I admit, I was a bit late on We Are The Ocean, as it is. I always saw the name about on gig posters and things like that but never really bothered to listen to them. Some time about 2 years ago, I heard some of the newer stuff and liked it. It was a little softer than their emo/screamo/whatever beginnings but showed real writing talent. New song, Good For You, from the latest album, ARK, is also a good song and proves that they can write good choruses. However, it generally sounds too close to Arctic Monkeys. What do you think?
I love H2O. I've always liked the positivity and the "bounce" in their music. They're quite a big influence on my writing style for Woolly Boy. Saying that, one needs to wonder whether a band that has lasted 20 years is running out of ideas when they bring out a song about skating entitled ... er... Skate! Skate! comes from the Bridge Nine release Use Your Voice, coming out 9th October. As excited as I am to hear this album, this track doesn't currently blow me away. Then again, I don't skate, so maybe I just don't connect to it like I do some of their other work.
The mere fact that they can still play straight up, super fast hardcore is definitely great to see. I'm hoping the rest of the album has a bit more groove on it and some proper good anthems.
UK genre bending noise-makers, Enter Shikari, drop another video for another mental track from The Mindsweep. There's A Price On Your Head is Enter Shikari at their most frantic. It has an almost classical feel in the way it's put together, and not just in regards to the use of strings and orchestral percussion. The vocals in the verses come off like a hardcore opera. The video ties in with that of Slipshod. After blowing up a snobby restaurant, the band get chased and through an array of events....end up back in a pub. How British can you get?
Here's another new song and video from the amazing Front Bottoms. HELP comes from their upcoming album Back On Top - Available September 18th on Fueled By Ramen. The lyrics are more direct than some of their other stuff, which is refreshing. The video is a little weird, but personally, I like the concept of getting other people to stand in as the band. Why they need to be in forensic suits, I'm not entirely sure. But hey..not everything needs to make sense.
I never really post that much hip hop on this blog, and I definitely didn't think I'd ever post an Eminem track, but this new one featuring Gwen Stefani is quite cool. Coming from the soundtrack to boxing movie, Southpaw, Kings Never Die mixes heavy guitars with Eminem's rapid delivery and Stefani's unique sensual vocals.
Almost 40 years on, rock legends Motorhead are about to release their brand new album, Bad Magic, on 28th August. From it comes Electricity, along with a pretty cool lyric video. The song is typical full speed Motorhead, and quite frankly...why would you want anything else? It's a pretty good preview into what's to come.
Modern hardcore legends, Terror, release their new album, The 25th Hour, next week, 7th August. In the lead up to it, they have previewed some tracks and released videos in the last month. Latest video, Mind At War, is Terror at their most thrash and previous video, Bad Signs (below), is just straight up NY-style hardcore (albeit from LA) that we all know and love.
Terror have always been a bit hit-or-miss for me and I haven't always followed their progress unlike bands such as Sick Of It All or Pro-Pain, but from what I've heard so far, I'm looking forward to checking The 25th Hour out in full.
