Whether you’re listening to hardcore, indie-rock or pop, a bad vocalist can ruin a band. Now, I’ve heard a lot of dudes scream in hardcore bands. Some of them are good, others not so much. In all honesty, with subpar lyricism in tow, the guy doing vocals for Outbreak almost made this record unlistenable. What results is an album with such promise on the instrumental side dragged down by vocals, making this another instance where sometimes the vocal approach of a band can in fact kill a record. Outbreak sure has their finer points, but you’ll have to have a decent amount of will and tolerance to enjoy them.
With many of the tracks clocking in under a minute and none of them passing the three-minute mark, this record is chopped up into 15 tracks of buzzing hardcore with legit fretwork and frantic drumming. However, with borderline whiny vocals as irritating as these, it will be difficult to really enjoy this album while the vocals are a part of it. Still, the gritty melodies and blasting drums of tracks like “Human Target” and “Analyze/Criticize” make for some intense cuts worthy of some mosh-pit mayhem. Even the half-minute long “Multiple Personality Disorder” packs a massive wallop to your eardrums. If the sonic assault didn’t contain such compelling arrangements, this record would be even worse. However, blistering drums and howling guitars prevail (see “Concealed” for a quick, tasty guitar solo) and keep this album somewhat afloat.
It is a difficult pill to swallow when one aspect of a disc makes it hard to fully enjoy the work a band has put into penning and recording the songs said record contains. Hardcore and punk aficionados might be more willing to swallow vocalist Ryan O’Connor’s approach to fronting the band, but otherwise you might just want to save yourself the trouble of disappointing yourself with the promise of a good record. [By: Jason Gardner]
Rating: 2/5
Release Date: November 10, 2009
Jumping right into things, O Pioneers!!! single track on this split runs right out of the gate with gritty guitars, driving drums and upfront sing/shout vocals. The track, “Summers in Necro Norway with Ryan”, is straight-up punk rock that tells a quick story about how your friends might always want to do great things and regret things they never did, ending in vocalist/guitarist Eric Solomon desperately screaming ‘Don’t be afraid to stand up to your friends / don’t be afraid to say this is who I’m going to be / don’t be afraid to say this is who I am’. Certainly a great track to put on a 7” when you’re only going to do one track, as I am now intrigued into checking out more of these guys.
Of Montreal’s latest offering starts off promisingly enough, with album opener’s “Nonpareil of Favor.” majestically strummed acoustic guitar plays before exploding into the bombast of dancey synth filled indie rock they’re known best for and that has done them so well thus far.
Off With Their Heads is the epitome of the current No Idea sound. It’s brash with gritty and throaty vocals, but stays catchy with a tinge of rough pop-punk influence. And the group’s latest, From the Bottom, may just cement the band’s position as the top tier of the label’s current roster.
Maybe it’s just me, but when I think of Tallahassee, Florida, I tend to think of retirees and alligators, not a three-piece band that seemingly effortlessly combines the sounds of some of my favorite bands of all time. No offense to the people of that fine Floridian city, I’m just a Californian that’s used to crediting the Midwest with the raw intensity of mid-90’s emo and power pop, not the capital of the Sunshine State. Shows what I know.
In seventh grade, a teacher chided us not to use the word “sucks” to describe a situation, but instead goaded us to use “has the qualities of a vacuum cleaner.” I’ll let Mr. Garrett, the man behind Only Now Existing (or ONE for those in the know) take his pick. But before getting into that, ONE has a long diatribe on the front of one of his web pages about how Americans are too concerned about inconsequential news stories, while many other tragedies are going on in America unnoticed. ONE hopes to create a “lifeboat” to rescue us gullible listeners from going under.
Shivering and mumbling incoherently, Oxbow front man Eugene Robinson begins Oxbow’s queasy journey into addiction, withdrawal, and depravity on the band’s newest full-length, “The Narcotic Story.” Full of howling rants, maniacal shouting, booming drums, tinkering piano, and sickly acoustic guitar, “The Narcotic Story” is like a book you can’t put down about a life you’d never want to live.
These guys have been listening to a little too much Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse, as “Pax Futura” often feels like a tribute to a lot of popular indie culture. Of course, this accusation comes despite the lack of listing Arcade Fire or Modest Mouse as influences on the group’s MySpace page. Otis Redding my ass!
Hey, remember American Football? Kansas City natives Our American Cousin sure do. Their debut EP “How’s This for a Diploma?”, off of No Sleep Records, combines the instrumentals of AF/caP’n Jazz with a touch of Cute is What We Aim For-style vocals. It’s a good enough con deal, overall, mixing alternately dirge-y and squealing angular guitars with a bits of string arrangements here and there.
Yesterday, after nearly ten years of nagging from my dentist, I had my wisdom teeth removed. The process was a lot less painful than I expected it to be, and for the rest of my weekend I get to take Vicodin and play Xbox. And while the drugs seem to help with the dull throbbing on the left side of my jaw, it does absolutely nothing to lessen the aural agony Otep’s up-coming full length, “The Ascension,” is currently causing me. This is easily one of the worst albums I have heard in a long time. As far as I can tell, this female-fronted hard rock band is about five years behind the heyday for the genre, when bands like Limp Bizkit, Cold, Disturbed, and Drowning Pool were every frat boy’s favorite band. I’m actually a little surprised that anyone is still making this kind of over-produced, transparently fabricated, adolescent music that is utterly devoid of any artistic statement. If you’ve ever heard one of these bands, you’ve essentially heard them all. There is absolutely nothing new here.
This is the instrumental/ambient band from Chad Waldrup, formerly of hardcore band Hopesfall. Of Sinking Ships should not be confused with the hardcore band Shinking Ships on Revelation Records. The latter is a hardcore band, the former used to be in a hardcore band.
One Night Band comes out of Montreal Quebec with their first full length album Way Back Home. The band was apparently only meant to play one performance (hence the name). Perhaps some just can’t take fate as an indication.
Bands who want to move units don’t write albums like this. Not for the mainstream consumer, anyway. Hardcore is an acquired taste. That said, Moving Units, the second full length from Philly’s One Dead Three Wounded, is the holiday feast worth driving 300 miles for or the birthday cake mom only makes once a year, causing month-long salivation. This album is good; very good.38
The face of hip hop over the past twenty years has changed over a path of which the pioneers of the genre would have never anticipated. From creating community through lyrics of hardship and struggle, to violence and lyrical content of embitterment, glitz, and glamour; modern hip hop has traveled to a place almost incomparable of its original counterpart. To make it in the modern rap game, an artist has to stand out against every other emcee just getting in the game. Out of Philadelphia, the Puerto Rican rap trio, Outer Space is attempting to hit the underground hip hop scene hard with their new album Blood Brothers.
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