Album Reviews (Rock)

[noumenon]

Pretty simple... go ahead an post your reviews for any album you wish here. If you're rating it upon a system...(IE 3 star) just also let us know what you're system is and what you're rating it out of.


BRAND NEW: DAISY **** out of *****

So it's been nearly three years since we've heard anything from the prodigal sons of indie/alt rock, Brand New. With 2006's "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me" they set the bar pretty damn high on how a band should mature over time and what it took to make poignant album full of deep meaningful music. It's safe to say that the album didn't leave fan's circulation for quite some time...and as probably still in mosts people regular listening catalogue.

After a few years of wait the media shunning Brand New headed back into secrecy to begin work on their much anticipated fourth album, "Daisy." There were some huge shoes to fill with this one... so did the band meet expectations? In my opinion, yes..yes they did.

Daisy sees brand new continuing along that dark and moody path they set with this previous album. Where "The Devil.." was very mellow and allowed sublte melodies and lead singer Jesse Lacey's smooth voice to set the mood in most cases, "Daisy" truly goes in the opposite direction. From the first track "Vices" it's pretty clear that the band are going in a little more aggressive direction with this album. Loud, raucous and sometimes incoherant guitars and screams are a callback to mid-90's grunge and indie rock and immediately set the scene that this won't be as comfortable a listen as their previous work.

The album seems to fluxuate between the calm and subdued and these moments of frantic guitars and screaming quite often. Don't get me wrong, it works... but at some moments it almost seems that the band is just being loud for the sake of it. Certain points on the album are almost uncomfortable to listen to...as a few songs ring out with almost a moment of feedback after the track is finished.

The band admitted that about 90% of the album was written by guitarist Vinnie Acardi rather than lead singer Jesse Lacey. This could account for the slight change in musical style and pace. With all said "Daisy" is an incredible album that's AT LEAST on par with the band's previous release. However scrutiny will of course follow the album which is the follow up to what was thought to be Brand New's masterpiece. Will this album create waves as "The Devil..." did? Probably not. Is it an amazing listen and another phenominal release from these Long Island natives? Without a doubt.

Track by track:

VICES: Starts off with a sample of what sounds like a singer from the 1950's...honestly not sure who it is. Probably the "heaviest" song on the album chock full of screaming and loud grungy guitars. Probably not the best representation of the album..but good none the less.

BED: A track that could have easily been inserted onto "The Devil..." without much notice. Solid mellow track.

AT THE BOTTOM: The album's first single. Lots of groove on this one and probably the catchiest track the band as written in quite some time.

GASOLINE: Another more aggressive track...again I hate to label but very 90's grundge/indie sounding.

YOU STOLE: Probably the best chance of becoming this albums "Jesus Christ"...sure to a favorite track amongst many

BE GONE: More of 90 second bridge track with heavily distorted vocals by Jesse and a backwater sounding tinny guitar riff.

SINK: Again brand new adopts a bit of the 90's ghost in this one with yet another catchy aggressive track

DAISY: Probably my favorite track on the album. Very atmospheric and ambient..great lyrics...just incredible. Honestly this track could very well fit in on "Deja Entendu" with a few adjustments.

IN A JAR: Great vocal harmonies on this track, very haunting melody in the beginning...

NORO: Again, a little more groove and melody on this one..great track.

One more thing I wanna add which I've kind of noticed from just writing that track by track is that although this album isn't as mellow as "Devil.." the songs at the same time follow a little more of a common structure than on their previous album and do seem a bit more accessable.

 

[PeepShow]

I'm actually listening to The Devil... as I read this, haha. I so need to get Daisy though.

Set Your Goals - This Will Be The Death Of Us ~ *****

So perfect in every way. "The Few That Remain" and "Gaia Bleeds" are must listens.

 

[noumenon]

^A friend of mine his quite into them right now. I just can't get into the vocals...the music is alright though. I just can't help but feeling the band would be much better suited with a different singer.

Oh...BTW..Peep..I don't know if you're able to do it but I maybe want to separate this thread into ALBUM REVIEW(ROCK) and then maybe get another one for RAP...stop the two from getting tangled up..lol.

 

[Wordlife]

I'll do one... a good classic imo... one of the best by the band Trivium:

Trivium "The Crusade"

****1/2 out of *****

1. Ignition: Great opening track, love the opening riff, 8/10
2. Detonation: Another good song off this album, major riffage 9/10
3. Entrance of the Conflagration: Good vocals, drums are epic in this one 9/10
4. Anthem (We Are The Fire): MY FAVORITE! Best song imo on this album, hits hard and doesn't stop all the way through, has an 80's/90's metal sound to it.... love it! 10/10
5. Unrepentant: Good song, vocals are great, good riffs, not as good as the rest though but still great, 7/10
6. And Sadness Will Sear: To slow for Trivium's sound, but still very good, 8.5/10
8. To The Rats: Second favorite song on the album, sounds like a Slayer song... love it, epic instrumentals, and vocals/lyrics are great! 10/10
9. This World Can't Tear Us Apart: Good song for the women fans of Trivium, very slow and still a bit heavy, great song though, 9/10
10. Tread The Floods: VERY EPIC OPEN RIFF! Pretty good otherwise, my third favorite on the album... love it.... 10/10
11. Contempt Breeds Contamination: Song's okay, not all that great but still good... lacks vocals and somewhat of his screams imo, 7/10
12. The Rising: Good song, kinda slow but still pretty decent, not one of my favorites on here, probably my least favorite.... still a good song though, 6/10
13. The Crusade: Title song, lives up to expectation.... great song! 9.5/10

All in all, Trivium's The Crusade lives up to expectations being their 3rd album, and coming off their best album of the four ever made, Ascendancy, it was still great... again I would rate it a 4-1/2 out of 5 stars.... 2nd best album ever done by this great band hailing from Florida, but if you want pure metal and destruction from them, pick up their album Ascendancy, you will NOT be disappointed!

 

[noumenon]

^Wow really? You enjoyed The Crusade that much? It was alright for what it was but Shogun IMO is their best by far. Even the band kind of shuns Crusade now..lol. They'll play Becoming The Dragon at most.

I'll do one for Shogun later.

 

[Wordlife]

^lol I accidently forgot Becoming the Dragon on there! NO! LOL!

Yeah I really love that album idk why, it has that "it" for me... Shogun is very very very good too, actually every album they've done has been great in its own special way.... but I really don't know why but I love The Crusade more than all of them, with the exception for Ascendancy as I posted up there

 

[noumenon]

Matt's lyrics were a bit cheesy for my liking on Shogun. However I think Tread the Floods and Entrance are some of their best songs.

Shogun was one of the first albums where a band said they were going to combine the best of everything they had done and truly delivered.

 

[Wordlife]

I totallllllly agree with that 100%

 

[Kizza]

^Wow really? You enjoyed The Crusade that much? It was alright for what it was but Shogun IMO is their best by far. Even the band kind of shuns Crusade now..lol. They'll play Becoming The Dragon at most.

I'll do one for Shogun later.

No Ascendancy love? I might review the Muse album tomorrow sometime.

 

[Wordlife]

Oh Ascendancy was PERFECT... Rain is like the best underrated Trivium song ever imo

Here's my review... I got the new Five Finger Death Punch Album, entitled "War Is The Answer" last night... *****/***** (5/5)

Hands down this album is great, perfect sophmore album to Way Of The Fist. Here are the tracks and their review:

1. Dying Breed -10/10 HEAVY ASS OPENING TO A GREAT ALBUM! One of the best songs on the album imo.

2. Hard To See - 9/10 This song is the single that is coming off of the album, and its pretty good, more of a radio play song so it's not "that" heavy as the rest of the album.

3. Bulletproof - 9/10 Great lyrics, cool opening riff, gotta love this song, one of my favorites on this album.

4. No One Gets Left Behind - 9.5/10 Solid song, cool intro, lyrics and riffage stays solid throughout the song... has a good war background to it.

5. Crossing Over - 9/10 Cool slow opening acoustic-like intro, another song that will end up on the radio imo.

6. Burn It Down - 10/10 Hands down my 2nd favorite on this album, great riffs and screams and very heavy... FFDP did great with this one. Lyrics are BRUTAL! "you think you know me, but you don't know shit"

7. Far From Home - 8.5/10 Another acoustic song, his voice sounds so weird when its not backed up by heavy riffs and drums but this song is very emotional and its great.

8. Falling in Hate - 8/10 An okay song, sounds like a filler though. If I had to say, it would be least favorite on the album, but I still like it.

9. My Own Hell - 9/10 Great riffs and drums on this track

10. Walk Away - 8/10 This one is okay, possibly their big radio hit when this album drops on the 27th.. still decent

11. Canto 34 - 10/10 GREAT SONG.... its instrumental... and its epic... loved it

12. Bad Company - 10/10 AWESSSSOME COVER OF THE REAL VERSION... great song, covering Bad Company's song ... Bad Company lol... very very good cover, love the metal-ness to it.

13. War Is The Answer - 100/10 If possible it gets a 100/10.... title track... and hands down the best track on the album... this is my favorite, LOVED IT

Overall this is a great album, good sophmore followup to Way Of The Fist. This band will be around for years and years to come...

 

[Kizza]

I wouldn't give it 10/10. More like an 8. It was good, but not as good as Way Of The Fist. Nice to see they still retained their aggressive sound. Plus I don't agree with all that "radio play" stuff. You aren't gonna hear a band named "Five Finger Death Punch" getting airplay on major radio stations. But of course, radio stations here are set up differently to the ones in the Americas.

 

[Wordlife]

they've played FFDP on my local radio station lol

 

[noumenon]

Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue

Perhaps one of the most anticipated band reformations of all time, we finally see our grunge pioneers back to release their new album "Black Gives Way to Blue."
Before I get started on the review of the album I feel I need to get one thing out of the way. Alice In Chains was headed up by two men who shared perhaps some of the greatest musical chemistry of all time, Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell. Layne and Jerry were and always will be the heart of Alice in Chains. With the passing of Layne half of the beautiful musical synthesis of AIC was lost, but not forgotten. So people who come into this album expecting to hear newly acquired vocalist/guitarist William Duvall attempting to duplicate Layne, turn back now. This is a new Alice In Chains... and yes, it's still brilliant.

***​

In my eyes Alice In Chains never broke up, Jerry's solo project was in a way a continuation of the band. And essentially on Black Gives Way to Blue that's exactly what you'll see again, a continuation of Jerry Cantrell's vision.
If you were a fan of Jerry's solo work there is absolutely nothing for you complain about on this album. The album is heavily dominated by Jerry's vocals and slightly lighter later-era Alice style song writing. Duvall initially met with skepticism and complaints does a phenomenal job on this album. No, you'll never hear anyone's voice mesh with Jerry's quite as well as Layne did... but Duvall by no stretch of the imagination does a bad job. The album is chock full of the wonderfuly eerie off-key vocal harmonies we came to love Alice In Chains for.
Certain songs are a call back to the Chains of old, but there is no mistaking this a new band for a new day.
My only gripe (and I'm sure a lot of people would say the complete opposite) is that Duvall isn't heard nearly enough on the album. Most of his singing is simply used to compliment Jerry while belting out a chorus. I'de really love to hear what this guy can do and for Alice In Chains to really experiment and once again attain the level of greatness they were synonymous with.

TRACK BY TRACK

ALL SECRETS KNOWN- A slow churning opener riff with vocal harmonies and a great track to ease us into the album. Easily at home on any Cantrell solo record.
CHECK MY BRAIN - Probably the biggest call back to the old AIC days on the entire album. Incredible track with repeating warped guitar riff and catchy chorus.
LAST OF MY KIND - Probably the only throw away track on the album. Which I feel bad about saying since it's also one of the only tracks that Duvall sings the majority of. It just doesn't sound anything like Chains...or even Jerry's solo material for that matter.
YOUR DECISION - Essentially a lyrical rewrite to "Angel Eyes"... a track off Cantrell's "Degradation Trip". I was a bit shocked to see Jerry recycle material...but still enjoyable.
A LOOKING IN VIEW - What I'de describe to be the "Them Bones" of the album. Pounding guitar riff in sync with drums. Probably the darkest track on the album.
WHEN THE SUN ROSE AGAIN - Some more acoustic work...with bongos?? Interesting experimental track. Some phenomenal vocal harmonies on this one.
ACID BUBBLE - Sure to be another favorite track on the album. I hate to compare, but probably the "Angry Chair" of this album.
LESSON LEARNED - Straight up rockin track, very much a Jerry solo album effort.
TAKE HER OUT - Something about the way Jerry structures the melodies in the vocals on this track is incredible.
PRIVATE HELL - Dare I make another comparison..."Down In A Hole" of this album
BLACK GIVES WAY TO BLUE - "Lay down, I'll remember you...black gives way to blue" A beautiful ballad in remembrance of Layne.


I'll say this one more time. Alice in Chains was two main components...Layne and Jerry. When Layne died we were left with half of arguably the greatest musical duo of all time. Rather than try to reconstruct the brilliance of Layne, Jerry simply continued doing what he did best, writing passionate deep rock music. For the rest of their musical career Alice In Chains will always be missing half of their musical soul, and yes it will always show... but it seems to only add to the beautifully dark and somewhat depressing aura of the band. Don't pick up this album expecting to hear the Alice In Chains of old, or someone trying to (and no matter who it is failing miserably) copy one of the greatest vocalists of all time. Expect the most incredible rock experience since...well...the last Jerry Cantrell record, and you won't be let down.

 

[Kizza]

This is right on. I went in not expecting much, but this is exceeded all of them.

 

[Wordlife]

yeah that was a perfect review