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Written by Sameerah
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Thursday, 03 September 2009 04:43 |
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The Willkills Rough Times Ahead Old Shoe Records 3.0 The Willkills are one of many bands whose middle of the road antics are saved by being solid musicians. Most of the album consists of what you have come to expect forSoCal punk bands. Particularly ones who hail from behind the Orange Curtain, aka Orange County. Rough Times is filled with upbeat SKA and Surf Punk tunes that bands from the area are known to produce. Things that aren't exactly difficult for people who know their way around a guitar. TheWillkills manage to retain a bit of a dark edge to them but they are flirting with the realm of becoming full on Pop Punk. As far as lyrics go, they do a fair job atramping up the angst ridden energy. But its the kind of angst that goes no where. The album is full of vague references of standing up to "them" and the mysterious "they" that are keeping us down. With all of the shit going down all over the world you would think that they would have been able to pin point one or two things as the target of their angst. But instead of doing something that will really rally the masses to their cause they choose to stick cliqche ideas of some mysterious force holding them back. Which is disappointing. They have chosen the easy way out. Its easy to point out a mysterious force to fire your anger at, but its an altogether more difficult thing to give that force a name and point it out with conviction. The track that totally kills the whole thing though is Cheers to You. The standard slowed down obligatory ode' to the bands friends and family. Now I am not going to dispute that they may very well have a good group of folks around them, but this is the kind of song that we're all heard a million times. and Quite frankly it was done better The Dropkick Murphy's did it. The Willkills know their way around a guitar but it takes a bit more than being a competent musician to make a great album
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 01:00 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Sunday, 23 August 2009 06:38 |
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The Scarred At half Mast Basement Records 3.5 Listening to the Scarred's latest effort At Half Mast leaves me a bit torn. It rides the line between radio friendly Punk Pop and 90's Punk nostalgia. Its the kind of thing I can envision getting thrust into heavy rotation on a major radio station. But the Darcy Crash-esque raspy vox give it just enough edge that it stirs up a bit of my inner hard core. Songs like 21st Century Girl are ( hopefully ) delivered with a wink and a smile. As they shout about suburban girls with Betty Paige haircuts. Their closeted fathers and respectable junkie mothers. Standard fair for the burbs. The lyrics may be a little light in some places but The Scarred is still a solid band, that knows their shit. They play tight catchy tunes with bad ass bass lines. Still no matter how solid they are there is something about their energy that gets lost in translation. I get the feeling that The Scarred is one of those bands that may be bestappreciated in person where you can get fully wrapped up in what I suspect is some seriously infectious energy. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 01:00 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Sunday, 23 August 2009 06:36 |
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From the moment man understood the concept of time, we been toying with ideas of how to fuck with it. people have been writing stories about time travel for well over a hundred years now. And while all of the stories are different they all have one thing in common, time is not to be fucked with. No matter how noble the cause or how grave the danger screwing around with time travel usually does more harm than good. I will warn you now that there may be a spoiler or two here. Now that you've been warned lets continue, shall we. Hector is enjoying a quiet afternoon at home with his wife. All is right with his world until he notices some strange goings on in the under some bushes just beyond the house. Hiscuriosity gets the better of him and he goes to investigate. As he pokes around the bushes he is attacked by a man wearing a bloody bandage over his face. As he flees Hector finds himself at a lab where he becomes an unwitting time traveler. One thing that sets Chronocrimes apart from most time travel films is Hector's end goal. There is no huge plot to save the universe or anything lofty like that. This guys sole purpose for going back in time is to keep another version of himself from being with his wife. yepthat's it, the thought of himself being with his wife at another point in time makes this dude so angry that he keeps going back in time to stop himself. As the story unfolds, you cant help but wonder how many times does this guy have to fuck up before he realizes that what hes doingisn't going to change anything. He never seems to be able to leave well enough alone and we have 4 different versions of the guy all reeking their own personalhavoc on one another all over the countryside. The story does get a little convoluted from time to time but Karra Elejalde does a great job as Hector. A kind of schulb every man who is just trying to get back to what he thinks is home. Watching him make the same mistakes over and over can get a bit annoying in places, but its the kind of annoyance that's born of simply being a human so clouded by desire that hes unable to step back to see the bigger picture or the damage that hes causing. Even as he watches himself implode. Its the action sequences that help to get past some of Hectors more annoying aspects. The fast paced action shots pull you into thescenes and help you get on board with his sense of urgency. Yet as with all time travel stories, there is only one lesson to be learned. Time is not to be fucked with. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 01:00 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Friday, 21 August 2009 07:23 |
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Arise The Reckoning Regain Records 3.0 The Reckoning is the latest effort from Swedish Metallers Arise. Normally Swedish Death Metal is something that I cant help but to get excited about. They are words that make my mouth water in anticipation of gut wrenching horror. Listening to The Reckoning took myexceedingly high expectations and plunged them into a low that I didn't see coming. There is some fairly solid riffing to be had on this album but after the first few tracks you begin to realize that they seem to be the same riffs over and over again with very little variation. The vocals, whileaggressive have a raspy reptilian twinge to them that wears thin on the ears fairly quickly. Add to that there are sections that are produced to the point where I wasbeginning to wonder if I was still listening to humans. Throughout the album there is the ever present sound of tin being dropped that add a unpleasant metallic flair to the raspy reptilevox. It got to the point where I found myself ignoring the vox completely. And since the riffs and drum work were just dealing with the same beats, riffs and rhythms for the whole of the album the whole thing just faded into the background of the day. Only making my ears perk when there was a particularly nasty productionsnafu.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 01:00 )
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