Archives for June 21, 2008

Sick City – Nightlife

June 21, 2008 by Rich Leave a Comment

Sick City is a Canadian five-piece band making music in the genre of melodic hardcore. The bands drummer is the brother of Comeback Kid front man Andrew Neufeld; clearly the Neufeld family is incredibly musical as both Sick City and Comeback Kid also are absolutely excellent bands. The music created with this ‘Nightlife’ album always is fresh and uplifting; the vocals are simply magnificent and the instrumental side of things also is supremely strong here. The tracks are well constructed, the music is mightily melodious and never does the sound created here by Sick City fail to make me smile.

This is a band with a keen ear for a good melody, right from the offset with opening track ‘Antoinette’ the melodic nature of music hits you and never do the tracks fail to come complete with an absolutely exceptional chorus. Contained within this album is a grand total of thirteen tracks, all of them are fantastic to sing along to and as you listen to ‘Nightlife’ you can’t help but do so. The music possesses a greatly beauteous quality; the guitars and vocals are most impressively constructed in the sound and the drumbeats also are incredibly well worked and powerfully put across.

As the band progresses its way through this album the music never fails to impress, every track here is incredibly well written and the lyrical content of the tracks always is strong. Tracks such as ‘Killing Ourselves to Feel’ and ‘Moving, Not Moving Forward’ do I feel show the bands music at its very best; the music reminds me a little of Armor For Sleep, the music of Sick City packs more of a punch than that of Armor For Sleep but certainly there are some similarities. It’s melodic hardcore and the vocals are extremely softly spoken, the guitar work is greatly powerful however and the cracking guitar riffs do I feel add energy and excitement to the album. Some melodic hardcore bands can be a little too gentle in instrumental approach, this is certainly not the case with Sick City however and always with this album the band is forthcoming in putting forward its hard hitting instrumental sound.

Fans of Paramore will appreciate ‘City Lights’ from this album I feel, throughout the track a second vocal tone can be heard on numerous occasions provided by Karly Simon and the secondary vocals here sound incredibly similar to those of Paramore’s Hayley Williams. ‘City Lights’ is another of the finest tracks from this album, the melodious nature of the music is here highly impressive and the chorus to this one is I feel the best that this ‘Nightlife’ album has to offer. Every track on this album has a brilliant chorus, somehow here the band manages to provide one that is better than ever however and this track therefore stands out strongly on this album.

If you like a good bit of melodic hardcore then you’ll love this ‘Nightlife’ album from Sick City; it’s one of the best albums of its genre I’ve heard in a long while and the album is I feel absolutely flawless. I fail to see how the band could possibly improve upon this release; it will certainly be a test of character in attempting to do so. I’d definitely recommend this album to all, the music is truly beautiful and regardless of your personal musical preference you’ll surely find plenty of enjoyment and delight in this ‘Nightlife’ album. The guitar work is powerful, the vocals are beautiful, and the drumbeats also are hugely hard hitting; in every area this album is excellent and never does the music disappoint here in the slightest. Sick City is most definitely a band to watch out for in the future, the bands music truly is incredible and in the next few years I can see Sick City becoming the new favourite band of many.

Label: Trustkill Records
Release Date: November 19th 2007

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Rich

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

Les Savy Fav – Inches

June 21, 2008 by Rich Leave a Comment

Les Savy Fav is a five-piece indie rock band from New York City; a band which takes a heavy influence from the genres of art rock and post-hardcore also. ‘Inches’ is an eighteen track compilation album of singles from the band; it comprises of the bands material between the years of 1995 and 2004 and originally was released through French Kiss Records in April 2004. It’s an interesting album from the band and one that showcases a number of excellent tracks; it’s not all good but certainly there are some great moments of promise contained within the hour and ten minutes of music that is ‘Inches’.

Before this album was released these tracks were available on vinyl only, for all fans of Les Savy Fav ‘Inches’ is truly essential listening and definitely the music contained within this collection does not disappoint. ‘Meet Me in the Dollar Bin’ begins this release, an amusing little track which looks into the subject of one hit wonders; it’s a great way to start the collection and certainly begins this ‘Inches’ compilation on a high. The music of Les Savy Fav is intelligent and well worked, the sound created here is always strong and although the music will not appeal to all; those that do appreciate it should absolutely love it.

The music of Les Savy Fav is quite out there, it’s hard to pin them down into any one particular genre and instead the band bounces between several. The band wears its art rock influence on its sleeve, it’s indie rock but not in any kind of real conventional sense. It’s hard to describe the music of Les Savy Fav; it’s quite a cacophony of sound, a musical mash-up of a variety of different genres and one that is not always successful. The vocals are often shouted, the drumbeats are simple but effective, and the guitar riffs go all over the place. The bands sound changes from one track to the next, never are you sure in which direction the music will head next and as this is a compilation collection which spans a full decade of music a bit of variation should always be expected. A bands sound does not generally remain static over the course of a decade; it changes and evolves, for that reason this album does not run particularly smoothly but still it is an interesting one to listen to.

There are definite moments of absolute hardcore present here, ‘Blackouts on Thursday’ for instance reminds me of Refused and this is certainly no bad thing. I love Refused, Refused was a great Swedish hardcore band and with this track Les Savy Fav has really captured the energy, enthusiasm, and riotous nature of the bands music. ‘Blackouts on Thursday’ could almost be a Refused cover track; it’s not, but it’s certainly extremely similar in sound.

If you’re looking for something a little different then you should certainly consider investing in this ‘Inches’ album from Les Savy Fav; give the bands music a listen before you buy as it may not be of appeal, it certainly offers something a little different to the norm however and Les Savy Fav is a band making music like no other. To listen to this album it’s incredibly obvious that the band has a vast array of different influences, the album heads in many different musical directions and never do you know quite what this ‘Inches’ compilation collection will offer next. The album is unpredictable and it is this that I love so much about it, this band does not play by the rules and never does it restrict itself to the confines of any one genre of music. Les Savy Fav here flits between the genres of indie rock, hardcore, and in fact all things in between. So many different genres are covered here that I’d probably have great trouble in trying to list them all; in naming them all even. Certainly consider giving this album a listen, you may well greatly enjoy what you hear.

Label: French Kiss Records
Release Date: April 20th 2004

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Rich

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

High On Fire – Death Is This Communion

June 21, 2008 by Rich Leave a Comment

High On Fire is a three-piece metal band from California. The band formed back in 1999 and to date has released a total of four studio albums. ‘Death Is This Communion’ is the fourth studio album from the band, an eleven track release which showcases High On Fire’s special brand of Viking inspired heavy metal. The bands vocalist Matt Pike has an incredibly distinctive voice, a hearty war cry that can be heard present in every track here and never does the vocal tone of the man disappoint. Instrumentally also the music has much to offer and right from the offset with the track ‘Fury Whip’ the music is greatly impressive here.

A quick look down the tracklist of this release and the influence of war upon the bands music soon becomes apparent. Viking imagery is often used in the bands lyrics, this is something that works well and always the music of High On Fire has plenty to offer. Instrumentally the music is incredibly hard hitting and vocally also the bands sound is supremely strong. Music website Drowned In Sound state that ‘This is what heavy music was made for’, newspaper The Independent on the other hand declares that ‘Death Is This Communion’ is ‘One of the year’s most important metal releases’; I have reason to agree with both of these sources and having heard many a metal album in the year 2007 this was definitely one of the better efforts if not the very best. Whereas some bands can get a little too hung up on gimmicks with their music, High On Fire is not a band that relies purely on this factor. The music of High On Fire could well be described as ‘Viking Metal’ if you will in that the lyrics often deal with the subject of the medieval; it’s not just all gimmick and no quality however and High On Fire is in fact an incredibly talented band.

Clocking in at just under the hour mark; ‘Death Is This Communion’ is an absolutely exceptional album and always High On Fire offers up an excellent quality of sound here. The music progresses well and never does the sound created disappoint here. It could be said that the tracks are all fairly similar on this album, I guess this could be seen as a downside of the release in that there’s a lack of variety offered; the plus side of this is however that if you like one track from this album then you can rest assured that you’re going to like them all. It’s easy to draw comparisons to the music of Motorhead here, an incredibly similar sound has been created by High On Fire with this album and particularly in the vocal department these similarities quickly become apparent. High On Fire’s vocalist Matt Pike very much has his own distinctive tone of voice, it’s similarly husky to that of Motorhead’s Lemmy however and in my opinion this is no bad thing at all.

Two purely instrumental tracks can be found on this album; ‘Khanrad’s Wall’ and ‘Headhunter’ also. Both of these tracks work well, the latter being my particular favourite of the pair. ‘Headhunter’ is a drum solo from the bands Des Kensel – a powerful piece of music and one that is put across incredibly well by the man here. I love drum solos and this is certainly a strong one; the other instrumental track ‘Khanrad’s Wall’ features the whole band however and also is greatly impressive. It’s the vocals of High On Fire that makes the music stand out so strongly throughout much of this album, even here however when vocals are not present the music is absolutely excellent. The bands members here show themselves to be incredibly competent musicians, this is a highly talented band and with every track on this album a great talent and supreme level of ability is shown.

Closing track ‘Return to NOD’ provides a fantastic finale for the album, one final moment of glory; a six minute display of fine instrumental and vocal sound. It’s by no means the best track on the album, it works well though and once more the supreme ability of High On Fire as a band shines through strongly. This band is an incredibly tight unit, all three members of High On Fire combine together extremely well and the music of this album therefore always sounds excellent. Never does this ‘Death Is This Communion’ album fail to impress, the tracks may all be very similar but the band does enough here to maintain your full interest throughout and hold you under its spell right to the very end of the album. I’m not generally one for the longer track, the band has mostly here concentrated on longer offerings however and I personally absolutely love what the band has done and achieved here.

If you like heavy music then High On Fire’s ‘Death Is This Communion’ is definitely an album to check out. Always the music is excellent here and although variety is not a strong point of High On Fire’s music the band is definitely very good at what it does. The band took three years between the release of third album ‘Blessed Black Wings’ and this, their fourth; it was definitely worth the wait though and certainly the music here does not disappoint. Released through Relapse Records, this is an album that I just cannot recommend highly enough; for fans of heavy metal purchasing this album is a definite must and if you do so I’m sure that you shall surely not be disappointed with what you hear. If you’re not a fan of Motorhead this probably won’t be of appeal; it’s the strongest comparison I can make in terms of sound and if you are a fan of the aforementioned artist then you’ll definitely appreciate ‘Death Is This Communion’.

Label: Relapse Records
Release Date: September 10th 2007

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Rich

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