Archives for May 21, 2005

Days of Worth – The Western Mechanism

May 21, 2005 by Rich Leave a Comment

It’s funny that a band this great can be from a place as dull as Surrey. Days of Worth burst onto the scene with this album, and it is a truly fine piece of musical excellence. What with the angst ridden lyrics, powerful guitar riffs, demon drum beats, and immensely powerful vocals – this band will have you hooked. From start to finish this album really is a masterpiece, reminding me very much so of Hell Is For Heroes at their peak, with the strong elements of bands such as Jane’s Addiction and Soundgarden.

Days of Worth are a band on the almighty Visible Noise label – the same label as multi-million selling commercial giants Lost Prophets. They certainly rival this band in terms of there powerful transfusion of songs, highly powered vocals and all around commercially viable, truly brilliant tracks. This band possess a lot of power in their music, and on this album show signs of remarkable display with their powering, always interesting and exciting music.

There are many slabs of musical brilliance on display on this record, with many of the tracks shining through and sounding amazing. Tracks such as ‘Standard Suburban Anthem,’ ‘Ladies and Gentlemen,’ and title track ‘The Western Mechanism’ really do go down a treat with their energetic, emotional display of rocking excellence. Days of Worth really are a fine British rock band and are definitely a band that the UK should be proud to have. These tracks in particular show off the band’s musical expertise, especially ‘Ladies and Gentlemen.’ The band released this one as a single and it really is a stormer with awesome guitar work, booming bass lines, and vocal superiority over most bands out there. Days of Worth are vocally and lyrically spot on, and the instrumental backing really does compliment their sound and works really well. Days of Worth aren’t just a collection of musicians doing their own thing – they are a group in every sense of the word and work well as a band and team.

This is definitely a band that you want to be checking out if you are a fan of contemporary Rock music and enjoy a band that does things just a bit different and sounds great for it. Recently there has been a large wave of bands coming through and holding the flag high for British rock band – I think that Days of Worth are another of these bands with their tremendous ‘The Western Mechanism’ album. With this CD, Days of Worth should begin to make their assault on the mainstream, attacking at full force. Hopefully before long this band will be as big, if not bigger than their label mates Lost Prophets.

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Rich

UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.

Pixelface – Quarter-Life Crisis

May 21, 2005 by Rich Leave a Comment

Pixelface have been gigging regularly around Norwich for about a year, going on their first UK tour in September 2004. They are a melodic skate punk band, occasionally adding a twinge of Ska into the mix. The band have played with many bands such as the amazing, sadly now gone Solabeat Alliance, as well as other great bands such as Phinius gage, Sonic Boom Six, Fireapple Red, Catch-It Kebabs, Vanilla Pod, and Route215. This is the bands latest CD and sees them pull off 6 tracks with a large degree of style, and a huge serving of talent and excitement.

There are many average bands out there, but Pixelface are most certainly a cut above the rest with their impeccable rhythm, and finely executed tracks. ‘Victim/Bully’ is definitely one of my favourites on this EP – it is one of the aforementioned Ska infested tracks and really does go down a treat. It is fun, fast, energetic and frantic, and will almost certainly start off a huge pit at the bands live gigs – it really is an immense track and the band deserve a lot of credit for it. With its fine guitar work, awesome bass lines, incredible drum beats, and amazing vocals it is sure to become one of your new favourite songs. ‘The Hypocritical Oath’ is another one of my favourites from this EP – it really has got everything you could possibly wish for in a track. It is fast, exciting, and full of fun – you’re sure not to tire of it for months to come.

Pixelface really are quite a great band and I will definitely be looking out for them in the future. This Norwich based band have a lot to offer and I would strongly advise you to check them out if you’re up for a good bit of melodic skate punk with the odd hint of Ska here and there for good measure. If they carry on like this, then there should be many a fine release to come from this young band.

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Rich

UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.

Audioslave – Out Of Exile

May 21, 2005 by Rich Leave a Comment

When a band consists of 75% of the members of Rage Against The Machine, and their final member and singer is the ex singer of the late, great Soundgarden – they’re never likely to release anything bad are they? As expected, this release is a great display of fine rocking, with Chris Cornell’s vocals sounding as amazing as ever. As much as I love Rage Against The Machine – the idea of them with a singer rather than a rapper never fails to put a smile on my face. I love Zack De La Rocha and have been looking out for his material ever since Rage Against The Machine split up, however the idea of a Rage Against The Machine with a singer always excites me greatly, especially when that singer happens to be the amazing Chris Cornell. You can’t better Audioslave really – they are an almost perfect rock band with incredible style and impeccable judgement over what tracks to include on their albums.

This album kicks off with the amazing ‘Your Time Has Come’ and throughout its duration never fails to impress with its fast, exciting and truly infectious sound. This album is uplifting, strong and is verging on perfection – seriously this album has it all, awesome guitar solos, super drum beats, some of the best vocals you will ever hear, and some truly cracking bass work. Every track is a blinder on this album – not a single track disappoints, with the band never failing to put a smile on my face throughout the entire album. Generally I can not listen to albums in their entirety – I will find myself skipping parts of tracks, or skipping them in their entirety but that just doesn’t happen with this album. I can listen to it from start to finish, feeling truly exasperated and happy as hell at the end of it.

The first single to be released from this album will be the awesome ‘Be Yourself.’ This really is a fine single, and although it’s a lot softer than 2002’s Self Titled debut album debut single ‘Cochise,’ however it is just as amazing and rivals it in terms of quality and all round general finesse. It is a strong effort and sees the band have a good crack at melodic, heartfelt rock music. It should go down well with the rock world when it is released on June 6th and will be hopefully getting frequent radio airplay before then.

There is never a dull moment on this release – Audioslave are frequently pressing the right buttons and doing all the right things to get me literally jumping around the room with excitement. This album fills me with energy and makes me glad to be alive; there is just so much to be gained from listening to this album. It really is a fine CD and I can see it being one of my favourite releases of the year. Audioslave are a fine bunch of musicians and in ‘Out Of Exile’ have created a truly amazing album.

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Rich

UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.