A Day To Remember - Common Courtesy Album Review

I'm back again! School hit me like a ton of bricks this year (I'm a wimp) but I return with more reviews and opinions to share with you wonderful people! Thanks for sticking with me...

As I'm writing this I am listening to the much anticipated release from A Day To Remember. Common Courtesy is self-released and is out now on this here website commoncourtesy.adtrstore.com the physical release date is somewhat vague because of the self-funded nature of the album.

Boy, A Day To Remember aren't half good at what they do, aren't they? This their fifth studio album further solidifies their position in an area of music they totally, totally, dominate. After bursting onto the scene with their sophomore album For Those Who Have A Heart they had tapped into a field of music that was refreshing if, however, slightly controversial. The unusual mix of pop-punk and crushing metalcore/hardcore styles resonates with many people who find ADTR a perfect median between the two.

Album opener City Of Ocala is straight up pop-punk. No bullshitting. Full pop-punk songs was an experiment ADTR conducted on their last record What Separates Me From You. While not perfect on the last release even the first song on this album has the nail hit on the head. While not breakdown laden and heavy, the finest New Found Glory-esque pop rock song is the outcome.

Okay, so pop-punk is not an issue, what about ADTR's heavier side? Has that taken a sideline in favour of their poppier, more accessible songwriting?

Hell no...

This album is filled with a very Homesick type array of pummelling, fist-pumping anthems. Lead single Violence (Enough is Enough) is a perfect example of this renewed angular assault. The edge that many said was missing from their somewhat sugar coated previous record is back with a vengeance. Songs like Sometimes You're The Hammer, Sometimes You're The Nail are nothing new in terms of content but it is the execution that sells this and basically the whole album. Alex Shelnutt's drumming is precise and powerful as he double-basses away in perfect unison with the guitar section made up of Neil Westfall, Kevin Skaff and Joshua Woodard. The licks that penetrate the overriding rhythm are very reminiscent of a certain Parkway Drive (which, as a avid Parkway fan, suites me perfectly). Life Lessons Learned The Hard Way involves singer Jeremy McKinnon's layered screaming over jumping, flying guitar riffs and enough breakdowns to make you break your house... down, pun regrettably intended.

Lets take a step back, though. This is a step in either direction for ADTR. The softer, more melodic songs have also had modification and tweaks  made to them. Again, nothing drastically different but more so a band developing their type of music. Right Back At It Again and I'm Already Gone are perfect examples of this. Neither style is hindered by another and on many occations ADTR just do what they do best. Merge the two together.

That's not to say this album doesn't have its faults. The simple fact that the song positions within the album are just not right is a starter. The album flow from one end to the other is sometimes painfully broken up by a misplaced, out-of-place song that, while good as a singular softer song for instance, may not sit well when the song beforehand mad you want to punch walls.

 Then there's the issue of Jeremy's voice harmonies. The natural voice of Jeremy McKinnon is that of an angel don't get me wrong. But sometimes the harmonies laid out over the top of many a chorus sound too superficial to even take seriously. Lyrically, yup, he's still fighting 'cause no one can bring him down...

Common Courtesy is the beautiful, expertly executed mash up of a record we were all hoping to hear from the Floridian quintet. Fat has been re injected to the mix and the result is a masterclass of ADTR doing what they do best. What they do best hasn't changed for the last seven years either. A bad thing?

Hell no...

8/10

Seb Wainwright

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

Drum Covers!

This may seem like self-advertising but that's what this site is all about! So here are a couple of drum covers I uploaded to YouTube before I moved house this summer. One is of Aussie metallers Northlane (with added footcam) and Cali pop-punkers The Story So Far. My absolute favorite pass time is to play drums. My drums are set up here in my new house now and new covers will ensue don't you worry! . For now, however, so enjoy these first two I have put together and please please please let me know what you think of them! I appreciate it.

IN THE PIPELINE: Stray From The Path new album, TSSF live and the almighty Letlive. live!

You rule.

Seb Wainwright

Single Review: Balance and Composure - Reflection

I was about to do a feature on this record as it comes out today. Unfortunately homework (yawn) has tied me up until now. So here's the deal, I'll write my Reflection single review tonight and then probably next week I'll roll out a full LP review of Balance and Composure's The Things We Think We're Missing. Game? Cool.

Well, what can I say, this has been a long time coming. With 2011's Separation debut album B&C did something few thought could be pulled off credibly. They have masterfully ripped out the 90's grunge/alt sound from its early grave. Not only that but it was mixed a contemporary edge that let the influences mix effortlessly.

Reflection was the first single released from TTWTWM about a month and a half ago. I don't even know where to start. It is quite simply astonishing. Listen to their discography and you will see a steady but mighty rise musically and lyrically. Reflection at this moment in time is the pinnacle of their song writing (but we know they're capable of more). The intro alone contains one of the finest fuzz-laden riffs in their scene. The verse bursts into life and the latter half accompanied by a beautiful guitar picked loop. Vocally and Lyrically Jon Simmons again doesn't fail to impress. Vocal harmonies work a charm and the layering emphasises what a thick slab of edible grunge this is. Soaring chorus lines backed by an almighty bass line give this song a truly expansive feel, one that nods its head in appreciation to the 1990's alt scene. Repeated ideas are not regurgitated but placed just at the right point, sometimes with variation.

B&C are back and you better listen up. New heights can only be reached after a delivery this good. A MUST LISTEN.

9/10

Full album review will be up this weekend/Monday of next week. Enjoy this little snippet though!

Seb Wainwright

Metalcore Monday: Heart Of A Coward - Nauseam

Metalcore Monday may or may not be a thing. I have no idea. It's just a joke really, heavier bands on a monday, why not? Let me know if you like this "feature" and whether you want it to be a regular occurrence in the comments section below! Nice.

So, this afternoon groove metal quintet Heart Of A Coward let loose a new single off their forthcoming record Severance being released by Century Media and scheduled for November 4th before embarking on a UK wide club tour in support of said album.

Now for those of you who are not so familiar with Heart Of A Coward that's fine but you will be soon. They are taking the underground scene by storm. A big bloody, bone crushing storm.

Formed back in 2009 they acquired former Sylosis front man Jamie Graham a couple of years later. It was at this time they felt ready to release a debut full length. The outcome was Hope and Hindrance. It was a pummelling, metallic assault the likes of which the UK metal scene had never really quite experienced before. Their utilisation of Meshuggah like 8-string bludgeoning and soaring melody was what caught the ears of many critics, which attracted rave reviews. After a small line up change and one single earlier this year, they are back...

This song has everything a HOAC fan would know and love about this band. A Karnivool/Architects esque loop leads into the most atrocious syncopated riff. Jamie's voice as always never falters as he roars through each verse. Drumming wise Christopher Mansbridge demonstrates once again his technical brilliance behind the kit. Ghost notes, poly-rhythms, breakdowns, you name it, he did it. The guitar work throughout is just downright nasty... in absolutely the best possible way. They judder and stab at points, punctuating Jamie's commanding vocals. Written with movement in mind, the groove captivates and would make even my Grandma headbang.

What a perfect set up to Severance this is. It is up there in contention with Shade, widely accepted as their best song. Heart Of A Coward have always meant business, it would be stupid to say otherwise. This reaffirms that they are after every one of you. And when they get to you; you won't believe what you hear.

Serious recommendation here - get this album when it drops.

10/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcxvrMRymp0&feature=youtu.be (VIDEO IS UNLISTED, FOLLOW LINK)

Seb Wainwright
Twitter: @Get_WhatYouGive

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 

Arctic Monkeys - AM Album Review... Do you still believe the hype?

I'm back!

Today I sank my teeth into the new Arctic Monkeys record. Listening to a new Monkeys record is always an affair you're never quite sure what the outcome might be such is their stylistic ambiguity.

This is not the same band (albeit the same people) that exploded out of packed clubs in the mid-2000's, every comment on their YouTube videos could tell you that. The colossal, almost terrifying speed at which they hurtled to the top gave the band a rabbit-caught-in-headlights look about them for many years. This is the most mature (sorry, cliche) record to date almost because of this image that had hung on them for so long.

 Having every album they put out hit the number 1 spot has not made Alex Turner and co. complacent with the direction or sound they are producing. Each one is uniquely Arctic Monkeys. It is this creativity that drives people to hear what they have in store next...

The album starts out with Do I Wanna Know? which highlights two features for the listener: the first, how chilled and laid back this affair is going to be. Secondly, just how fucking slow the songs move at. Maybe not so much a complaint about this song but will become more apparent later on. The twelve-string riff is catchy and overlaid with a fuzz worthy of a QOTSA song. Accompanied by a very nod worthy bass line this makes a classic opener so seemly easily executed by a band that have spent their whole professional career right at the top of the pack. Also, the first inclusions of drummer Matt Helders soul esque falsetto voice over Alex's reverb laden, nearing crooner-like voice shows that yet again the Monkeys are morphing into another beast. This time a heaving beast packing R'n'B rhythms and a seventies fuzz.

Lead single R U Mine? I'm going to come straight out and say is probably one of Arctic Monkeys best songs to date. With a scuzzy groove big enough to get my 85 year old granddad dancing the contention for best song on the record was always going to be one sided. The drumming is, unlike the rest of the album, somewhat complex and articulated. Lyrically, yes you guessed it Alex has still got it. Lines like "I'm a puppet on a string Tracy Island, time-travelling diamond" will have people smiling like a baby that's popping bubbles.  It is evident that this was a song written in quick succession after 2011's Suck It And See. It certainly contains the energy of a band celebrating another touring cycle well done...

After the notable appearances of songs such as Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High, an almost entirely drum and bass led song with enough swagger to scare Julian Casablancas running, and Arabella a fully fledged tribute to the seventies, there really isn't very much else to report here...

There are album fillers aplenty here. The energy that the guitars carried through the first half of the album all but disappears and with it so too does the drumming because it just gets slower. Momentum is just, gone. By the time I wanna Be Yours ends there is a feeling that that latter half of the album with exceptions just does not live up to the groove juggernaut the the first half unleashes on us. Disappointing really as the likes of R U Mine? and Arabella had signalled a sound that could have easily have been capitalised on.

What we have here is again another mixed bag of concoctions and remedies of their past from a band that are trying to live up to the expectations of, well, the whole world. However as a band with still an ever growing fan base and now, for the first time, the live show to match they will only continue to carve the path their way. A classic? Maybe not but damn it ain't hard to dance your arse off to a good few songs on here.

7/10

Seb Wainwright
Twitter: @Get_WhatYouGive