Stray From The Path - Anonymous Review

You're going to like this one...

So, Stray From The Path dropped their new record earlier this week! Out now via Sumerian Records and it is an absolute banger...

This is the bands fourth record with singer Andrew "Drew York" Dijorio fronting and seventh overall release. Already there's a lot more than meets the eye with this band. This is a band that have been touring rigorously for around ten years. To say these four very politically charged guys are dedicated would be an understatement. That's what this album brings with it. Dedication to their cause. This Long Island hardcore band has long been projecting their Rage Against The Machine like lyrics and many a time pay direct homage musically to them as well.

The record starts with a statement, shall we say. False Flag is a monstrous melee of oddball riffs and atrociously large grooves. That noise. That sneering, spitting noise Drew York famously uses in almost every single one of there songs is back in full force. BLLLEEEEEEHHHHH!

After a complete RATM track steal Badge & A Bullet (that rules, by the way) there's a song that may as well be a match made in heaven. Two bands that right are causing heads to turn in curiosity merge together. I could only be talking about SFTP and Letlive.'s Jason Aalon Butler. The results produced are big indeed. It's not often you heard two frontmen trading lines with eachother that sound like the same creative wavelength has been achieved seamlessly.

Lyrically, it's kind of miss and miss. There are times where the subject matters spat into your face by Drew York make you at one with the fact there are as pissed off as you. The screaming is berserk at times, literally. Other times, well, it just face plants into dog shit (Counting Sheep being the song in mind).

Stray From The Path are harnessing a song that hails late-90's hardcore but tinges it with a simply perfect mix of metalcore. It is innovative and causes curiosity. Brilliant if you want an expanding fan base. That's exactly what this band will get from this record. In the words of some guy on one of their YouTube videos

"it's like ratm (in a good way) but with a crazy ass white guy screaming his lungs out"

Brilliant.

8/10

Seb Wainwright

A glimpse into Seb's bedroom...

This blog is music related. My bedroom is basically music related. The two just seamlessly mix and I love it...

I've just realised I have quite an extensive Architects signed collection. Hollow Crown basically changed my musical landscape and I have a lot to thank them for.

My drum kit without which I would be eternally air drumming and annoying the shit out of people. Sometimes, it even doubles up as a table, brilliant!

And now, my holy grail, my Dave Grohl signed photograph. I won it in a charity auction about two months ago and haven't come down from the excitement since. As far as inspirational individuals go, Grohl's the man.

Vinyls, vinyls everywhere! 

So this is the place where I'll be getting to business posting reviews and other such things. As this post shows I'll make sure it's not all reviews, that'd be boring, right? 

Seb Wainwright 

Twitter: @Get_WhatYouGive 

The Wonder Years - The Greatest Generation Review

Right, so this has been out a couple of months already but I can't pass up an opportunity to talk about this record...

Too often in the music business do artists get scorned by fans and media alike for the following things: a musical difference from the previous record or a musical similarity to the previous record. In this case, consistency has never looked so damn good.

Having released three albums of a very high calibre, there was a lot of angsty teenager's expectations weighing down on the pop punk Philadelphia sextet. The delivery the band produced was astonishing.

The opener There, There navigates effortlessly between between an indie tinged riff and the singer Dan "Soupy" Campbell emotionally charged strained vocals. The lyrics play a huge role in this record. There, There finishes with the line "I'm awkward and nervous" which strikes a cord on a personal level with I'm sure many listeners and this will happen time and time again throughout the album. Relatable and deeply personal lyrics are an integral part to many pop punk bands but none are more consistent and heart renchingly open then that of Soupy (sometimes called Spicy because of a fan slip up... Hilarious).

Straight after There, There on the second track the gem of the whole album sticks out like a sore thumb. Passing Through A Screen Door is possibly the best song of 2013 in my humble eyes. This song is faultless. Special credit must be given to TWY's drummer Mike Kennedy who's blistering speed turns this song into a rip-roarer. The energy is barely confined to the tempo as every guitarist almost battles with the other to be faster. The lyrical content doesn't half pull at your heart strings either "Jesus Christ/Did I fuck up?". The ability in this album to churn out songs of this standard almost looks too easy as the album progresses, with the pop punk 101 Dismantling Summer and the soaring ballad-esque The Devil In My Bloodstream both affirming The Wonder Years ascension to the top of the pop punk pile. Pop punk pile, I can't say it properly...

After a thought provoking acoustic number Madelyn; the album closer I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral is a stroke of genius. The Wonder Years borrow their name from a late 80's TV show about an older Fred Savage looking back at his childhood. It is now pretty evident what Soupy's favourite TV box set collection is of. In I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral there is an individual song and it is very good but it is what happens afterwards that made me smile like a bloody idiot. The song suddenly jumps to an exact copy of There, There, then Screen Door, then Dismantling Summer. By looking back through the songs played on the record what they have done is create nostalgia within the record, not just in your memories of childhood that The Wonder Years bring back to life. That is everything The Wonder Years is about. And it is this ingenuity that will see them only get bigger and bigger.

You need this. Right now.

9/10

Seb Wainwright
Twitter: @Get_WhatYouGive

First Review - Old Again's Broken People EP

First of all, thanks so much for reading this. As an aspiring Music Journalist it is essential I keep updating this blog to build a portfolio and by you reading what I have to say it really means a lot to me. I will hone my writing style in the coming months but here's a first attempt:

Broken People is what most people would call textbook pop-punk. Do not by any means let that deter you, Broken People is an example of a group of lads that understand a scene of music that has pulsated and swollen to levels people would not have dreamed of five years ago. What we find in this EP are five solid tracks that put Old Again in very good stead as a gem in a sometimes saturated scene.

The first track on the EP stamps the bands all important sound and feel for the album. I love the bands rhythmical precision in this song and throughout the EP as it gels the garage sounds of pop-punk with a musical understanding that begs for music making to be their career (stick out the day jobs guys).

The second track Fairweather Friend ft. Chris Koo keeps up the top gear speeed from which this EP doesn't come down from. There is stellar use of Chris Koo's vocals from Alive In Standby that complement Joshua Partridge like they were brothers. However, this song tends to fall stale pretty quickly. The Bob Loblaw Law Blog gives us a nice sprinkling of good old hardcore riffage towards the end of the track that is slightly reminiscent of A Day To Remember and other compatriots. The lead track off the EP Jenna is a piece of pop-punk gold I'm telling you. I'm not sure about you but I just listened to it and smiled; ear to ear... for the whole thing. From the broken chord lead guitar to the commanding drum beat, everything fits. A punk song about a girl, it simply can't get better. Lyrically, the songs are nostalgic and inviting. The mention of Sextape by Deftones is certainly nostalgic for me anyway.

The inclusion of Joel Quartuccio from Being As An Ocean in the last song (deep breath) Alaska Is North Patagonia Is South, But I'm Stuck Here is a masterstroke. The clean, ambient tone of the guitars adorning the bridge sections complement the sort of sound we are accustomed with hearing Joel sing with but in the same song incorporating the pop-punk elements that fuse this EP together, it makes for a truely interesting listen and a potential direction of choice for this band with only two EP's under their belt.

The only I can find would be repition of ideas which is so easy to find in the pop-punk. As a rock all rounder I see it all the time and I'm sure other listeners waived it just as I did.

Now, waiting game for another EP or potential LP awaits and with that comes the expectation too of which I have a lot! A damn solid debubt if you ask me.

8.5/10