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Aura Sun – tattered fragments of broken conversations

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Aura Sun are a five piece emotional post millennial metal band that have been around for just 12 months. This 3 track CD is entitled ‘tattered fragments of broken conversations’ and is made for industry purposes so it will help to get them gigs etc, and maybe even score them a record deal. Considering they only formed 12 months ago they definitely seem to have settled down well as a band, as here are 3 tracks that combine Emo with Metal. They seem to have a good idea of what they are doing, and there is probably a lot more where this came from. All three of these tracks are very emotional and combine the Emo side with some Hardcore vocals. The Emo seems to form the base of their songs and then the Hardcore within the style help to produce some strong and moving music. This is a very interesting piece of music and I would love to see where they go next after making this.

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Fallen To – Bovine Calm

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After the success of the single ‘No Allies’ netting the band a top spot of MTV2’s most wanted chart for two weeks, the band bring you ‘bovine calm the second single taken from their album. This CD single has 3 tracks; the first of these is ‘bovine calm’ and is a really great song that has a driving tune and leaps from Emo to Hardcore at the flick of a switch. This makes the song very unpredictable and interesting making you want to listen to each and every second of it. As it is the song that is going to be used as the obviously it has to be very catchy and this song definitely provides you with an exceedingly catchy tune. The second song on this CD is ‘re-alignment’ which is a fairly short, but sweet as Hardcore tune that starts off with an eerie spacey kind of sound and then a hard hitting guitar tune and smooth drumming before taking you into the vocals. This is a really cool song and is mainly instrumental, although the vocals it does have are very hardcore and really work well with the instruments to create a good song that could easily have been used as the single itself. The third tune, ‘broken’ is a pure Emo song, which is also good because it is really mellow and is totally mind soothing. So on this CD you have got 3 songs that are all very different which makes it good because you have lots of variation that stops you from getting bored. I am sure that this single will be just as, or even more successful than the last.

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A Close Last – “Who Took The Jam Out Of Your Donut?!” EP

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This is a good offering of punk from the Glasgow band ‘A Close Last’ and it contains 5 infectious catchy tunes. Tracks 1, 2, 4, and 5 offer catchy punk which is these days often referred to as pop punk, whereas track 3 is more hardcore punk, with faster vocals and a harder hitting tune. All 5 of these songs are the sort of quality you would expect to find on a Punk-O-Rama compilation, it doesn’t have a single song that is lacking. I think that they are all good songs but ‘Stop Being A Cow’ is definitely my favorite because it’s really catchy and gets you tapping your feet almost as much as a Reel Big Fish album can do. I really think this band have something good going here and if they tour hard and knuckle down they can make this band one of the leading names in the country. I hope that they keep up the good work and then sometime in the near future I hope to have the opportunity to go and see them live.

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The Amphetameanies – Right Line In Nylons

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This is a good 14 track cd of upbeat ska from the 10 piece band from Glasgow, ‘The Amphetameanies.’ Rather than adopting an American singing accent, as many bands do today, ‘The Amphetameanies’ stick with their native Scottish accents and you can clearly hear it in their songs. There is a good sense of humour in all of their songs and some of the stand out songs on the album are ‘Bedroom Holiday,’ ‘Whisky,’ and ‘Ghost Bus.’ This album would be a very good album to listen to when you are feeling a bit down in the dumps because the songs are very upbeat and are sure to put a smile on your face. The songs mainly consist of a male vocalist but in some of the songs have a female vocalist that also sings on it. This style works very well on ‘Bedroom Holiday’ as you get the story from both a male and female point of view and it works rather well, making it an excellent song. So this album is a good mix of upbeat ska, and more upbeat ska!! If you are into ska then I strongly suggest that you get out there and buy this album as it is some good ska and it is great to skank to. Find out more about the band either in the band section on this site or on theirs!!

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No-Where Fast – Mass Debate Over Life

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Ah yes, another fine EP of pop punk from Bicester’s No-Where Fast. This is a 5 track follow up to ‘Dance Of Death.’ The first track, ‘Oops I Slipped’ is a pop punk tune carrying on from where they left off in ‘Dance Of Death.’ The vocals in this tune are very powerful and are truly great as they have really defined their sound now and improved greatly on something which I thought could not be any greater! The drumming is extremely good and also very fast and there is a really cool guitar riff as well. The second track, ‘So Long’ is also a cool pop punk tune with strong vocals and a good beat to it. Their sound is now much more melodic and they seem to be more comfortable and know exactly what they are trying to achieve. The third track, ‘Emo Day’ I feel is not as good as the other tracks on this CD as it seems to lack the x-factor that makes the other tunes so exciting and as it is such a long tune it just seems to drag on and on. The fourth track, ‘Love Bite’ is like the first two, full of life and a treat to listen to with an uplifting beat and strong vocals. The guitar seems to come through really strong on this song and the drumming has a steady beat and comes through really well. The fifth and final track, ‘Letters To The Dead’ is awesomely melodic and the vocals are really great as they are extremely powerful and tuneful. This song has the energy and spirit which I so badly wanted to hear in ‘Emo Day’ but was sadly deprived of. It is an exciting and interesting track with a great guitar riff and awesome drumming beat – a great choice for the song to end the EP with. This is a superb follow up to ‘Dance Of Death’ and really shows what the band are capable of. This band are a bunch of truly great musicians and it shows that the English can do pop punk far better than any American can!

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No-where Fast – Dance Of Death

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This is a 9 track CD from the Bicester band, No-where Fast and is a cheery pop punk genre. The songs on this CD are very melodic and bring some truly fantastic pop punk to the ears. There are many average pop punk bands going around at the moment but this band are certainly not average. Their songs have good vocals with a great tune to back it up, and their songs are not only awesome but also melodic and mind easing at the same time. A lot of hard work has obviously gone into the making of this CD and I bet the band are really pleased with what they have made because they have made a CD worthy of stunning the nation with its sheer brilliance. If bands like blink182 can get famous then goodness knows what this band can do, take over the world maybe?! All of these 9 songs are excellent and are jam packed with individual excellence. After listening to this CD 3 times I am now able to sing the words as I listen along to it and it is great fun to do. I am sure that great things will come of this band and they will end up inspiring a lot of people to go out and form their own band and start making their own music. This band must be one of, if not the greatest band I have ever heard in my life and this CD has left me eager for more tunes by them. Everyone get a load of this band, they are addictive and you won’t want to go into rehabilitation to get over this addiction! I am sure that in the future this band will go on to achieve great things because they are a top quality band and I am sure that many people will appreciate the stunning music that they make. If this band can put this much effort onto a recorded CD then goodness knows what they are like live! I will try my hardest to go and see this band live because it could be the greatest experience of my life, even if I do have to travel 100 miles just to see them.

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None Of The Above – Them VS Them EP

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This is a 3 track EP from the band None Of The Above and is of a punky kind of genre. The performance here is packed full of emotion and you can really feel the emotion coming through in the music. The songs on this CD seem to be just the right length; they do not seem to be too long, and not too short. The Guitar and Drums lead you into each of the songs before you are driven into the vocals and it all just seems to fit together nicely. This is definitely not pop punk because, well there isn’t any pop in it at all and it would be unfair to call it that. It is just straight up Punk with hints of Emo just to give it that full flavor and it certainly does do the music justice. I enjoyed listening to this CD and felt that it had been well done and considering that it was recorded in one day and mixed the next, it is a bloody great achievement and I am sure that the band are very pleased with what they have achieved here. This is some excellent music and I really like their sound because it is very individual and well, great. I listened to this CD about 4 times before writing this review, and usually I would do this so that I could analyze as much as I can but this time I did it because it was great. Check this CD out everybody and I am sure that you will not be disappointed! Find out more about the band at www.n-o-t-a.com

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No Comply – Your Life Is Your Direction

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This is a 6 Track EP from Plymouth’s female fronted Skacore sextet No Comply. The fact that the band’s vocalist is female makes for something new, and having a female vocalist certainly seems to have worked for them. It makes their sound truly unique and way different from what other bands out there are doing. Hopefully Kelly will be an inspiration for girls to front their own Skacore bands and not let it be a male dominated genre. The first track, ‘Your Life Is Your Direction’ kicks off with the highly exciting horn section before you are lead into Kelly’s superb vocals. The drumming on this track is very fast paced and along with the Guitars provides a great base for the vocals to lie on. The horn section on this track is really exciting and really seems to flow well with Kelly’s vocals here to produce a really great song. The second track, ‘Decide’ kicks off with a great Guitar riff and then the Drumming comes in later, before firing you into the vocals. The drumming on this track provides quite a steady beat and the horn section is used to accompany the guitar and bass when there are no vocals. There are also some male backing vocals added into the mix in this song. The third track, ‘Misuse of Control’ again starts with guitar and bass, then drums and then vocals. Although Kelly has a Hardcore tinge to her vocals she still manages to keep them very melodic, and again there are male backing vocals. The drumming is fast paced with a strong guitar riff coming through there. There is an emotional feel to the music also, and you don’t really get this very often with Skacore bands. On the fourth song, ‘Rejected’ the vocals are not quite as Hardcore as on the other tracks and also the drumming is at a slower face, but there is a firing sound coming from the Guitar’s and the horn section works really well to give the song its finishing touches. The fifth track, ‘Falling from Crosses’ kicks off with horn section, guitar and bass. The vocals on this track are absolutely superb and the Chorus sounded really familiar. The vocals are really hardcore and the horn section really does manage to come through well. Also on this track is some very strong and powerful drumming. The final track, ‘Background Action’ is also a Skacore track and a good one it is too. You know that this band is not just another Ska Punk one because you can hear the hard edge, Hardcore vocals coming through in the songs. The horn section is again done well and the track is an extremely melodic one. At times they sound like a female fronted Capdown, but their melodic side shows that they are a lot more than that. This band can be Hardcore yet melodic at the same time, which is probably because of them being female fronted. This is a great EP from a superb UK act that will hopefully continue to flourish, gradually getting bigger and bigger, gaining many fans as they tour.

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Super Yob – Promo Sampler CD

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London based Super Yob play straight up Oi Punk and are influenced by classic punk and Glam Rock, and are sometimes stereotyped as a cockney Slade, due to their highly individual live shows. This Promotional Sampler CD offers 2 tracks of Oi Punk and they have a sound all of their own. They bring something new to the punk scene and this is probably due to the Glam Rock side of their influence . This is some good Oi Punk and is taken from their forthcoming third album which I’m sure will take the UK Punk scene by storm with their unique blend of Oi Punk. ‘Ghetto Blaster’ and ‘Bang To Rights,’ are both great songs and i am sure that there will be many more songs like these two on their third offering of an album. Their third album is currently having final tweaks and should be available for purchase soon. Look out for Super Yob when they play their British shows later this year.

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Submerse – Riot, Here, Now!

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This is the new EP from Oxford’s very own band Submerse. This release is more their own take on ’77 style Punk, and it turns out wonderfully. The last CD was more Pop Punk but this release has a much more refined sound and in my opinion this style really brings out the best in them. The first song, ‘Free Food for the dumb’ is only 56 seconds and as soon as you start getting into it the song is over! It is a very energetic track and is also very powerful. The second track, ‘Axe ‘em’ has a very catchy beat to it and it is one of those songs that gets tuck in your head for weeks on end! The vocals are awesome on this track and the guitar riff is very strong. The drumming is fast and fits in perfectly with the rest of the tune. The third song on this EP, ‘Reel Dun’ has a different sound to the other songs on this EP and I really like what they have done with it. It is catchy and has a Ska feel about it and it just shows that they are not afraid of trying out new sounds. ‘White Noise’ starts off great with good drumming but after a while the drumming becomes samey and I think that this is probably my least favourite song on the EP – it really doesn’t show what they are capable of. The fifth and final track, ‘Stuff That’ is an awesome song with a hard hitting guitar riff and some good Punk vocals, its only major drawback is being just over a minute in length and I think that they probably could have made it into a longer tune and the excitement would have lasted longer. This is a really cool Punk EP and with the exception of track 4 it is an awesome CD. At just 7 minutes 15 seconds though it is very short for an EP which is a shame as the 7 minutes that there are, are very good.

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