Reviews

Sakurai Demo

June 4, 2004 by Rich Leave a Comment

This is a 3 track demo of superb rock music from the four piece that is Sakurai. It consists of tracks ‘Never Known,’ ‘Mantra Karma,’ and ‘Kai Ten’ and here is what I have to say about them.

This is a fine showing of rock music with stormy bass lines, fast drumming, outstanding guitar playing and an incredibly talented vocalist singing some awesome lyrics. I like all three of these tunes because all three of them convey so much power and the ability to play shown in them is astonishing. There are three very different songs on this CD and this is always good to hear in a band because having variety means that the listener is always kept entertained and you keep their attention at all times.

He first track, ‘Never Known’ is quite a stormy rock tune with strong bass liens, amazing vocals, superb drumming, and excellent guitar licks. This is by far my favourite of the three tunes on show here as the guitar playing and drumming brings a certain rawness to it all and contrasts well with the vocals, which although are heavy, are not raw like the instrumental side of things.

Track 2, ‘Mantra Karma’ is extremely different as although the vocals still have a kind of heavy feel to them, the instrumental side of things is, other than a few fiery bass lines really mellow, chilled out, and relaxed. This one is cool again because of the contrast – the band really knows how to pull it off in style as these three tracks have shown.

The third track, ‘Kai Ten’ is more or less mellower all round – it is a lot more mind soothing than the other two tracks anyway, and everything about it is melodic. It has rather mellow vocals and an extremely melodic beat to it that really make it stand out as being different to the other two and in its own way it is extremely special.

So, there you have my opinions of these three exciting tracks from a band that are sure to make a mark in the scene, Sakurai – and I am saying that in full confidence as this band have something really special going here and creating music like this is sure to make them go far.

Rating:

Rich

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

Wasted – Suppress & Restrain

June 4, 2004 by Rich Leave a Comment

This is another Finnish band that play Punk music and again, it is a great release from those wonderful people at Boss Tuneage. This band play melodic punk, and boy do they play it well?!

There are fifteen tracks here and all of them show the band to be a great little Punk band that play melodic music with a passion. You can tell that they obviously enjoy what they are doing and you really feed off of their passion when you are listening to this album. They are definitely not a band that are ashamed of being Finnish as the vocals are strictly European and that sound really comes across strong in them. The drumming is great on this release with it being fast paced with guitar riffs to match that are energetic and full of excitement. The vocals sound kind of like those of Tim Armstrong, softly spoken but with great bite. They may sound like Tim Armstrong’s but this band are a hell of a lot better than Rancid in my opinion as they are musically a lot stronger than them and have a great sound. I am extremely glad that Boss Tuneage has re-issued this great Finnish bands debut album as I did not get to hear it the first time round but thanks to them I have done and as a result have a new band to consider as one of my favourites! I am really attached to this CD as it really is an awesome little thing that they have put together and they have really impressed me a lot with it. Everything about it is strong, from the vocals, to the guitar riffs that are lightning fast, full of vibrant energy, and pulled off with tremendous style. You really cant fault this band on this attempt as it really is quite flawless and although nothing is perfect, this CD definitely comes close! When you put this CD in to your player you will think that you have died and gone to heaven as it is an absolutely amazing album of Melodic Punk that has energy, bite, and a large scoop of attitude!

So if you are into melodic punk rock and have a soft spot for European Punk (like I do) then check this band out as you will definitely not be disappointed and once you have heard this will be looking for other releases by this band and spending your hard earned cash on them too! The last two CDs that I have reviewed (this one and Manifesto Jukebox) have been by Finnish bands and they have made me desperately want to go over there to check out the other bands that they have to offer as if they have two great bands on Boss Tuneage then its hard to imagine how many of them they have in total!

Rating:

Rich

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

Zero Cipher – 45 Minutes Of Fairytale Endings

June 4, 2004 by Rich Leave a Comment

OK, after reviewing the EP from this band, ‘45rpm,’ I now move on to their latest album – and this is also a fine display of tunes that are sure to get your juices pumping and your body moving. There are 18 tracks here and every single one of them is packed with its own individual juiciness – they haven’t spent too much time in the sun – these tunes are just ripe and ready for you to take a big old bite out of them!

I enjoyed listening to this release because the band have a hell of a lot of style and it really comes across well in the album, as it did in the EP as well. Track 6, ‘Vitriolic HSF’ was originally written by the legendary Earthtone9, but courtesy of Copro Records has appeared on this release and my, do they pull it off well. I am sure that Earthtone9 would have been pleased to have recorded this song as the band really do it well and do the song justice. If it didn’t say that it was originally written by Earthtone9 then you really wouldn’t have known as it is pulled off really well and you would have just thought it was another one of the bands own songs. It is one of my favourite songs on this CD however as it is pure genius. I also love ‘Little Miss Naughty’ as in this one they let off much steam with loads of aggression and you can tell that they really mean it and are putting their hearts into it all. Again there is good use of samples and it all fits together really well in order to create a truly awesome track that is really worth hearing if you get a chance to. Track 11, ‘Head Of David’ totally blew me away with its rampant vocals of dark metal, eerie bass lines and lightning fast drumming. It is a key track on the CD and coming in the middle really leaves you wanting to hear the second half of the CD and keep on listening. This band are totally amazing – everything about them blows you away from the insane drumming to the fiery bass lines, to the whirlwind guitars, and to the aggressive yet melodic vocals it grabs your attention and stirs up your insides with its aggression yet captures you heart with its melodicity.

If you like music that is raw, aggressive, and contains some seriously sweet sampling then check the band out as they will definitely not disappoint – you could easily catch a shark with the guitar hooks for instance and they are really worth experiencing for yourself so stop wasting time and get out there and buy this record!

Rating:

Rich

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

Zero Cipher – 45rpm

June 4, 2004 by Rich Leave a Comment

This is a three track EP from the dark, metallic melodic hardcore band that is Zero Cipher and a bloody good CD it is too! To use the term Emo on this band would be quite fair as Emo stands for Emotional Hardcore and this is exactly what this band are, they are emotional and melodic, yet hardcore at the same time and it makes way for a really good listen.

The three tracks on show here are three great ones of melodic hardcore with a metallic feel to it that is really worth listening to. There are eerie bass lines, cracking guitar riffs, violent drumming, and vocals which will blow you away with their dark metallic feel at times, melodic feeling, and at other times smack you right in the mouth with a bit of post-hardcore. Their music is fast, and full of energy and will keep you glued with its deadly approach, and it is all pulled off with great flair. Everything about this band really stands out, especially the bass lines and the vocals as in the vocals he can convey great emotion while taking a dark metal, or a hardcore approach and it is not often that this is pulled off with great style – you have to hear it to believe it. The bass lines really stand out as well as they have a really eerie feel about them and this is cool to hear because it gives it a really misty and metallic feel. The decks also add to the effect and make it even more so stand out as being eerie. The samples are used to great effect and really fit into the music rather than being plastered over the top of the music. This is a band that has a lot of talent and with this EP they have really put that talent across in a serious way. This music is insane and you are sure to love it, if you don’t then you are more insane than the music!

This is a great little EP, with three awesome tracks and clocking in at twelve minutes this is a corker of a release and I would strongly advise you to take some time in your life to give this band a little listen because you really don’t know what you are missing out on if you don’t as this band have a massive amount of style and great musical ability that is sure to put a smile on your face.

Rating:

Rich

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

Rydell – ‘Per Ardua Ad Astra’

June 4, 2004 by Rich Leave a Comment

Rydell are a band doing the whole Emo/Hardcore thing and they manage to pull it off really well. This is a 13 track CD and each song is a masterpiece and is full of energy and enthusiasm. They seem to draw influences from the lovely band Hot Water Music and this is not a surprise as the band have actually done a split with them and also played gigs with them so they are bound to take some influence. They have toured with all the top American bands of the same genre so they know what they are doing and make melodic hardcore at it’s finest. This album effort from the band, I must say is a superb effort as there are songs that are verging on Hardcore and then there are others that are so melodic and Emotion driven that it is hard to believe it is from the same band. ‘Ad Astra’ for example is a melodic, instrumental tune and at first I thought that there was no song there, but on turning up the volume I found that there was a very light instrumental rhythm going on and it is such an ace tune as it is so melodic and the emotion of it is captured without them even having to use vocals! It is truly amazing how they manage to do this and I’m not sure how but they have pulled this off perfectly here! As well as playing these melodic Emo tunes they also have the songs that are more raw and aggressive like ‘Home’ as you can tell this is more aggression fuelled rather than emotionally driven and it just proves that they can go from one extreme to another and pull it off with tremendous style. Also, I feel that ‘Ghost Culture’ is a great tune and again it is rather aggressive while remaining melodic at the same time so you get the best of both worlds. I feel that it is probably the song on the CD which stands out the most as it is sure to please everyone with its melodic aggression. The guitar playing on this CD is extremely strong and is not overshadowed by the vocals like it can be sometimes so you can see that the band have chosen not to follow a trend but to do their own thing and this is pleasing as I like to hear bands that do things slightly different to what most people do and this is exactly what Rydell do. I think that this CD is great as it has everything you want, emotion, aggression, and guitar riffs to die for. Also, the vocals are extremely strong and they are what make the CD so original and exciting. This is probably the greatest Emo CD I have and probably will ever hear. I strongly encourage you to download this band as they are moving and contain as much excitement as you could possibly wish for in a band.

Rating:

Rich

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

Rydell – Memo: Demo

June 4, 2004 by Rich Leave a Comment

This is a CD showcasing 5 more tracks from those wonderful blokes, Rydell and this CD showcases more great tunes that show off the bands great talents. The band released this CD way back in 1999, so it was long before ‘Per ardua ad astra,’ a great CD which I also happened to have reviewed on this website. It is of an extremely high standard and there is much to appreciate about this here CD. The band takes on many different styles in this CD with a very emotional take on track 3, ‘The Plot Is Lost.’ This track is an awesome one of extreme emotion and contains female backing vocals – it works really well with the two different sexes singing and a really great sound is created. I really loved it and thought that it was one of the strongest tracks on the CD with gentle guitar playing, slow paced drumming and extremely gentle vocals it really mellows you out and puts you in a good mood. Another track that I loved from this demo was the first track, ‘Nothing By Morning’ as on this track the band seem to take a heavier approach with more aggressive, raw punk rock. This track has come out really well and on this track there is an awful lot of stuff to take in like the aggression of the vocals, the fast drumming and then the mellow sounds of the guitar which seem to compliment the vocals and drumming and it all seems to fit together and works really well. They could easily make an album of tracks like this and this would be sure to please as this is a top quality tune and when a band can pull it off with such style, you know that they have a definite talent for it that is well worth taking note of. I love all five of these songs and feel that they have been done to a good standard and it just shows that the band have been clued up for many years now as this was written a whole four years ago and is still of an extremely high standard with awesome tunes.

Rating:

Rich

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

Rydell – Always Remember Everything

June 4, 2004 by Rich Leave a Comment

This is a collection of earlier Rydell stuff and you can hear the band as they were before the release of the album. There are 14 tracks here of emotional Punk Rock. The band on this CD still sound very Hot Water Music but on this CD they sound much more emotional and there are no more aggressive hardcore tracks like on the album. This is a good CD to chill out to as it is extremely mellow and so emotional that at times on this CD you want to cry but you just cant because at the same time it is so strong that it is unbelievable. You hear the band as they progress through and become better musicians and then you see how they arrived at the sort of style that they have now. It is quite amazing to see how much they have improved since they started out and a band that started off great have become legendary! If you look at the discography for this band then you can see that it is extremely impressive so this is not just a change that has happened over night, the sound of the band has been refined over a series of years and CDs. All of these songs are awesome in their own right and I feel that they have really managed to create their own unique style in the time that they have been around. Yes, it may draw many different influences but in taking these influences they have put them all together and added their own secret ingredient to spice it up a bit and they have emerged far greater for it and have the most original and unique take on Emo that I have ever heard in my life. I think that they are definitely the best in the UK at what they do and they deserve to be a famous band as by the number of CDs and shows that they have done you can tell that they are not a lazy band and what they have achieved so far has been through sheer determination and hard work. Look out for this band in the future and look out for their next album as I am sure that it will be a cracker with many nice little twists to take you by surprise!

Rating:

Rich

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

Rydell Demo

June 4, 2004 by Rich Leave a Comment

This is a new album from the emotional Punk Rockers Rydell and consists of 9 tracks showing off the bands great musical talents and amazing playing ability. Once again, Rydell have produced a fine CD of emotional Punk Rock with outbursts of rawness and aggression. Once again, you have got the harder tracks and then you have the more emotional, softer tracks so the band are still showing that they can do both Hardcore and Emotion to an extremely high standard and can do them both just as well as each other. There are some great tracks on this one with aggression such as ‘Know Now,’ ‘Shifter,’ and ‘Boys Of Summer,’ then there are the more emotional tracks such as ‘Fire At The End Of The Street,’ ‘Team Building Exercise,’ and ‘Untitled.’ The tracks on this CD that are emotional don’t seem to be as emotional as they usually are on Rydell records so the band seem to have opted for a more hardcore this time round with many more aggressive vocals than there are mellow ones.

The most mellow of all the tracks seems to be the last track, ‘Team Building Exercise’ and this seems to be done really well with a really chilled out feel about it. The guitar playing has a really mellow feel about it, the vocals are extremely melodic and the drumming is a good, slow beat. This is a great song and although it is an extremely slow track it is extremely interesting and is not at all boring like slow tracks can sometimes be. The band have a talent for hard edged songs but they also have a great talent for slower, more melodic songs and they are really showing this here with ‘Team Building Exercise.’

The first track here, ‘Know Now,’ is, in my humble opinion an extremely cool track. It has everything you could possibly wish for – raw, aggressive vocals, frantic drumming, and an awesome guitar riff. It is a really great track and has a great degree of rawness about it that really drew me in and got me hooked, I keep listening to this track over and over and never seem to tire of it as it is such a powerful and interesting tune to listen to that you can take so much from. The tracks ‘Shifter,’ and ‘Boys Of Summer,’ are also extremely powerful tracks with the latter of the two having some serious outbursts of power coming out at times and really grabbing at you. Even though they are aggressive, they still seem to have a great deal of emotion in them and it is really strange the way that Rydell seem to be able to do this without any serious difficulty and just by this you can tell that they are an extremely talented band that are very good at what they do and love what they are currently doing.

There are some great tracks on this CD and the band has put across 9 tracks of emotion, aggression and in some cases great rawness. If you are looking for something raw then check out ‘Know Now’ as it is possibly the rawest sound the band have ever produced and I love it! If you are looking on something a bit more emotional though check out ‘Team Building Exercise,’ as it is a great track with a really chilled out atmosphere. Whatever you are after, this band are sure to put a smile on your face as they have great talent and produce some fine, fine music.

Rating:

Rich

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

Route215 + Captain Everything – Make The Love Connection

June 4, 2004 by Rich Leave a Comment

This is an 8 track CD with tracks 1,3,5, and 7 coming from Route215 and tracks 2,4,6,and 8 from Captain Everything. Route 215, a band providing some comical pop punk and Captain Everything giving you something more serious. Route 215 have some catchy tunes with lyrics such as ‘stuck with your name on my penis, stuck with your name on my cock,’ – this lyric taken from track 3, ‘Stuck With You.’ So if you are easily shocked then you would be wise to stay away from Route215 as they are a comical pop punk band and many bands like this enjoy singing about ex girlfriends and how enjoyable it is to have a good wank. These are all top notch tunes from a top quality band and I think they were superb. The best tracks on this CD for me were probably ‘Nancy’ and ‘Stuck With You’ as they are both full of zest and with so much energy they are set to please even the grumpiest of people. Check out their site at www.route215.com

Captain Everything on the other hand, are again pop punk but seem to take a more serious approach. They seem to have a kind of Voodoo Glow Skulls mixed with Blink182 sound so they have the hard hitting elements along with an early Blink kind of sound which seems to work really well and sounds pretty damn cool. The highlights to me are ‘Bergerac’s Burger-rack’ and ‘Just For Paul’ as they are both quality songs jam packed with excitement and leave you begging for more. The two bands work really well together on this CD because they are similar kind of bands and combine their talents to create a masterpiece of a CD. I feel that the two of these bands are under rated and deserve much more attention than they are receiving at the moment.

Rating:

Rich

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

Mr Zippy – Ambition is Critical

June 4, 2004 by Rich Leave a Comment

This is an 11 track album from the Bristol punk rock crew that is Mr Zippy. This is a top quality album of Punk Rock tunes played in a melodic fashion and just on the basis of this I can see why Golf Records have snapped this band up for the release of this album. All of these tunes are truly great and it really shows that Mr Zippy deserve to become one of the leading bands in the country and if they keep touring and spreading the word then they are sure to hit the top real soon. There are some faster tracks and then there are some slower, more melodic tracks, and whatever way they choose to do their songs it always sounds amazing. So they can pull off whatever they please whether they wish to make a melodic punk track or a speedy punk tune with attitude and there are not many bands around at the moment that can pull this off at such a high standard. For instance, the track ‘Doing An Endo’ is an amazing track with soaring vocals, steaming guitars and power drumming, then there is ‘Road Movie’ which is equally as great but the tempo seems to be slowed down a bit for it and the vocals are more melodic, but keeping with the same kind of style drumming and adding a certain degree of softness to the guitar playing at times. So there are many different styles on this album with a little bit of Oi, some melodic punk, and also a nice bit of fast punk. So whatever your taste in Punk may be, this band will cater for you with some great Punk Rock tunes to get the blood flowing and the heart pumping. If it is Punk Rock that you are after then you are definitely looking at the right review because this is a band that definitely know their Punk Rock so if you are even remotely interested in Punk, in fact even if you’re not then check this band out anyway because they are sure to impress and may even convert you to Punk with their lavish tunes.

Rating:

Rich

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