The lyrics to Chosen Family are vulnerable from the very beginning…
Author: Seth Wood
I first heard about Homesafe because I’m a giant fan of Knuckle Puck and had heard that one of the members had started a side project. So of course, I was expecting something fairly Knuckle-Puck-esque with Homesafe’s first full-length release, something with a ton of energy that just made you want to sing along—which is the basic allure of pop-punk, right?
Review by Seth Wood The Let it Enfold You and Still Searching Senses Fail is gone, folks. History. Two great albums, spewing raw energy and angst, assaulting the emotional psyche of anyone caught in their bone-crushing shockwaves—that band has moved on, in a new but very interesting direction. All of the fans who have stuck with the band for all these years know it. It happened in 2010 with The Fire. Senses Fail always had an edge to them, but no one foresaw it boiling over like it did with that album. Since then, the band has just continued to…
Review by Seth Wood Within seconds of throwing on Radio Room’s album 92||93, my ears perked up. The opening track “What You Heard” sets up the excitement—the soft, delay-effect guitars over very raw tom sounds, the bassy synth adding an element of wonder (“Whoa, is there a synth player?”), and the strained, angry vocals punching in unexpectedly all fuse together to create this thrill that you are about to hear something you have never heard before, so you shift your weight forward a bit and now you are on the edge of your seat, waiting for this song to just…
Review by Seth Wood I’ll admit that during the first few minutes of Over’s album, Is This Growing Up? I thought I was in for 40 minutes of juvenile, Paramore-wannabe music. It was all there—the energetic female singer, the thick-toned, two guitar attack, the high school song titles like “Growing Up” and “Sixteen.” I am very excited to tell you all that by the third song, I realized that Over has many nuances that separate them from every other band in the genre, and which make it explicitly clear that this Italian five-piece is comprised of very talented individuals who have managed…
Review by Seth Wood I am completely baffled that I have never heard a band like 888. It seems so simple: put an emo vocal and lyrical style over huge, Imagine-Dragons-at-Madison-Square-Garden production quality to create a perfect balance of new and old, rock and pop, partying and sorrow—Depeche Mode meets Breathe Carolina meets Taking Back Sunday. 888’s debut EP, titled The Decades EP, is a collection of emotional and energetic songs that will have even the most frugal of people screaming “I want a house on the hill by the ocean!” during the earth-shaking chorus of the opening track, “Critical…
Review by Seth Wood “I’ve got knots in my hair and knots in my stomach, both thanks to you—but for very different reasons.” This is the kind of lyricism put forth by Ryan Scott Graham on Speak Low if You Speak Love’s Everything But What You Need. His voice comes on like some fallen legend from ancient mythology, groaning on about the fall from grace. Its raspy tone hints at sadness and yet it carries on with confidence and power in the face of it all. Truth be told, I cannot imagine a more ideal voice for an acoustic (sort…
Review by Seth Wood It amazes me that after so many years of being an ardent music fanatic, I still learn new things about songwriting every day. For instance, I was unaware that an album could be very repetitive and have almost no melody, yet completely take hold of my emotional state. This was my experience while listening to Torche’s newest album, Restarter, coming out February 24th. Torche’s vocalists do not sing but just sort of groan sporadically into the microphone. The drum rhythms just repeat measure after measure, and the guitars will pick at the same note for what…
Review by Seth Wood I really enjoy punk music, but I must admit that a lot of it sounds very similar. I think that the sudden resurgence of great punk bands gaining popularity is wonderful, and was definitely needed, since there was no rock genre that people seemed to be getting excited about anymore—but again, I cannot say that anyone out there is really innovating the punk or pop-punk sound. This is why I jumped at the chance to review I, The Lion’s EP, Run. These guys are certainly aware of what the pop-punk stuff out there is sounding like,…
Review by Seth Wood Hailing from Toronto, Like Pacific is the latest band to sign to Pure Noise Records, who manage some very exciting new acts such The Story So Far as well as a few older greats like Senses Fail. The band is the next to be discovered in the sudden waves of awesome punk acts that have been popping up lately (many signed to Pure Noise). Their energy matches some of the great bands of that genre, and their musicianship only serves to compliment that vibe. Their upcoming self-titled EP is a nice view into a window of things…