Today Is The Day

The first Today is the Day album I purchased was "In the Eyes of God" and it scared the shit out of me. I had been promised by many a record review that this was the "future of metal" and "the best album of the year." After my ears were assaulted by seemingly incomprehensible time signatures (did they have time signatures?), effects-drenched, multi-layered vocals and the unstoppable relentless pounding of what I foolishly assumed was run-of-the-mill Satanic death-metal I said 'Good Day' to Steve Austin and company for the better part of five years. It wasn't my fault. I just wasn't ready for it yet. Sometime around the "Temple of the Morning Star" reissue I was reintroduced. This album was so different. It was very experimental and sounded, well, sad. It was epic and chunky and rough. It was yearning and pissed-off and hopeless. It didn't sound like I expected it too and I really connected with it. It cooled me off the same way Miles Davis can inexplicably change my mood. Like an antidepressant; no prescription required. So in the Year of our Lord, Two-Thousand Seven we were blessed with "Axis of Eden." "IED" is a perfect opening number. Short, angry and to the fucking point! "Free at Last" is by contrast much more melodic with it's memorable minimalist piano-vocal melody. "Broken Promises and Dead Dreams" and its ferocious battle-stomp-slash-revenge-killer attitude make it a perfect song to focus on a close friend-turned enemy or former record label. Or both. "If You Want Peace Prepare For War" is a beast of a song with it's initial verses amping up and up before a catchy, swinging guitar line floats down through the midsection giving way to synth keyboards and meandering closing banter which works well while sounding like in studio improv. TITD repeats this process, mixing ultra-heavy metal-hardcore dirges with fair scatterings of melodic and psychedelic freak-outs. I have only a few gripes. The production is a bit low-fi and the drums are pushed to the forefront of the mix. It makes for an interesting listen but doesn't exactly make the songs any better. Derek Roddy, more known for straight up death metal acts, shines throughout, but it almost seems like Austin is exploiting his talent by making it so available. Austins penchant for singing far beyond his register damage the breakdown on the retributional "Total Resistance" and smother the groovy bass line on "The Worst Thing That Ever Happened To Me." Neither song is throw-away as a result but the overall effect is more taunting than threatening. Luckily the title track blasts back with enough force to end on a high note although it is followed by the completely unnecessary albeit awesomely titled techno track "Desolation." After reading all the generic reviews for this album it seems as though none of those critics even listened to it. It's like they cut and pasted random reviews of "Kiss the Pig" and "Sadness Will Prevail" together and called it good. I'm only too happy to disagree. Today is the Day have crafted a remarkable album that sounds focused, expiremental and effortless all at the same time. "Axis of Eden" should please long-time fans and new listeners alike. I can't get it out of my CD player. 8 out of 10.

Pulling Teeth

After playing This Is For You Fest, This Is Hardcore Fest, and countless other large festivals across the United States, as well as constant touring of the United States, United Kingdom, and various other places, Pulling Teeth have developed quite a name for themselves. Their debut for Deathwish Recordings, Martyr Immortal definitely delivered the powerful punch expected of them after all the hype. Featuring former members of The Spark, Slumlords, Never Enough, and Desperate Measures, Pulling Teeth as a whole are no newjacks to the hardcore scene. Lead guitarist "Lord" Dom Romeo also owns A389 Records, which much of PT's earlier material was released from. These guys are without a doubt helping put Baltimore Hardcore back on the map. Now onto the album: Martyr Immortal has a similar sound to their earlier release with Chainsaw Safety Records, Vicious Skin. However, Martyr Immortal has a much heavier/thrashier crunch to it. Pulling Teeth's techniques in writing their music can boggle even the most experienced musicians. They produce a sound no band in hardcore has been able to capture yet, and they seemingly do it with ease. It is very easy to see Integrity and Left For Dead influences in their music, as well as the classic Slayer sound with a twist. The last song on the album, "Dismissed In Time (As Perfection Unwinds)" was very obviously supported by Dwid Hellion of Integrity. Not only does it seem like his voice on the melancholy, freakishly horror-sounding track, but the title was taken from the final line in a poem he recited on one of his websites. Dwid has been supporting this band for as long as I've known them, and he is mentioned in the "Special Thanks" section on the album. If you are a fan of his work, I'd suggest checking out this album. Tracks such as "Stonethrowers," "Sick and Tired," and "Dead Is Dead" deliver such heavy riffs you will want to throw a brick. Tracks like "(Mori Vincent Omnes)" and "Dismissed In Time" are guaranteed to leave you in awe at the band's sheer musical talent, diversity, and creativity. Finally, tracks such as "Clipped Wings" and "Shiteaters" are so in-your-face, fast paced, and angry, that they will allow you to capture the true emotion that frontman Mike Riley is expressing in his lyrics. This album is a must-have for any fan of the Holy Terror or "Clevo" style of hardcore music. This release only helps to back up that Deathwish is the best upcoming Hardcore label around today. Pulling Teeth definitely has a promising future, having paved the way with both this album and their previous one, Vicious Skin. All in all, this record has something for everyone. Hardcore, Metal, and Thrash fans alike will all find a little something to take home with them from Martyr Immortal. I'd highly recommend picking this up - you won't regret it.

It Prevails

Rise Records 2007 Tracklisting: 1. Explanation: Content 2. The Distance 3. Change Today 4. Thirst For A Better End 5. My Life Back 6. To Fail... 7. An Anomaly 8. Man.Moment.Machine. 9. At Least Understand 10. The Inspiration I read a review of this cd that said something like, "easily the best release to come out on Rise Records in the last four years." Well, agreed. This disc absolutely rules, and it's great to know that there are still bands coming out in the world and making music as beautiful and authentic as this. It Prevails is a melodic hardcore outfit that sites Shai Hulud as one of their biggest influences, and you can definitely hear it on this record (which I have absolutely no problem with that). The music is hard hitting but absolutely gorgeous, kicking off with a slow tempo drum intro and just absolutely crushing. Very open progressions with driving drums and melodic post hardcore leads, some very big breakdowns, and just absolutely heart wrenching vocals. I really can't say enough how impressed I am with this band, and secondly, how impressed I am that Rise put this out. Maybe someone over there actually has some decent taste. The songs are pretty much similar throughout the record, not alot of high and low points, minus the two instrumentals, until "At Least Understand," which surprised me with an awesome clean singing part. Sort of in the vein of Aaron Gillespie's work with Underoath, which noone can say is original, but regardless makes a high point on the record as far as I'm concerned. Production wise, this record is prestine. Nothing special, but no complaints here. I mean, it's not like I expected anything different from Rise anyway, but one thing that's pretty cool is there are no keyboards, and none of the tell-tale signs of a Foundation Recording on this record. Guitars are very nicely blended, which is so important on a record of this kind, drums are massive, and the vocals are comfortably out-front but not overbearing. I'd say these guys got hooked up, as far as I'm concerned. I highly recommend this record. It breathes good feelings and positivity, and GO SEE THEM LIVE! An absolutely amazing live show. For Fans Of: Shai Hulud, Hopesfall (Old Old), Anam Cara

The Blinding Light

Continental drift. The ring of fire. Icebergs inexorably melting. Implacable tsunamis wiping out entire villages. Eathmovers. These are just some of the geological phenomena that immediately spring to mind when I listen to this band. Granted this album came out nearly 4 years ago, I just wanted to remind anyone who might have missed the Ascencion Attempt to give it serious consideration. It rivals anything heavy that has been produced since then for sheer volume, brutality, and creativity. Folks searching for something that bridges the gap between Converge and Neurosis can look here. The drumming sounds like a fight between rival silverback colonies, with a an absolutely pitch perfect snare, and when the bass drum hits it feels like a destriers' hooves making wine out of your head. The most notable track is "Hydrant" the longest and slowest, with a slow blues dirge at the outset to impart an uneasiness that doesn't even prepare you for the thrashing and winding that takes you throught the rest of the song. It's a great example of a band really stretching their creative legs and letting the jam take hold. It ends in a towering crescendo of revealing proportions, before fading out. Pure healthy hostility! Dig it.

Every Time I Die

Without going on a rant on how I feel hardcore and metal have gotten overwhelmed with some pretty shitty bands, I'm going to say that the few left truly know what they are doing. Be it Between the Buried and Me's insane experiments with dozens of subgenres, Engineer's crushing doom/tech/hardcore, or The Number Twelve Looks Like You's "betcha can't play this" catchy math riffs, Every Time I Die's new cd gives all bands in aggressive music a run for their money. Here's the lowdown: "Hot Damn" was obviously the breakthrough record where they put some rock into ridiculously catchy hardcore. "Gutter Phenomenon" went all out cock rock with the love-'em-or-hate-'em guest spots and Glassjaw-esque vocals. To no surprise, the aforementioned efforts culminate in their latest release. The record starts out with "No Sun of Mine", with riffs and progressions that create the high energy grooves, catchy hooks, and an exciting foreshadowing of what's to come. The high point of the album comes at the end of the song during the breakdown, where singer Keith Buckley states "Don't Ever Say Rock 'n' Roll", which is dead on as the band has gotten so much criticism about being the new AC/DC and so on and so forth. As far as the rest of the album goes, expect a truly genius blend of modern hardcore riffs blended with rock parts that raise the bar for any band that's been labeled "hard rock" or "alternative" over the last several years. In addition, Keith's lyrics and vocal melodies are better than ever, they make the already catchy tunes rock out and make you feel ready to party and/or shred some air guitar. Last but not least, there are a couple downsides to this brilliant effort. A few of the songs sound a little similar, with riffs that may get old and too played out to some listeners. Furthermore, people that didn't like Gutter Phenomenon's progression into cock rock will most likely pass this by. But the bottom line is, you're not going to get a record quite like this until ETID put out their next release. Enjoy!

Unholy

Every once in a while an album comes along in a genre seemingly gone stale and makes you realize why you liked that style of music to begin with. For years the metalcore genre has gotten a bad rap. I don't really blame anyone for hating on it though. Trends come and go and not many seem to be making a lasting impression. This was true for me until I listened to the EP Awaken the Sleep by a band named Unholy. I could easily go into the long history of the members of Unholy and their impact on the Syracuse scene and hardcore in general. But I'm sure it's all been said before. This is a completely different entity anyway. From Danny Johnson's anguished screams to Jonathan Dennison and Steve Caiello dark melodic guitar work it seems I stumbled upon something truly special. 'Blood of the Medusa', Unholy's first full length album is a dark and dismal disc of great metalcore. Reminiscent of old Cleveland bands Integrity and Ringworm as well as Syracuse bands Godbelow and Stigmata while adding a bit of european thrash to the mix. The 12 tracks that comprise this disc are unrelenting. A few evil sounding passages here and there to keep things nice and depressing but the album brings nothing less than epic moshcore anthems and pummeling double bass thrash. The album starts off with the intro track, 'New Faith'. Once the drums really kick in you know what you're in for and it just gets meaner from there. A dual guitar attack that would fit perfectly on any Slayer album sets the mood for the album. As well as Danny's lyrics delivered with his distinct delivery seemingly spewing from the depths of hell. Unholy bring their own beliefs and a message to the table. A warning to mankind about the destruction of mother earth and the aftermath we're doomed to. Case in point on the song 'Oblivion' (a track re-recorded from their first EP that really benefits from the crisper production) "The detonator is set to take it's wrath, A black fire burns it's way across this dying earth, In a split second all who breathes is charred." A recurring theme of the apocalypse plays throughout the disc and the music matches it perfectly. While there's lots of reasons to not buy the latest deathcore release by the flavor of the week myspace band or the newest album by kids emulating swedish melodic death. There's lots of reasons to check out Unholy's Blood of the Medusa. Whether you're a fan of the band's musical history or just want something distinct that's not following the trends these days. You'd be hard pressed to find something as great as the newest disc from Unholy.

Scar Symmetry

When Scar Symmetry comes to mind people don't exactly think melo death but most people are quickly to judge SS as just another "core" act and dismisses them however on Scar Symmetry's full length "Symmetric in Design" people may soon be changing there tune sure some of the drop tuning and the Soilwork inspired Vocals circa chain heart machine to Natural born chaos takes some getting used to if your not used to it or not a fan. However the lead singer pulls off the choruses cleanly and does a couple of death growls and grunts here no bullshit bree-ing just gothenburg influenced melo-death. It does have its flaws however most of the songs lag a bit and are a bit sappy for example the beggining of "Veil of Illusions" and most of the choruses while pulled of great are sappy and completely over done but if your fairly open minded you'll get over it also to be frank theres a bit of nu-metal here in there but not enough to be a problem. I'd however reccomend this to fans of prog-death and gothenburg

Abigail Williams

Personally, I found this record to be very well done. It is definetely worth listening to at least once. The thing about Abigail Williams that you either love or hate is the fact that they try and fuse together both metalcore and black metal. Yes I know, it sounds very awkward, almost impossible, but Abigail Williams has a way of blending these two genres together to make its own unique sound. In Legend, you will find both the melodies and keyboards of symphonic black metal and the string chugging breakdowns found in metalcore. There are five tracks on this EP. If I were to recommend one track to listen to, it would be Like Carrion Birds. In this song you with find the breakdowns, the symphonic music and a solo that will amaze you. Sure Abigail Williams isn't a standout band that will change the future of metal. Nor is it an influential band that will bring about many new bands that want to sound like them. But they are a band that is worth listening to and enjoying for what they are trying to do. I found this EP to be very talented and, well let's just say fun. Definetely check it out somehow.

I Killed The Prom Queen

From the first tired strains of "Sharks in Your Mouth" (a non sequitur if ever there were one), one gets the feeling that I Killed The Prom Queen's debut effort on Metal Blade Records is not out to tell you anything particularly new or particularly interesting: they frequently rip off As I Lay Dying, Atreyu, and fellow Australians Parkway Drive in the same song; succinctly, they haven't got much in the way of innovation. What they do have on their side are the inimitable production values of Gothenburg duo Fredrik Nordstrom and Patrik J. Stein and a mastering job from Goran Finnberg that is nothing short of epic. This album, cliched though it is, has a roomy, ballsy, organic sound that is a welcome change among the trigger-happy, treble-heavy morass of recent releases (Through The Eyes Of The Dead and As Blood Runs Black, to name a couple). The playing is top notch and extremely tight, which breathes some life into the boring and predictable arrangements, and it's hard not to bang your head, at least occasionally. It is for this reason that I am sad to say that the poor writing ultimately drowns the album in conventionality. "Your Shirt Would Look Better With A Columbian Neck-tie" is a perfect example: from minute one, you know where it's going, and there are no surprises; even the heinously overdone solo, though well played, can't give the track any merit (not to mention that it's "Colombian" and possibly one of the most horrendous references available to popular culture). The brief respites we get at the end of the album--"Slain Upon My Faithful Sword" has moments of brilliance as a black metal homage, "Like Nails To A Casket" offers a glimpse at what could possibly be the IKTPQ sound, and the outro track, "There Will Be No Violins When You Die", is reminiscent of Killswitch's atmospheric pensiveness--give me hope that their next release will capitalize on their successes and produce something that pushes the genre in a different direction. Bottom line: Nothing new is happening here. IKTPQ bring the mosh and have a lot of fun naming their songs, but until their writing matures and they produce something that separates them from the pack, they're just another decent band with killer production. The 6 out of 10 is mostly a nod to the production team and their outstanding work with a fairly uninspiring band.

Norma Jean

For the few of you who don't really know the story of Norma Jean, let me explain it for you. Back in the day there was a band called Luti-kriss (which was commonly considered a Nu-Metal band). When the shitty Rapper came out, Luti-kriss decided it would be best to change their name (to avoid confusion) to Norma Jean (which means "the Patterns of Gods grace and love";I got that from an interview with ex-vocalist Josh Scoggins). They then released "Bless the Martyr, Kiss the Child" which exploded onto the Hardcore/metal/underground scene. Later that same year, Vocalist Josh Scoggins decided to split ways with his band mates (he then started the Chariot). Norma Jean then aquired Cory Brandan as Vocalist. Needless to say the music could never be the same. Norma Jean then released "O, God the Aftermath" with their new vocalist. Most people weren't very reseptive of the new sound of Norma Jean. Now Norma Jean has reinvented their sound for "Redeemer". "Redeemer" is the most "radio friendly" album Norma Jean has released, yet it is still heavy in its own way. "Redeemer" opens with "A Grand Scene For a Color Film" (which if you expect to hear O, God the After Math or Bless the Martyr you will be disappointed). When the Song first starts it seems as if you are listening to some poppy/main stream band who you would see jumping around on stage (kind of worrisome for a heavy music lover), but don't worry, that feeling is soon crushed by Cory Brandan screaming "Return to Sender!" The rest of the song is very unpredictable (as Norma Jean always has been). The Song ends in to cory Brandan screaming "Let's break out the shotguns! We're going to town!". "Blueprints for Future Homes" (the Albums single) then follows the opener. This song is everything you would not expect from Norma Jean, in some cases it may be to different but it is still a very good song. the Momentom of "Blueprints for Future Homes" carries on into "A Small Spark vs. A Great Forest" and "A Tempermental Widower". Then in the following track, when the pace is about to lose its effectiveness, "The End of All Things Will Be Televised" crashes in. This song is the heaviest on the Album, its 5 minutes and 11 seconds of pummeling unpredictability. For a second or so is looks like its about to let up and let you get your footing, then it knocks you right back on your ass. The next song "Songs Seems Much Sadder" is a completely different sound from the rest of the album, yet it still fits. The chorus is clean singing "And While we thought that we were learning how to live, we have been learning how to die. I should have known we would be LEGENDS!" "Songs Seem Much Sadder" is softer than most the tracks but it is still a great song (infact personally it is one of the highlights of the record). Next is "The Longest Lasting Statement", a song about giving into God and giving God your life. Very good song, Great Pace. Then "Amnesty Please" starts out slow, seeming to be another out of place song, then suddenly explodes in your face, just to slow down and explode again. The song is about forgiving people that do you wrong, yet the songs sound is very unforgiving. "Like Swimming In Circles" and "Cemetary Like a Stage" march in, keeping the pace up. The Albums closer is the most different I've ever heard Norma Jean play. "No Passenger; No Parasite" starts with sticks hitting the tapping, and strange background noise. Starting out slow, with clean vocal calling out for people to "wake up", then slowly getting heavier and heavier, till suddenly you are so trapt into this epicness of the song that once it ends you feel like nothing should keep going. you sit in silence thinking "what the fuck, was that Norma Jean? No Way!" All in all, this is a great record. A Must have. The only down fall it has is if you expect Norma Jean it will be a let down. There is something for everyone on this record. BUY IT!