, Grubbs questioning “Sometimes I wonder how you stay so sad when you’re so beautiful,” leaves you with this feeling of sadness that only deepens when he sings, “I know you can’t stay/but I wish you would/Yeah, I wish you would.”

              Two other incredible tracks are “Light Outside” and “Take It Like A Man.”  In “Light Outside”, Grubbs tries to help someone that he loves and has saved him from a dark place previously.  While the song is a sad one, it features a glimmer of hope, the possibility that things get better, demonstrated in the goodness that he displays in his desire to help.  This track sits on the B-Side of the album, which is closed by the frantic, thrash-like “Take It Like A Man.”  “Take It Like A Man” is the fastest song on the record, with awkward, heavy orchestral transitions between offbeat verses and a melodic, traditional chorus, all of which is led by Grubbs’ piano playing ability.  The lyrics only add to its diversity: it is one of the only tracks in which Grubbs abandons his introspective nature, and instead advises the listener (perhaps a close friend) as he states, “So you should take it like a man, stand silent through it all.”  Just in case there are any doubts, however Grubbs quickly iterates “Cause if you take it like a man, I will be on your side.”

              The true standout, however, is “Car Crash.” If there was a song that was the complete opposite of “Light Outside,” it is this track.  The thought of hope is gone; Grubbs sings about a failed relationship, describing it as a “burning Cadillac.”  As he sings lines like “At least you were thrown clear/but I’m still stuck in here,” and “Just because you’re full of yourself does not mean I’m not full of you,” the listener feels him/herself burning alive just like poor Grubbs.  What makes this song truly great is the selflessness that is demonstrated throughout it.  The entire song is a metaphor for a relationship that has failed, in which Grubbs blamed for everything by the woman he loved.  Despite this, Grubbs is glad that she is okay, and not a complete wreck like he is. 

              So, what makes this album truly special? Michael Grubbs puts you in the driver’s seat and makes live through it all; the fight, the loss, and the heartbreak.  The most twisted part?  It leaves you wanted to revisit, again and again, just to find out what he meant by almost everything.

With the release of their full length entitled Forgettable, Sorority Noise was anything but.  The band proved their relevance to the scene with songs like “Dirty Ickes”, that had haunting lyrics but played with a lighter heart.  The haunting lyrics certainly make a return, but their sound is a different story with Joy, Departed.

It seems that the boys have done some growing up since we last visited them.  While still playing the brand of pop punk that draws parallels to contemporaries like Modern Baseball, they have polished it.  This sound, like a sword, is now utilized by so many bands that it often sounds dull.  Sorority Noise have managed to sharpen it, without abandoning their roots, and made an album that is thoroughly enjoyable without any of the drawbacks that can be experienced with similar bands.

Like so many other bands that emerged around the same time, Sorority Noise has taken its base sound and expanded upon it with other influences and directions.  Art School Wannabe has an upbeat vibe, and features a change in subject from their older material.  Instead of focusing on the negatives that he sees in himself, vocalist Cameron Boucher finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not as bad as he thinks he is.  

Fuchsia is a slow number with a somber tone, that is carried by quiet keys and plucked guitar strings, with a subtle undertone of orchestral strings.  As the ballad fades, it is quickly replaced with the riff of Using, the standout of the album.  Boucher confesses all of his bad habits, and how it has torn him apart.  The song features one of the most haunting bridges in the band’s catalog.  Throughout the song, he sings about using, smoking, and drinking, but the moment that truly pulls on your heartstrings is when he quietly sings “I started loving again” right before the band roars back to life as Boucher screams “I stopped wishing I was dead.”

The truth about Joy, Departed is that, just like their previous album title, it is misleading.  While Cameron Boucher is no where near joyous, it is clear that he is closer than he was a year ago.  He makes it obvious that he is trying to see himself as not a failure, but a humanbeing who makes a mistake every now and then.  Some will see Joy, Departed as mediocre, with no real groundbreaking moments on the record, but it is anything but.  The band does a spectacular job intermingling with Boucher’s lyrics, not trying to be too flashy or to sell records, but to reflect the honesty and simplicity in which Boucher tears himself down and tries to rebuild himself from the ground up.

8.5/10