#iltos

Media outlets report that Bring Me The Horizon have gone pop?

Who fucking cares? Who the fuck cares? No artist is making music for you, and if they are they’re doing it for the wrong reasons. Artists don’t make music for you to listen to, they create because they need to, because not writing these songs would be detrimental to their demise. Yeah I said it. What doesn’t surprise me is people being mad about this now… This band went lighter into the mainstream realm fucking years ago. The fact that they’ve gone deeper into what has brought them success is exactly what I expect musicians in 2019 to do. There are way more bands and artists to compete with, even though art isn’t meant to be a competition, it definitely has turned into one. It’s even a pissing contest by people on social media about who can shit on them the most. Every shitty snotty comment about their style changes always come from people who haven’t brought anything to the table. Look if Animals As Leaders wants to tear into them, I’ll listen, but Fuccboi34 on Instagram, kindly fuck off 10x faster than you should.

JUST GONNA PUT THIS OUT THERE… IF YOU SAY THE WORDS “I SEE YOU” IN REFERENCE TO AN ARTIST OR ATHLETE, YOU BETTER BE AHEAD OF THEM IN THE GAME. IT IS NOT MEANT FOR SOME COUCH RIDER TO SAY THIS TO ARTISTS TRAVELLING THE GLOBE HEADLINING FESTIVALS, OF COURSE YOU SEE THEM, THEY’RE EVERYWHERE. YET NO ONE SEES YOU. GET IT? YOU HAVE TO BE SEEN TO SEE. THAT IS HOW THIS SAYING WORKS.

Back at it with the Ill Behavior… If you need BMTH to be deathcore for you to listen to them, then apparently you like their old stuff. We don’t commend or bash that idea, we understand it, hell half of the idea of this site is to also make fun of that elitist viewpoint on today’s music. We instead would like you to see something for what it is, space. When this band decided to take a left turn into popular sounds, they brought with them their heavier roots. So no matter what, there’s always going to be that heavy guitar and pounding drums regardless of what Oli and Jordan do vocally. Their elements from 2004 are going to dwindle over time because well, they aren’t going to be the same people they were 15 years ago… are you the same person you were 15 years ago? I know flat out the guy I was in 2004 would beat the fuck out of the guy I am in 2019. And I’m glad I can say that, because it means I’ve changed. For the better. You might hate that you can’t react at their shows the same way you did at Warped 2008. Here’s my thing… this band used to get so wasted on stage that they would blow chunks on their equipment rendering their instruments useless. Yeah. You want those guys back? I know I don’t. I love who they’ve evolved into. Their grown ass men with heart and an absolute shit ton of integrity.

People act like they could live in Oli’s shoes for more than an hour and act the same way he did 15 years ago. It’s absurd. The righteousness in fandom’s needs to go away. You can have your opinions but it sure seems like a lot of people who want the deathcore BMTH are fucking ignoring the amazing deathcore that’s out there now. You can give up on this shit if it doesn’t fit your teacup baby, I just think you can move on. If you still want the heavy shit I suggest checking out Lorna Shore, Whitechapel, and Enterprise Earth all have records coming out in 2019. This hole created by these dudes growing up and you crying about 2006 can be easily filled by the countless bands pushing the sounds you’re looking for. Instead of bashing the evolution of artists, evolve your listening, or be the elitist you’re trying so hard for all of us to consider you to be. That’s okay whichever you choose, but with so much good music out there and the ability to find whatever your looking for without walking miles, riding a bus to the city, then sitting in a record shop for hours, AND PAYING FOR THE FUCKING MUSIC maybe cut back the bitching on what art you think you’re owed.

NO ONE PUT A GUN TO YOUR HEAD TO MAKE YOU BUY THEIR RECORDS, TICKETS, MERCH. SO USING THE WORD “UNDERWHELMED” JUST SHOWS HOW SPOILED WE HAVE BECOME.

Try growing up, having empathy, and maybe realizing just because it’s more accessible to make music doesn’t make it that much easier to be a creative group with consistent releases of the same genre over and over when your influences and lives continue to evolve. Look, some people will play thrash metal forever, good on them. Others will change. Others will do weird shit because experimenting with art is actually a fucking blast, the shitty commenters don’t know this because all they do is “performance art” by shitting on actual artists on social media.

Creating a culture that deems itself worthy of bashing artists while those doing the shit-talking are not bringing anything to the table is what bothers me the most. If the people saying these records these bands are making are terrible just so happen to be creative geniuses, then I wouldn’t be so apt to rant about this shit. Problem is, Derek in St Louis doesn’t know how to play guitar outside of an old version of Garage Band thinks he needs to rip into artists like BMTH. A group that has toured all over the world, worked with countless award winning artists, producers, fucking orchestras, smashing Coldplay’s dinner, headlining festivals, and touching millions of people in the process… thanks Derek, glad you could bring your raw unadulterated artwork in comment form.

I truly hope the teen angst dissipates when you find bands that you actually like. See we love Bring Me The Horizon here. Actually, love all the shit they put out. Not just because we’re fans of the dudes but because they write music that has spoke to us at DIFFERENT points in our life. Just because you’re 14 and pissed as fuck doesn’t mean the dudes dealing with a divorce, owning a tattoo shop, clothing company, writing a record, and having to please millions of Derek’s across the world have to stop what their doing and write Chelsea Smile 2. Maybe this new music isn’t for you, that happens ya know? It really does. I can guarantee this band didn’t write this record to shut anyone up, it instead intended to be something that helps them alleviate the Derek’s from their fan-base completely. “Its tripe” or “It’s shit” and so is your discography Derek. Where the fuck is your discography Derek? I want to listen to your glorious gift to the world Derek, give me your albums. Dropbox me all your music Derek’s out there. For now I’m gonna go put “Medicine” and “mother tongue” on because it feels so good to listen to music that is fucking delicious to us and also painfully excruciating to the Derek’s of the world.

BMTH IS HERE FEBRUARY 4TH WITH THRICE AND THE FEVER 333. WE WILL BE THERE, HOW ABOUT YOU DETROIT?

California natives have taken over the sad boy emo kid movement over the last few years. From opening shows for Knuckle Puck to damn near headlining Warped Tour’s final cross country trek.

Their sound feels like a miserable cold Mid West winter but these beautifully emotional dudes are actually from Southern California. Something that caught me so off guard as I expected Movements to be a band from Illinois or Minnesota or here in Michigan. Safe to say the sound that put Mid West Pop Punk and Emo on the map have given way to all the emos everywhere via the internet, and I couldn’t be happier.

I wish this shit was around 15 years ago, maybe then my dark period would’ve been a little brighter.

If you listen to Movements, this song sticks out. If this shit is new to you, watch this video and work your way backwards. This is a wonderful band that really pulls at the heart strings of all of us Mid West saddies sitting around waiting for the thaw to really get underway, STILL! Check out the glitched out video for “Full Circle” below and hit the Majestic May 17th for their next Detroit tour date.

Lorna Shore had a shakeup in 2018 as longtime vocalist Tom Barber left to join Chelsea Grin. For weeks we wondered who would take the helm and in comes CJ McCreery formerly of Signs of the Swarm. They dropped a video for “This Is Hell” which instilled reassurance to fans around the world that Lorna Shore isn’t going anywhere. This band has put out some of the heaviest shit I’ve ever heard in my life. They write with such accentuated technical skill that my simpleton emo and punk split mind can’t ever figure out half the instrumentation these weirdos have created.

BLINK-182

TURNSTILE

NEW FOUND GLORY

LEANNA FIRESTONE

Earlier in September, I was supposed to have surgery. We have been planning on this for months. The weekend before the operation and I caught Covid. I would then get a rescheduled date for the 28th, which just so happened to be the Meshuggah show in MICHIGAN. I knew immediately that I was saying yes to not photographing a tour I was already booked to cover.

Then a week before the new date I got incredibly stoned and had one of those life-affirming conversations with myself. I know, I am a crazy person. But, it needed to happen. I realized that whenever life tells me “no” I always take that for the answer. Now, this isn’t some weird way of being gross, but what I am saying is I accept that there isn’t another way of doing things when life gives me adversity. I just accept that and move on with my life. Well, I wasn’t feeling that way last week. I was feeling like my life has gotten really good and that I need to do more about controlling the outcome of things.

So, I did what most people in Michigan wouldn’t do, I opted to go to ohio. Don’t hate me, it’s a joke. Even if it’s bad, still a joke. To my shocking reaction, I was able to get approved for a switch from the Royal Oak show to cleveland.

Saturday I would drive down alone, almost 3 hours from my door to the box office at the venue. And then that’s when things got fucky. A hangup at the venue box office would keep me outside well into Converge’s set… And that’s where I’m gonna stop. Because, as much as I want to just blast the people and go deep into what was said and how it was said, I can’t. It’s not worth it. I’ve already caused shit this week. And well, I redeemed myself in Royal Oak a few days after this, even if it meant I broke some rules I shouldn’t have. I will say this, it was unbelievably frustrating, especially because once I got to the venue the rest of the staff and concertgoers were fantastic. Not to mention the ride to cleveland from Detroit was one of the best of my entire life. I got a massive dose of closure in my personal life. I rode down on a gorgeous warm day where the sky had incredible clouds the entire way down. I was riding a high I haven’t felt in my life. Add on top of it that I was going to another city to photograph a concert bill that is unreal.

And then a massive cliff dive into stress. That’s right life, don’t ride too high ya phoenix in flames loving mother fuckers. ”You are not allowed to be that happy” is what life told me it also went in on me… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ”It is not supposed to be this good for you.” ”You do not deserve this.” ”You shouldn't be here.” ”She was right, you really are a fucking loser.” ”You really can’t do shit right.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That’s what was going through my head standing in front of the venue. That’s the imposter syndrome that is so immediate when shit goes haywire. It’s waiting at all times to try and make things so much worse than they need to be. I’m not alone, this is so absurdly normal for anyone creative to deal with. It’s how we handle it in the long run that counts right? Yeah, so I fucked that up too… A car backfires and I snap out of it. I then just start writing on my phone.

I did get to hear some of Torch from outside on the sidewalk. Converge ripped through a set that shredded us like cheddar cheese. I swear to God I’m glad I didn’t fucking kill someone in that excuse for a pit. But alas, I just tried to keep my cool and just get the Meshuggah photos. The band had chiptune music as their intro and included “Iron Man” and other metal classics, I was just too frustrated to really pay attention to everything like I normally do. For that, I apologize. The lighting goes off with the kick drums, and the frantic strobes, slowly building into one hell of an insane light show. Not to mention the band built their set in a way to gradually watch concertgoer’s faces be melted off. The easiest way to say how I felt while watching Meshuggah is this, completely blown the fuck away. I am not posting setlists. I am not giving anything else away. IF YOU ARE IN SIGHT LINE OF THIS TOUR OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS AND YOU DO NOT GO, THAT IS SOLELY ON YOU FOR MISSING ONE OF THE GREATEST METAL BANDS OF ALL TIME. DON’T SLEEP. Here are the photos, and the collage from ohio. Cheers!

2021, you ignorant bastard. I can’t believe they took Betty White from us on the last day of the year. Just trying to rehash 2020 in a different way with a fucking really terrible ending. Less riots. Less looting. Now the outrage is about mandates and vaccines and thank fuck we’re not at war, but here’s Ukraine…

I’m so tired. Aren’t you? It’s exhausting to me. Every day inundated with Covid-19, Dems vs GOP, Let’s Go Brandon, Fuck Trump, Where’s proof of your 9th booster? OMICRON SOUNDS LIKE A DECEPTICON! FUCK. THIS. SHIT! Like, I’m just so fucking beat down and ready for a break, thank the lord Baby Jesus, for music and for all of you for holding it down for the underground.

So how was this year sonically? Marvelous. Magnificent. Majestic. MMMMmmmm Bitch. And the one true escape for most of us. The art over the last two years has been fucking incredible and I am not fucking talking about NFT’s good god.

So what are the criteria for these lists? Every year since I started this in 2018, I’ve wanted to do an end-of-year list(s) and I never ended up doing it. As far as songs go, I have no reason to stray from the genres we cover, albums I can’t say that I’ll always stay in the niche. It’s hard to say where I’m going from here just because I listen to Drum and Bass music more than anything else, and I have a music blog that has nothing to do with any of it. As far as live shows go, I’ve only been to 9 and had to cancel several.

This year it was massive for Hardcore music broadening its audience and landing artists like Turnstile, Angel Du$t, One Step Closer, Drain, and Every Time I Die landing on all sorts of end-of-year best-of lists. I feel like the biggest punk part of the year was The Linda Linda’s, and metal was so obviously growing in 73 different directions and landing an otherwise up-and-coming symphonic Deathcore band at the top of Rock charts all across the internet and world. There is no doubt that underground guitar-driven music can compete with rap music today. I’m not getting lost in the weeds of hip hop, all I see is rap music. What I also see is a lot of that music pulling all parts of punk, metal, and hardcore, into their influences. Whether it be moshing at shows, woo that’s a whole other conversation, to clothing, to sampling and literally screaming lyrics, the influence is still there. Etiquette needs to be the biggest part of rap music’s pull from this culture because it will help protect the fans, the artists, the venues, promoters, and more. Again, the whole other conversation being had in real-time still!

It should be known, I have major issues with MGK so he is not a part of my lists, never will be. Y’all put a massive dork on a pedestal. Shit is hilarious.

FAVORITE ALBUMS 0F 2021

1. TURNSTILE – GLOW ON 2. FIDDLEHEAD - BETWEEN THE RICHNESS 3. EVERY TIME I DIE - RADICAL 4. SPIRITBOX - ETERNAL BLUE 5. UNTO OTHERS - STRENGTH 6. ICE NINE KILLS - THE SILVER SCREAM II: WELCOME TO HORRORWOOD 7. DESCENDENTS – 9TH & WALNUT 8. IDLES - CRAWLER 9. THE ARMED – ULTRAPOP 10. QUICKSAND – DISTANT POPULATIONS 11. GOJIRA – FORTITUDE 12. CONVERGE – BLOODMOON:1 13. BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME – COLORS II 14. AFI - BODIES 15. ARCHITECTS – FOR THOSE THAT WISH TO EXIST 16. JINJER – WALLFLOWERS 17. BEARTOOTH - BELOW 18. ARCHSPIRE - BLEED THE FUTURE 19. WAGE WAR - MANIC 20. THRICE – HORIZONS/EAST 21. WHILE SHE SLEEPS – SLEEPS SOCIETY

Hey! This is my taste. Not yours. You can criticize it but if you’re expecting me to be you, well got some news for ya bud or lady or whomever… I’m not you. I’m only me. This isn’t a team. It’s just one guy listening to music and reading press releases and begging for photo passes. The quarantine year of 2020 made it obvious that so many artists want to work. They just want to create. I am fucking here for it. You can find plenty of shit in the world to dislike or like. It’s your choice what you focus on. Keep in mind the MGK comment earlier in this post, was about 3 paragraphs long before I edited it to a mere sentence. You could literally take the top 5 of this list and rearrange them in any way and I’m cool with it. You could take 6-21 and do the same and yeah, it’s really hard to rank shit when there are things on each record that could move it all the way to the top, so I’ve been perplexed all month with all of these lists. I’m going to try to go even further in-depth next year. So many good records and a couple of masterpieces.

EP’S OF THE YEAR 

KNOCKED LOOSE – A TEAR IN THE FABRIC OF LIFE  LORNA SHORE - …AND I RETURN TO NOTHINGNESS TURNSTILE - TURNSTILE LOVE CONNECTION  CIRCA SURVIVE – A DREAM ABOUT LOVE  BELMONT – BOWSER'S MIXTAPE

I wanna give it to Lorna Shore for putting out the heaviest song of the year, the heaviest release, and getting the number one trending metal song of the summer during fucking Metallica’s 30th anniversary of the black album parade. But the full schabang for EP’s goes to Knocked Loose, absolutely loved it as a visual piece of art, the songs are brute as fuck, and just straight mosh heavy. I love this band. I love this music. I love how fucking predictable I have been this year.

FAVORITE SONGS OF THE YEAR

FIDDLEHEAD – HEART TO HEART 2. LORNA SHORE – TO THE HELLFIRE 3. TURNSTILE – MYSTERY 4. EVERY TIME I DIE – PLANET SHIT 5. GOJIRA – BORN FOR ONE THING 6. KNOCKED LOOSE – GOD KNOWS 7. SPIRITBOX – CIRCLE WITH ME 8. ARCHITECTS – DEAD BUTTERFLIES 9. QUICKSAND - INVERSION 10. HEART ATTACK MAN - LEAP YEAR

“Heart to Heart” by Fiddlehead was one of my most listened to songs but it’s the one that made me break down and have a moment in my life where I took a massive step forward. Lorna Shore has hands down the heaviest song of the year with “To The Hellfire”. Fucking… gimme a god damn orange, Turnstile played “Mystery” on Seth Meyer’s late-night tv show a few weeks ago, wtf. The “FUCK! YOU!… DIE!” breakdown in “Planet Shit” by Every Time I Die is fucking perfect to me. And I’m just going to mention number 10, Heart Attack Man is a band that I’d be paying attention to if I was looking for young Mid West pop-punk millennial fuckery. I really like them and the song “Leap Year” is pretty fucking relatable coming from a dirtbag like myself.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

THIS ONE SHOULD DEFINITELY BE OBVIOUS… IT’S… TURNSTILE.

Turnstile has found a way into every heart in the hardcore scene and so many adjacent to it. A lot of the kids who are bumping Olivia Rodrigo this year will be pumping up Turnstile in a couple of years. This band is a gateway for the next generation. A kid who is 16 listening to Turnstile today as a new fan will get to Drain by summer, will end up dancing in their bedroom to Knocked Loose driving their Gen X parents batshit. I told myself I’d never be like the gatekeepers I encountered in the 90s and 2000s. I swore that if this was really what I cared about, that I’d do my best to help anyone who is younger and interested. I feel like I’m doing a mediocre job but it’s better than I honestly expected myself to do. I used to be such an elitist. Bands like this and the people in it have calmed me the fuck down with that shit. There is no real template for hardcore. It’s just a bunch of people who like the same shit, have the same values, and want to make music for themselves and their friends. When it gets to a point where you’re topping every end-of-year list out there, well, in this case, it couldn’t happen to better people. Turnstile will be here at the Majestic in the Spring, it’s sold out. I just hope I can get media for it, and that they remove the barricade. BEHOLD, THE TRUE CURRENT KINGS OF HARDCORE

FAVORITE PHOTO FROM 2021

I am in fact a photographer sometimes. So here is my favorite photo I took of 2021.

I’ve been struggling for the last couple of years to get out of this last period of my life. I feel like I’m still stuck being this same person I’ve tried so hard to evolve from. At any point in time, I’d like to wake up feeling like I did the right things to make positive changes. I have in most aspects did what everyone’s done since early 2020, tread water.

We know things are always going to change and life will always have to be different. I guess what I’m looking for is more clarity and true consciousness of my sanity or lack thereof, whichever it may be. There’s a lot more to work on and this site is one of those things that will help me attain the things I’m searching for. Maybe that’s why I neglect it so much? I’ve always hated results. I don’t know, don’t @ me. I used to do all the homework I needed to then get so fucked up with anxiety because teachers would read my writing aloud to the class. Sometimes I had teachers who embraced that shit and I was fine with it. Then I got a couple that hated it and me and would make it torturous. That’s at least what one of my many past therapists said was the cause. Shame of someone not understanding me and getting a class of my peers to laugh at me. I think I need to be held accountable nowadays? But how do you hold yourself accountable to a fucking music blog? I need structure but how?

The work.