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Little Matador – Stitch Yourself Up

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Fronted by Snow Patrol guitarist Nathan Connolly and featuring alumni of Idlewild, LaFaro, and Bell X1, Little Matador is somewhat of a rock supergroup that, on the basis of this single at least, certainly demands to be listened to.

With a pulsating rhythm throughout and a hugely hard hitting drumbeat, ‘Stitch Yourself Up‘ has an absolutely massive instrumental sound and the vocals also sit strongly in the sound to provide for an incredibly impressive single. The band use all their years of experience here as they slam their way through the song with fantastic intensity and power. The track has a relatively simple structure, it’s hugely effective, however, with an incredible amount of drive as the band struts its way through the track with incredible confidence and style. Little Matador is a band that has evidently set out with a firm idea of exactly what sound they’re going for, and not only do they have a clear direction for the band but they also have the talent and the experience to pull it off in style.

If you like an intense, in-your-face rock sound, Little Matador is definitely a band for you and you should certainly look to give their ‘Stitch Yourself Up‘ single a listen if you haven’t already done so.

‘Stitch Yourself Up‘ is taken from the band’s self-titled début album which is due to drop on April 21st, and if this track is anything to go by then it could well be one of the most explosive rock releases of 2014.

Above the Underground – Sonder

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With the entire album clocking in at just 25 minutes, ‘Sonder‘ is a fast blast of a pop-punk release that features driving guitar lines, booming drumbeats and absolute pounding bass parts. With a vocal style not too dissimilar to that of Set Your Goals, Above the Underground have a fast and frantic style that comes complete with a huge amount of energy and a good amount of style. There are times on this album where the tracks can get a little samey, the band’s music is nonetheless always well written though and individually each track has its own merit.

‘Prologue‘ is an interesting 30 second number to start the album that serves as the calm before the storm, a melodic track that kicks the album off gently before the band then explodes into ‘Return To Point Pleasant‘. Interestingly, with the closing number the prologue is later revisited with ‘Reprise‘, taking the structure of the intro yet putting a darker spin on the proceedings and turning it into a full length album track. ‘Reprise‘ takes the album full circle and stands out as one of the album’s best and most distinguishable moments with its impressive instrumental style and as ever excellent vocals. ‘Reprise‘ just feels like it really completes the release, serving as an absolutely perfect closing number that certainly makes the listener well aware that it’s the final track on the album.

Much like ‘Reprise‘, ‘I Was Never Lost‘ is another track where the band take a harder approach and another that really stands out strongly. Borrowing from the ‘Your Favorite Weapon‘ era of pop-punk, ‘I Was Never Lost‘ shakes things up a little and stops the album from stagnating too much with its hard hitting style. It’s the longest track on the album and the band really seem to take the time here to fully explore the track and develop it in all areas into something extremely special. Instrumentally the band have a lot to offer here, it’s the most complete sounding track on the album and along with ‘Reprise‘ just seems to really showcase the band at their very best.

Just as the heavier tracks break things up rather nicely, ‘Shine‘ is another track that helps provide something a little different here, an acoustic track that comes complete with ‘woah oh’ vocals that it’s very difficult not to sing along to. It’s nice to hear the band strip things back a little, take away the distortion and showcase their strong talent for songwriting and Will Kirkman’s impressive vocal style. A well carried out acoustic track can really leave a strong lasting impression and this is certainly the case with ‘Shine‘.

Although ‘Reprise‘, ‘I Was Never Lost‘ and ‘Shine‘ stand out for offering something different, Above the Underground are very good at writing straight up pop-punk/pop-rock songs and tracks such as ‘Return To Point Pleasant‘ and ‘Not Home‘ are well worth checking out as incredibly catchy slabs of rock goodness. ‘Lavender Town Syndrome‘ may come as somewhat of a disappointment for those hoping for Pokémon inspired lyrics about wanting to be the very best, it’s another pretty impressive and catchy piece of music from the band though and another track that’s certainly well worth a listen.

Whilst it can be argued that the ‘Sonder‘ album does suffer at times from patches of predictability, it really is hard to understand as to how this band still remain unsigned. Granted, it can be a bit difficult at times to get spotted in a genre where so many bands sound so similar, Above the Underground showcase some absolute moments of quality on this album though, more than enough to merit them a record deal at least and certainly enough to garner them a far greater following in the future.

Above the Underground are a UK pop-punk band well worth paying attention to. There are definitely plenty of people out there that will love this band that just don’t know it yet.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Review

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Serving as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes provides an introduction to the new open world experience that the Metal Gear series is now keen to explore, allowing gamers to adjust themselves to a new kind of Metal Gear Solid and get to grips with the new controls and capabilities of the newly introduced FOX engine.

Set within a Cuban prison camp, the game allows you to explore the camp as you wish, setting about a rescue mission as you look to locate your targets and extract them safely from the camp. Completing the main Ground Zeroes rescue mission unlocks five Side-Ops, and although the main mission can be completed within a couple of hours of gameplay on first run through, the side missions provide further story and hours of gameplay that help make Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes feel like a more complete experience.

With the ability to run, duck and dive, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes introduces a new style of gameplay to the series that feels incredibly fluid. Tactical awareness is absolutely key to success within the game and you have to be constantly on your toes and aware of your surroundings; the map is fairly small, it’s still large enough that it’s possible to lose track of exactly where each guard is, however, and if you’re not careful then it’s easy to tip one off and have them alerted of your location. Sprinting can be a good way of getting around the map more quickly and speedily taking down a guard from behind, it’s also a lot easier to make a mistake and be spotted when you’re sprinting though so this is something that you always need to keep in mind when running around the camp. Interrogating guards is great fun and you’re always curious to find out what information they’re willing to relay to you, and every element of the gameplay seems well considered in order to make the gameplay experience as satisfying and enjoyable as possible.

Graphically, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is an incredibly impressive game to look at. Although the game runs at 720p on Xbox One as opposed to the 1080p that it runs at on PS4 (60 frames per second on both systems), the game still looks fantastic on the Xbox One and regardless of what platform you play the game on you would no doubt be highly impressed with the way that the game looks. A lot of work has clearly been put into this game to make it look as polished as possible, with both Snake and the camp itself looking absolutely phenomenal, and the cut scenes always incredibly well executed also. There’s fantastic attention to detail throughout the map and although it’s not huge it does feel a pleasure to progress through with each run through on the various mission options available.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes at times touches upon some incredibly dark and actually quite shocking elements of storyline. The game feels extremely serious and has a suitably gritty aesthetic style to match the dark components of the storyline, particularly in the main mission with its miserable rainy evening backdrop. The decision to set the main mission on a stormy night certainly works from a stealth perspective, but it also fits the mood of the game perfectly and helps mould the overall gameplay experience and make Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes the hugely enjoyable title that it is. Stylistically it is very difficult to find any reason to criticise this game, there’s so much to admire about how the game looks and feels and Hideo Kojima should certainly be praised for what he has been able to achieve here.

Despite its relatively short length, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is still a game that is easy to recommend for its aesthetic beauty and fantastic quality of gameplay. It’s a great teaser title for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, introducing new gameplay features and preparing gamers for the next full game in the Metal Gear Solid franchise. If you enjoy stealth titles then there is certainly much to admire about Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, and although it may be true that the game could be longer, there’s still a reasonable amount of content to the title once you factor in the five Side-Ops, and the game definitely warrants a good few playthroughs as you look to better your score each time with the ultimate goal of achieving an S-Rank.

My Chemical Romance – Fake Your Death

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My Chemical Romance will release their greatest hits album ‘May Death Never Stop You‘ next week, complete with several previously unreleased demo tracks and the last track that the band ever recorded together in the studio, ‘Fake Your Death‘. Whilst on the face of it the title of the track may seem like the band are trying to send a message that they’re not really gone, it’s also equally plausible that this truly is the last track that My Chemical Romance will ever record together in the studio, but that it’s still an apt title as they’ll still live on in the hearts and memories of their fans and all those that they reached out to and inspired throughout their career.

With its simple yet beautiful piano introduction, the sombre tone for ‘Fake Your Death‘ is set, and the opening lyrical line “Some people watch, some people pray, but even lights can fade away” further enhances the sense of sadness that encapsulates the track. There’s a genuine pain in Gerard Way’s voice as he repeats the line “Just look at all that pain”, a heartfelt ache that can be heard in a lot of Gerard Way’s vocals yet that feels all the more poignant here given the track’s significance. ‘Fake Your Death‘ feels every bit the goodbye that it is, a pure and heartfelt offering from a band that will seemingly never record together again, one final musical moment for fans to feast their ears upon and savour. It’s not one of the band’s more lively offerings, but then it wouldn’t really feel right if it was; ‘Fake Your Death‘ feels like a track that could be played at a funeral, and given that it’s one that marks the death of My Chemical Romance it is therefore very appropriate that this is the case.

If ‘Fake Your Death‘ is to be the last ever track that My Chemical Romance record together in the studio then it can definitely be seen as a powerfully emotional one for them to bow out on. Some fans may have hoped for something slightly more lively with the band’s final effort, something with a little more grit and perhaps not so melancholy, ‘Fake Your Death‘ is certainly an impressive single from My Chemical Romance though, a good track for them to go out on that feels suitably sombre to mark the final chapter in the My Chemical Romance story.

Linkin Park – Guilty All The Same

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Having burst brightly onto the nu metal scene back in the year 2000 with their ‘Hybrid Theory‘ début, Linkin Park have since gone on to favour more of an electronic rock sound in recent times, with ‘Guilty All The Same‘ they seem to be going back to basics though with a track very much back in the riff-based guitar music ballpark. US rapper Rakim features here and is a welcome addition, at six minutes in length the track is perhaps a little on the long side, however, lacking the grit and bite to properly pull you in and justify such a lengthy run time.

Although unmistakeably a Linkin Park song, ‘Guilty All The Same lacks the energy and drive of some of the band’s more successful singles and feels a little meandering at times. There are a few neat turns and the Rakim rap section is certainly very impressive, overall the track just feels a little flat though, lacking any real intensity and providing a listening experience that whilst not entirely unpleasant is also not massively memorable.

If you enjoyed the earlier work of Linkin Park then it’ll probably be worth checking out their ‘The Hunting Party‘ album when it drops later this year as ‘Guilty All The Same‘ hints at a return to their roots in terms of the sound that they’re putting out there, whilst ‘Guilty All The Same‘ is comfortably familiar it is certainly not the best track that the band have ever produced though, and if you’ve not previously been impressed with Linkin Park then it’s probably fair to suggest that this track is unlikely to change your mind about them.

As It Is – This Mind Of Mine

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Hailing from Brighton but with a frontman that’s made in Minnesota, As It Is are a fantastic up and coming pop-punk band that have achieved a great deal in the less than two years that they have now been in existence. Having a singer with a Youtube following in excess of over 200,000 subscribers certainly hasn’t hurt the band’s cause, the fact that they’re also an excellent bunch of musicians with a fine knack for crafting catchy pop-punk is surely what seals the deal for them though, and ‘This Mind Of Mine‘ is a release that certainly showcases just how far this band have come, an EP that is incredibly tight throughout and always complete with a huge amount of energy.

With the entire EP clocking in at less than 15 minutes in length, As It Is make full use of every minute that they have available to them here, hitting you with their self-doubt and insecurity right from the off, pulling you in with their infectious lyrical lines and impressively tight instrumental talent. ‘Bitter Broken Me‘ provides a strong start to the release, it’s when Patty Walters belts out “I just wanna believe in something” in second track ‘Horoscopes‘ that you get a real sense of just what this band could go on to become, however, with the track sounding absolutely huge and providing fierce competition for some of pop-punk’s biggest hitters. Listening to ‘Horoscopes‘ for the first time reminded me of first hearing Fall Out Boy’s ‘Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy‘ all those years ago and knowing right in that moment that the track was going to be a huge success; that gut feeling that you’ve just heard something with a huge potential to absolutely explode, and holding an overwhelming sense of hope that the track receives the widespread acknowledgement that it so richly deserves.

Following on from ‘Horoscopes‘ with ‘Can’t Save Myself‘, As It Is once again impress here with another track that showcases a strong knack for songwriting and an absolutely incredible vocal formula. Patty Walters and Benjamin Biss bounce off one another exceptionally here, with their contrasting vocal styles sounding absolutely superb and really making the track stand out strongly on the EP. Walters and Biss have a fantastic vocal partnership throughout, ‘Can’t Save Myself‘ certainly seems to capture the pair at their very vocal best though, with both musicians sounding incredible on this one and providing another supremely memorable offering of music.

Bringing the EP to its conclusion, ‘Relive This Story‘ is pretty much everything that you expect from a pop-punk closing track, ending things on a lighter, more melodic note whilst still maintaining an incredibly catchy and impressive chorus. Contrasting quieter moments with more explosive blasts, ‘Relive This Story‘ ends the EP on a very impressive note, showcasing something a little different, but with the band still very much coming up trumps. The ‘This Mind Of Mine‘ EP may be less than 15 minutes long, but despite its short length it still feels absolutely complete and ‘Relive This Story‘ provides the very satisfying conclusion that the release certainly deserves.

In four tracks the band most definitely hit all the right notes here and have put together an incredibly impressive EP that definitely packs a mighty punch. Not just riding on the coattails of their Youtube famous singer, As It Is are a very talented pop-punk band that absolutely demand to be listened to; they wear their pop-punk influences on their sleeve and are an incredibly tight and talented group of musicians. ‘This Mind Of Mine‘ is a high energy, hugely high quality EP from a fantastic Brighton based band with an excellent American singer. If you’re a pop-punk fan and haven’t yet heard As It Is, make it your mission to do so as they really do have a great talent for what they do and a fine art for penning a highly infectious pop-punk song.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare Review

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Given its origins as a simplistic tower defence video game, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare can definitely be seen to be punching well above its weight here as an incredibly enjoyable and impressively colourful shooter. The tower defence of the original title hasn’t entirely disappeared as there’s still a ‘Garden Ops’ gameplay mode which allows you to defend your garden against hordes of zombies either solo or as a group, with the other two gameplay modes this is strictly a third-person shooter, however, and a pretty successful one at that.

At its very heart, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is a multiplayer video game where teamwork is of the utmost importance. Although the Garden Ops game mode is playable solo, even this mode is pretty multiplayer dependent as whilst you could try to defend your garden against swarms of zombies alone, it’s going to be an incredibly difficult task due to the absolute volume of zombies that the game throws at you, and this gameplay mode is therefore best enjoyed with four players. The key to Garden Ops success is communication, working as a team to take down the various waves of zombies and bosses that are thrown at you. It’ll be the most recognisable Plants vs. Zombies gameplay mode to those that are familiar with the original tower defence title, some of the fun of the game is arguably taken out of the game in this 3D transfer, however, and it is probably actually the Team Vanquish/Gardens & Graveyards multiplayer modes that provide the most satisfying gaming experience with their focus on human player combat.

In the Team Vanquish/Gardens & Graveyards multiplayer modes you take charge of either the Plants or the Zombies and each has four different classes to choose from. On the Plants side you have the Peashooter, Chomper, Sunflower, and Cactus classes, whilst on the Zombies side there are the Foot Soldier, Engineer, Scientist, and All Star classes. Both sides seem fairly well matched up in terms of the abilities that the various classes have available to them, if you’re on the Zombies side the Chomper’s can definitely be frustrating at times though, glooping you and leaving you fairly powerless to resist as they then take you down with an underground attack, and the Sunflower’s can also be incredibly quick to replenish other plants’ health when you’re shooting at them, something that can be fairly frustrating at times when you’re on the Zombie side but certainly a very welcome bonus when you’re on the Plants’ team.

The biggest problem that Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare probably faces as a title is finding its target market. As a game that is arguably at its most enjoyable as a multiplayer third-person shooter title, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare’s key strength is therefore very different to the game that it stems from, although it’s equally as colourful as the original with its incredibly fun and quirky cartoon graphics. If you played and enjoyed the original tower defence games then it’s possible that you’ll also quite enjoy this, it’s not quite so much of a casual gamer experience than the game that it came from though due to its multplayer nature, and just because you liked the original games doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll also enjoy Garden Warfare. On the flipside of this, if the original games weren’t really your bag, you may still enjoy the Team Vanquish/Gardens & Graveyards gameplay modes of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare as they really do provide a very different gaming experience to what the original title did. The problem that the game faces from a marketing perspective then is that it falls between two markets. With the Plants vs. Zombies name attached to the title, people may immediately write the game off based on their perceptions of the series from past titles, or they may come into the game expecting an entirely different experience to what they’re met with. It’s a fun game, but it’s also difficult to pinpoint exactly what market the game is intended for.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is an impressive game and those that enjoy it will no doubt invest a lot of hours into the game, but with the unlock system that’s in place it can certainly feel like a bit of a frustrating experience when you first start out and are yet to unlock special weaponry and customisation items that will make you a more effective team player. Microtransactions are not currently a factor of the title, but with the sticker pack system that’s in place where you can acquire new customisation, upgrades, and characters, it seems possible that this could well be something that will be implemented at a later date.

Whilst Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare can’t really be seen as a Titanfall rival and definitely won’t be as much of a system seller, it’s certainly a very fun shooting game to consider if you own an Xbox One/Xbox 360, and although many were probably sceptical before the game’s release about how well Plants vs. Zombies would really translate to a third-person shooter, it has actually been pretty successfully done and PopCap really have done a very impressive job in taking the basic components of a tower defence game and turning it into an extremely addictive shooter. It’s an obviously low budget title and there are a fairly limited number of maps to play through, the price of the title seems to be a fair reflection of this though, and just as with the Titanfall Beta that also featured a limited number of maps, you can certainly enjoy many happy hours of gameplay with Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and happily rank up through the level system.

The cutesy look of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare will no doubt be off-putting for some and there are bound to be plenty of people out there that write the game off before they even play it, if you’re willing to give this game a chance though then you may just like what you find. It may not be the most complete or original game ever released, it’s an incredibly colourful and fun game though

Titanfall Beta Review

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Despite only consisting of two different maps and three different gameplay modes, the Titanfall beta from Respawn Entertainment proved to be incredibly fun for many as more than 2 million people around the world played the game on either Xbox One or PC.

Featuring the ability to run along walls and double jump in order to gain further height, Titanfall feels like a very different game to most FPS titles due to it utilisation of parkour techniques, and the Titans themselves add further options to the game as you can use them in several different ways. You can have your Titan follow you around the map, set it to guard mode and keep gaining points from your Titan picking off enemies whilst you’re exploring the map on foot, or get inside your Titan and take control of it as you explore the map and attempt to destroy the opposition. Each round of Titanfall feels a bit different with the variety of options that you have available to you; this is not just your standard FPS title where you run around the map spraying bullets at the other team, Titanfall is a game that comes complete with its own feel and identity, it separates itself from the crowd through its implementation of innovative new features and each map feels like it has been designed to take full advantage of this.

With 6 human players and 12 AI players on each team, a lot of the competitors that you come across each match will be AI controlled and therefore easier to pick off than most humans, as you’re rushing through the map you have to treat everyone that you come across like a human player though due to the frantic pace of the action and even the AI controlled players therefore help further hone your talent for the game as you’re constantly on your toes and can never really afford to take it too easy. Picking off human players always feels a lot more rewarding than beating the AI, every kill counts as regards to your overall score though, and during periods in the game when you don’t find yourself encountering any real life human competitors it is always nice to keep getting kills in and at least feel like you’re still contributing in some small way.

Win or lose a round, Titanfall is a huge amount of fun to play, and being on the losing team does in fact have its perks as come the end of each round the losing team has to make a run for it to try and make it to the evacuation dropship before it takes off, as the players from the winning team try to take everyone down to ensure that no one is able to save a bit of face and get away on the dropship. It’s definitely a lot of fun trying to make it to the dropship unscathed, taking away that absolute feeling of misery and disgust with your team that you get with most FPS titles when you lose and replacing it with a positive target to aim for.

Titanfall is an incredibly aesthetically pleasing game to look at, with visually appealing backdrops that make the game all the more appealing to play. There has obviously been a lot of time spent getting this game to look and play as well as possible, something that has definitely paid off for Respawn Entertainment as they have here created an incredibly addictive multiplayer video game, building upon their past success with the Call Of Duty franchise and putting out a new FPS title that is incredibly fresh and fun.

After the extreme success of the Titanfall beta it seems inevitable that this game will be a huge success and it’s also incredibly likely that this game will help shift many further Xbox One units. Whilst the PS4 may have superior hardware to the Xbox One, it currently lacks any killer exclusive titles and is currently trailing behind the Xbox One in terms of the titles that it has available; with the release of Titanfall the PS4 is going to become further left behind in this respect and it’ll be interesting to see how this situation develops in the future. The PS4 may have been marketed as the gamers system and the Xbox One more generally as a home entertainment system, the Xbox One certainly seems to be more than holding its own in the gaming department so far though and Titanfall provides another fantastic title for the console in a game that will no doubt provide much enjoyment for many when it’s officially released next month.

Love For Zero – Call Me Up

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With its swirling synth sounds and softly spoken vocal approach, ‘Call Me Up‘ is an interesting mix of electro rock and indie pop that should win this Manchester based band a good number of new fans. There’s an impressive chorus to the track and a strong sense of pop sensibilities on display throughout, a gentle sound with just enough instrumental edge to properly draw you in.

Lead vocalist Chris Niebel’s voice is probably the most striking element of the music, an incredibly clean vocal sound that’s silky smooth in its approach. Instrumentally a fairly minimal approach is taken for the most part, there’s always a swelling underbelly to the track though and the distorted guitar sound and powerful drumming that’s introduced towards the end adds a bit of rock rawness to the music that definitely doesn’t do the track any harm.

With the sound that they have, Love For Zero should have a pretty broad appeal and it’ll therefore be interesting to see what the future holds for the band as they clearly have a good amount of talent for their craft and a strong vision for the exact sort of sound that they wish to create. It’ll be great to hear a studio album from Love For Zero to hear what they’re capable of with a full release, in the meantime ‘Call Me Up‘ is a quality single from the band though and well worth listening to for a fine dose of indie and rock edged electro-pop music.

You Me At Six – Fresh Start Fever

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Following on from the release of last year’s hugely infectious ‘Lived A Lie‘ single, You Me At Six now announce the arrival of their fourth studio album ‘Cavalier Youth‘ with another new single in the form of ‘Fresh Start Fever‘.

Whilst ‘Lived A Lie‘ came complete with a huge chorus and incredible sing-along factor, ‘Fresh Start Fever‘ feels distinctly bland in comparison, lacking the strong pop sensibilities that usually make the band’s music so exciting. ‘Fresh Start Fever‘ is still very obviously a You Me At Six single and doesn’t stray too far from the band’s tried and tested pop-punk formula, it lacks the wow factor that characterises the vast majority of the band’s single releases, however, and whilst it does seem to get a bit better the more you listen to it, it doesn’t really blow you away in the manner that you generally expect a You Me At Six single to.

‘Fresh Start Fever‘ just seems like a very lukewarm way to see in the release of ‘Cavalier Youth‘, a perfectly reasonable album track but perhaps just not one that should have been chosen as a single. You Me At Six at their infectious best is always an absolute delight to hear, unfortunately this is far from being the band at their best though and they’ve written far better songs than this in the past and no doubt will continue to release much better music than this in the future, too.