Friday 9 December 2011

All Shall Perish - This Is Where It Ends (Review + Live Show)

All Shall Perish is a deathcore band which has actually been around for quite some time, though have not gained a real great following, but loyal fan being formed in 2002. This Is Where It Ends is their fourth album.

Luckily after their release of their new music video "There Is Nothing Left", I soon found out their were having a tour in my city which I was able to attend, but more on that including photos after the review.

Since their latest album is the only album I have listened to, I do not know how much or how little they have changed, though impressions of the new album are good.

First impressions of the song "Divine Illusion" makes it quite clear that this band is deathcore with their use of breakdowns and vocals. Though sounding heavier than their song "There is Nothing Left" for their music video. "Divine Illusion" has some quite meaningful lyrics relating to Christianity, though not in the support of it.

The vocals in this album are probably the most understandable I have heard in a while, though staying raspy and heavy, what is being said is clear, making much nicer than having to find lyrics and matching what they are saying. Lyrics are pretty meaningful, relating to religion, politics, and bad qualities of people, maming quite interesting songs.

Guitar in the album is both melodic and technical, and actually quite well written in the album, not over doing the technical part and still keeping everything heavy, so aspects of the writing for the guitar was well moderated with their new guitarist. Drums in this album are great, really fast paced, technical and keep a great beat

All Shall Perish - This Is Where It Ends                  7.8/10

Live Show!
The live show was a tour with the band "Resist The Thought", this show including, "Savior" and "Paradise In Exile". All bands preformed really well giving a great live show. Though coming up to the sound check with All Shall Perish, it took around 30-40 minutes for them to set up due to complications with the audio system. Though the wait was well worth it, the tone of the guitars were clear and crisp, sounding great, and especially the drums sounding great and heavy, worth the time of preparation they did with the drums changing each piece before playing. Though unfortunately their set list wasn't really that long they still supplied a great show.

Other than audio complications the band also had problems with their flight coming in late, so they arrived just before they had to play from an eleven hour flight, so they were obviously tired, but eager to give a good show, which they did.

Lucky for me I was able to catch the show's drumstick, picture supplied below. I also was lucky enough to get a shirt signed and the drumstick after the show. The band being incredibly polite and quite funny.
I was able to talk to the singer of the band Herman (knows as "Eddie") about the meaning behind the lyrics of the album and his views on religion it self, this being quite the interesting conversation. Plus was able to talk to the bass player of the band about their new music video. After everything I was able to get a photo with the singer and had to leave, but a great show indeed it was.



Thursday 8 December 2011

The Browning - Time Will Tell (Review)

Time Will Tell is an EP released by The Browning not to long ago, around 3-4 months with one music video for the song "Time Will Tell" with 29 thousand views. So relatively not the most popular band. Though I will give kudos for their interlacing of two genres, since you can't really find a band which does techno cross metal, it's either all techno, or all metal with synth sounds.

The Browning in my opinion did a better attempt and crossing techno with metal. Though improvements should be made, and hopefully will be made, as this is an EP and reception of the EP has been alright, though of course some hate has been towards this band from this sort of metal.

Though the EP is an alright listen, it isn't to special. The writing for the guitar needs to improve, as it just feels it's improv over the techno (for some songs). Though the song "Inner Mission" is a very nice song and the guitar is really nice in that. But for their general songs, the guitar should be a bit more creative with what is being played and I guess be more technical to help compliment the techno. If the band accomplishes a good unison with the guitar and techno, the album they will hopefully release would sound great, instead of two different things happening at the same time. Though we will see till then.

Vocals in this are alright, but tend to stay at the same mid pitch and do not change much. Though partly I dislike the mixing of the vocals in the songs, doesn't really give justice to the vocals. The techno tends to be a bit dominating. All this said, the tracks are not bad, but there is room for improvement.

Creating songs like this is a sure risk with how people react to it, and a band should be respected for at least trying something different. The EP itself is okay though and is a good listen and I recommend it if you are the sort to like synth.

The Browning - Time Will Tell              6/10

Monday 5 December 2011

Music Video Of The Week - For All Those Sleeping: You Belong With Me (cover)

Today is a feature from "Punk Goes Pop" where mostly metalcore bands do a cover of mainstream radio music (generally pop), and put their own spin on it. So soon I will do a cover of Fearless Record's new "Pop Goes Puck Vol 4".

This song came to a surprise, and actually quite enjoyable as you can see how it is a Taylor Swift song, but made so much better.

Friday 2 December 2011

Born Of Osiris - The Discovery (Review)

Born Of Osiris is an American death metal/deathcore band. No touring with Betraying The Martyr as they recently were signed to Summerian as Born Of Osiris is.

The Discovery is Born Of Osiris's newest album being released in 2011, and their second full length album. And a good addition in my opinion.

Vocals in this album has improved, with the screams being less gargling sounding, and a bit more raspier. Making the vocals sounds heavy, though still quite clear. And just real good in this album, a good improvement over their previous vocally.

The addition of clean vocals was quite surprising, though the way it was used was quite respectable and well used. This being seen in the song "A Solution" 30 seconds in. 

Guitar is still quite technical in this album, and the tones they have used are just great, an obviously better recorded and mixed album. The guitar uses different affects through out the album, which would make it a quite difficult album to cover. Though the guitar style has not changed so nothing really has changed besides the improvement of quality, staying true to how the band sounds. Drums still having a really good beat, techical as ever and adding some good heaviness to the album.

Overall this album is quite good, staying the way Born Of Osiris and improving in all aspects of vocals, guitar and drums.

Born Of Osiris     The Discovery-      7.5/10


Tuesday 22 November 2011

Broke 200 followers!

Well thanks to all those who bother to look, google, read, and watch my reviews and posts on bands which I feel deserve some recognition.

Other projects are on their way, though not related to this blog, though administrated by me as well. Hopefully other take an interest in that as well.

Elitist - Earth (Review)

Elitist's new EP released on the 25th of October 2011 including their new singer (same from their previous EP).


The EP features 7 tracks, 3 of those being instrumentals. And first impressions, it sounds like Elitist, so the style hasn't changed to something not recognizable, but there have been slight changes. The most obvious change is how the vocals have changed, the new vocalist which people have been responding to saying he doesn't really fit the band like the old one has altered his sound from their previous EP. The vocalist now has a more low but nice rasp scream, which just sounds real furious. So vocals have been a definite improvement, and the new fans should consider his vocals well suiting now to the band.

The guitars are still written what would be expected from Elitist with their technical yet melodic sound. Using as the guitarist mentioned in one of his videos using jazz scales in his writing, gives the songs an interesting feel to them. But the same thing is always present, which is some what difficult to describe, but the guitarist casually bending notes in between triplets and that. Though I think it sounds great, so no reason to complain, but noticeable in most of their songs. What I really like is how the two guitars are usually doing something quite different to each other, like as one is doing a few triplets and such, the other is playing so higher notes, giving quite a unique feel to the songs. This being well done in their instrumentals. The tone of the guitars is great and are made very clear and very focused in the songs, which is great in my opinion, since I really hate when guitar is drowned out. The drumming as always with the drummer is quite well done and really compliments the songs.

Overall this is a quite good EP, and the vocalist has improved well. I can see their full album should be quite good and interesting with their sort of writing.

Elitist - Earth          7.4/10

Thursday 17 November 2011

Week's Video - Motionless In White - Immaculate Misconception

On November 10th, Motionless In White released their new music video for the song "Immaculate Misconception". A song revolving around the hypocritical nature and abuse of religion by some Christians. Chris, the singer in the band made a two paragraph statement on the meaning of the video.
Though a few days later the venue in Nashville for their tour stopped them from playing there due to religious reasons.

Friday 14 October 2011

Betraying The Martyrs - Breathe In Life (Review)

Betraying The Martyr is a quite new band, they are a France band which I discovered when they were hardly known by another band member I knew. This was one they were just showing 2 songs off their new album "Breathe In Life". Soon before the album released, they were singed to Summerian Records. With a new singer which is British the band has progressed quite fast. The band are all Christians and so write accordingly, though they put great meaning into the songs.

The band is placed in a somewhat interesting genre of deathcore/post-hardcore. Mainly due to the fact the band features some quite deathcore like vocals while still having clean vocals and guitars to match the vocal combination.

The songs are written quite well, and the songs tend to be quite technical, though the mixing of the album has the guitar some what drowned out, and you kind of miss when the guitar does something lead like, as in the music video below, when the guitarist is doing his little solo and sweeps, it is hardly heard. Though the songs are still good in my opinion, I just personally would of wanted the guitars to be emphasized.
The screams though are quite well done, they are super low and have this sort of consistent rasp to it, which sounds great. The cleans are also quite good, but are done by the keyboardist not the singer.

The songs are quite nice, and the addition of a clean only song "azelee" was quite nice. The songs boost meaningful lyrics and are quite nicely done with the combination of heavy screams and clean vocals.

Betraying The Martyr - Breathe In Life                   7.7/10

Thursday 6 October 2011

Weekly Music Video - Caves By Elitist

Lately I haven't been able to to much with the blog, as for now I am learning coding languages like html, php, css etc and how to work with servers and domains, I have yet to actually purchase some web hosting. I will hopefully be releasing another site (actually properly designed and all scripted by me) early January, hopefully earlier, but knowing the amount of information I will have to take in and design, most likely half way into next year. Though I believe it is a good idea. Still have other domains to purchases.

Tuesday 4 October 2011

The Plot In You - First Born

"The Plot In You" is a relatively new band that has been recently signed to Rise Records and released a new album "First Born", being their second published release. The band tends to lean on topics of family and relationships, but in a way which most bands do not address, like the topics of domestic abuse and miscarriages, though maybe unsettling for some, the songs have good meaning and are unique lyrically.

The style of the writing of the songs are clearly metalcore. The screams are quite constant style wise, though cleans are used and used quite well in the album, complimenting the songs well while making the meaning of the songs a bit more clearer to understand.

One thing which is pretty ordinary in metalcore bands are the "breakdowns", though I felt the breakdown in "Small Face" was just a great, a real nice breakdown, also the "breakdown" in "Rat Poison" was not to bad either.

Guitar writing in this album is not to technical, but has a really nice tone and used well, though more melodic than technical. But this is done well, the drumming is done quite well, but nothing to out there.

The Plot In You - First Born              7.3/10

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Veil Of Maya - id (review)

Veil Of Maya are a metalcore band from Illinois America and currently signed to Summerian records. The band has been around for quite some time since 2004, and has released 3 albums and a demo. Though the band is not to well known and seem to start getting popular, I was under the impression that they only had 2 albums. The album is based on the theory of the brain "id" and actually has some interesting and yet not so noticeable references in thier songs. The song "Dark Passenger" is actually about Dexter the tv series, "Namaste" features a breakdown based on the numbers from the ABC TV show Lost, '4 8 15 16 23 42', and "The Higler" is a song about thier previous bass player who did their 2 previous albums.

Music wise the band has their own unique sounds and image. Their have quite a technical style, but still have some nice elements of melody, this is also seen in their previous album. The guitar style is some what hectic but sounds well how they did it, a sort of progressive metal style.

The album is quite well done, but how it is mixed is not how I like it, the tone of the guitar feels a bit to dull, and personally vocals are some what hard to understand, but the album is good! Just those things I do not like, but hey that makes then something different and not drowned into the generic sort of metal band.

The songs are quite nice and I give them the occasional listen as they are quite a unique band and style of metalcore.

Veil Of Maya - id                               7/10

Thursday 22 September 2011

Music Video Of The Week

A new segment I want to include now is "Music Video Of  The Week". As there is always an interesting music video around but I don't just want to throw random videos as posts.

This week is "The Plot In You" music video for "Wife Beater", the title making it very clear of the topic of this song. The music video is quite surprising though.

Also a review of their new album shall be done soon.

Monday 19 September 2011

Born Of Osiris - A Higher Place

Born of Osiris is a relatively old band but some what new to the popular music scene. The band has been labelled as progressive death metal, technical death metal, and of course deathcore. Though deathcore is a some what inaccurate description of the band as their songs tend not to have parts resembling a breakdown or anything too associated with deathcore.

 The band does have a quite unique style of writing and is quite technical, also using less usual scales than other bands. Plus the interesting use of the guitar which seems some what random but spontaneous. As will be quite clear what I am referencing to if you listen to anything of theirs. The vocals are interesting as the sound more gargle like than the usual vocals I tend to be use to. There are no clean vocals in this album, but even from the gargle like vocals, the lyrics are understandable. Drums in this album are intense though with a real nice beat and keeping the tracks very heavy which I quite like.

The songs are quite distinguishable between each other due to the unique guitar work done in each song so they don't sound all the same which I tend to feel with some death metal bands. The band also includes key which is feels to be used only a small amount in songs, but gives the desired feel to the songs with the additional symphonic feel.

Born Of Osiris - A Higher Place                    7.3/10

Now Arise

Friday 16 September 2011

For The Fallen Dream - Back Burner

For The Fallen Dreams are a band from Charlotte Michigan USA and have already released 3 full length albums, but I believe they just recently signed with Rise Records, which led them to release a music video for "The Big Empty", and doing their first Australian Tour in 3 years. Luckily I got too see them live and actually talk with them a little and get their signatures, and happy I was. Since I first saw them, their popularity has literally doubled on facebook and still growing, which this hard working band deserves, as not only do they make good music, they are great guys.

Back Burner being their third studio album (with their 3 self released EPs, and previous 2 studio albums) which has gotten the most well known and popular of all their work, though I have yet to listen to all their previous work.

Back Burner is quite a metalcore album but does have elements of melodic hardcore, which is a nice slight difference for me. The songs include both clean and screaming vocals, screaming with not much variation, but suits the songs well. The songs tend to seem to have a sort of life struggles and relationship theme, which is executed quite well, and actually quite motivational. So lyrically it is very nice, and I suits the songs perfectly.

Guitars are done very well along with drums, the way the guitars have been mixed allows the bass to be heard and compliment the guitars and the drums bring great rhythm to the songs. The songs are completely that technical, more melodic as the fit the genre, but well written and sounds really nice.

Overall the album is a great album which after a month, I still listen to it. The songs are great and motivational, clean vocals are great, guitars are well written, mixing is done well. It is just a really nice album and I would recommend checknig them out and hopefully see them live.

For The Fallen Dreams - Back Burner 8.2/10

The Big Empty

Wednesday 14 September 2011

The Devil Wears Prada - Dead Throne (review)

Just released is "The Devil Wears Prada"'s new full album is "Dead Throne". Being released on the 13th of September and already proving to be very popular. Though their album was leaked a week before the release, it still proved to be one of the most bought item on merchnow during the time you were able to purchase the pre-order.

As said by the lead vocalist of the band, Dead Throne is supposed to be a more heavier album than their previous as they felt they weren't as heavy as they though they were once stated in an interview with the band. They also mentioned that it would be heavier than Zombie EP. The album though is quite a bit heavier than their previous albums but still has a nice element of melody to it.

This album is also (lke the Zombie EP), is recorded with actual mic'ing of the amps and such and not direct input like thier previous albums, so the sound is more real and actually quite nice.

The songs themselves do involve more screaming and more heavier screamings than their previous album though done quite well. The first song sounds quite to the style of Zombie EP with the fading of the guitar, but than the rest of the album appears to be slightly different and sound more of something new the band has made. The guitars are more heavier, but not anymore technical as their previous albums, but in this album, they appear to be more well written and actually sound really nice and compliments the other instruments. Clean vocals are quite nice in this album, and in my opinion the best so far so they are quite enjoyable.

The songs to vary so it is not the constant same thing coming at you, like kansas is a more slower song than the other. In this album it also appears to be less clean vocals as their was before. I personally think the addition which made this album come off so well was having Adam (guitarist from Killswitch Engage whom owns his own studio) doing the recordings and mixing with actually using mic'ing instead of direct input.

The Devil Wears Prada - Dead Throne 7.8/10

Mammoth

Tuesday 13 September 2011

The Devil Wears Prada - Dead Throne Release

Just now the new album from The Devil Wears Prada, Dead Throne is released and sure to do well with the large amount of preorders done. I myself have also ordered a pre-order and will be receiving the album and shirts.

Tour dates for the album and a small preview of the album are available on the Dead Throne album website.

www.deadthrone.com

A review of the album will soon be done.

Monday 12 September 2011

Betraying The Martyrs Leaked

Betraying The Martyrs's new album "Breathe In Life" set to be released on the 20th of September has been leaked. Causing some distress in the band, especially on their facebook page. News quickly hit Betraying The Martyr about their leaked album causing them to post a bit of anti-piracy statuses and videos to in a way morally persuade people not to pirate the album. Though it appears not to be that effective as it is now well spread amongst many file storage websites. Whom actually leaked it is unknown, but a few music blogs were album to find it and spread it.

Monday 5 September 2011

Suicide Silence - You Only Live Once (Music Video)

Kind of late with this, but Suicide Silence released a new music video for their album "Black Crown". Even though the album is some what disliked by old fans, I still consider it a good album and the music video is just, serious and brutal with a touch of humour.

First watching this I was surprised, especially when the first shot is made, as it seemed some what realistic till you see that is the theme of the video. Though I quite like this video and glad that they made something quite unique.


Betraying The Martyrs - Mad Made Disaster (Music Video)

Recently the French Deathcore/Post-Hardcore band Betraying the Martyr have released their music video for "Breathe In Life", their up coming album. The music video is basically I performance of theirs, no additional actors or anything of the sort.

The music video is quite well done and works really well for the song. I still can't understand how the lead singer is able to pull off those vocals. Quite a nice song as well, so I will probably will be purchasing a pre-order.


Thursday 1 September 2011

For The Fallen Dreams Live Show Review

Lucky I have been able to witness a live show from For The Fallen Dreams, Sienna Skies, Hand Of Mercy, Make Them Suffer and Saviour. For The Fallen Dreams is a Rise Records band which currently has 3 released albums and one music video to their song Big Empty. Though I was surprised they were doing a small show and didn't have many facebook likes, so I assume it must of taken a while to get recognised, but I hope they grow fast from here as their are a great band to listen to and a great band to see.

And what I greatly appreciate is the signed shirt I got (except the bass player as he was adsent from this tour) and the picture I got with the singer and guitarist (the second from the left and the guy in the middle). But besides the niceness of the band, the live show was great, the singer's screams are nice, sounded great, and what surprised me, that his clean vocals actually came up well even in this venue, so it was quite an enjoyable live show.

Strangely even though I have seen bands far bigger than For The Fallen Dreams, I would have to say I was most excited about meeting this band than the others, mainly as the larger bands you do not actually get to meet and say "hi". 

http://www.facebook.com/forthefallendreams

 

Thursday 25 August 2011

Devil Wears Prada - Mammoth (Song Release)

The Devil Wears Prada just recently released a single from their upcoming album "Dead Throne" which is to be released in 13th of September.
The single is called mammoth and is well available on youtube to listen to.

The song is actually quite nice, the clean vocals are still quite a nice feel the The Devil Wears Prada does. But the song sounds a bit to raw, as in it hasn't had much editing done on it to sound like a real studio album. The song does sound different to their previous Zombie EP, even though the studio and producer is the same. So I assume this is not their final cut, but just a quick preview. But I do think it is a nice song and won't full judge the album till release.


Theme Update

As I have not been able to update the blog with news and reviews. I will be soon updating the theme. The theme is some what not so original and the pixel spacing is terrible, but aspects of it I like. So I will be changing the spacing on the widgets and posts soon.

The blog is going to be updated with the usual posts soon after I am over with the use of some new domains and hosting. Till then.

-Sketchars

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Blog Update

Sorry that the blog hasn't been update as it usually does, but I have been quite busy lately.
I did though edit the blog a little, now including a "contact" and "about" page. The contact page has been supplied with a chat box script to leave comments on the blog and the about page will soon be updated with information.

Sunday 21 August 2011

It Dies Today - Sirens

This is a fairly old album by It Dies Today released in 2006 which I recently started listening to once again. The band has 3 albums that a relatively old, on in 2004, 2006 and 2009. And the majority of their music videos are from 2006, so I guess they didn't get very popular.

I am some what confused why there are so many 2006 videos, it is almost like they were going to make a video for each song. Though the videos are not that great.

One thing which is nice about the album and with their others, it doesn't sound very well recorded, the tones of the guitars sound cheap, the vocals don't sound as clear as you would now hear them. But the majority of the songs are well written and sound nice, even with the crunchy guitar tones the songs sound nice and melodic in a sense. So I actually kind of like sort of raw sound that the album has, sure it would be nicer to have in all clear and toned well, but I guess it is nice to have some difference. Even their new album isn't much of a change besides a few members changed, but the recording seems the same.

There isn't to much to say about this album and the band's progression hasn't been great, bu this album is quite alright but not one I would listen to constantly.

It Dies Today - Sirens         6.5/10

Severed Ties Lead Severed Heads




Thursday 18 August 2011

Motionless In White - Creatures (Review)

Motionless In White is a metalcore band from Pennsylvania becoming recently quite with their release of their two music videos for their album creatures. Though the band has been around for quite a while actually. The band are bery recognisable from other bands and if you watch their music videos, you will obviously see how they are quite different. I personally do not mind their appearance as I have been into this music for so many years that nothing is shocking to me anymore. Though a lot of people complain and find it strange or just compare them to Black Veil Brides, which is a different style than Motionless In White and have a difference appearance, but people I guess are just not very observant of differences.

The thing I quite like is the theatrical music videos they make which do actually present a story or point which I think is quite meaning full than just having a band play. And the appearance of the band I some what like, it is interesting, but nothing new, and I am pretty sure the band is not trying to be unique or new or what ever word you can use to set them apart, even the singer has told in interviews how he is inspired by people like Marlyn Manson, and how he believes he doesn't not copy a style, but he likes continuing the style which artists have brought from a while ago. When you actually see the interviews the singer is quite educated and can be seen that he strives for actual music with meaning and not doing a look, just carrying a style, and I believe and agree what he is saying.

Guitar work wise, it is not completely that technical, and inspirations from August Burns Red just keeps showing to me in the intro from "Abigail", a song about the Blair Witch Trials. The guitar work is quite melodic, but doesn't get much dominance in their album. Though it is quite enjoyable and the breakdowns I think are well constructed. The band features key which takes a lot of dominance in the album, but not always used, yet when it mostly is, the guitar feels taken away, but that is the sort of atmosphere I guess the keys employ in the album. The vocals I find quite tasteful with the range of screams he does including the quite nice clean vocals he also does. But I was some what disappointed that a lot of the songs contain a lot of clean, but I guess that is just so that the heaviness is emphasized for parts where it is more needed.

The whole album is quite enjoyable and the songs are well distinguishable from each other which is at least nice to see with bands as some tend to make songs sound the same in an album. It is good to know how into the music the singer and band are, as you can tell they are putting a lot of emotion and effort into the music videos and songs.

Motionless In White - Creatures             7.4/10

Creatures


Abigail

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Miss May I - Monument: Deluxe Edition (Review)

In June Miss May I released their deluxe edition of Monument including 4 new songs on top of their Monument album with 2 music videos, 3 live shows, and interviews with the band and parents of the members. I have been able to see Miss May I perform live and they sure give a good show. I remember listening to them when hardly anyone knew them, having only 50,000 views on youtube and just general not so popular, year and a half later, monument comes out as well, and the band has millions of views and is well recognised, it is an overwhelming feeling to see something you like progress in such a way.

So obviously the album sound exactly the same as their previous edition of Monument. But I can comment on the 4 new songs.

Song wise the songs sound like Miss May I, but are quite a bit different than their previous work, and how the songs are was kind of surprising to me. But it was nice to know that the band has seemed to change while keeping the "Miss May I" feel to it. Sure teases me for their next album.

Vocals I think have become more mature in a sense as the band has grown up, clean vocals seem better now, but not sure if that is just due to better mixing. The guitarists seem to keep the songs some what technical which I like. But the mixing done on the new songs is quite different, and I can't make a sure opinion on it till a full album, but the mixing does sound good. The guitar tone has changed a bit, the songs are less bass like, the drums seem softer. Though these are additional song to this album, so this is probably not what the new album will sound like.

Though I will have to judge it like the normal Monument album, the new songs are great and the older songs are still great and I am glad to own this edition. The music videos in high resolution are just great, it just would of been nice to put the new music video Masses Of A Dieing Breed on it as well. The interviews are interesting and I have never seen a parents perspective on it, and it is just general interesting information. The live videos I actually have never seen, and they to are great and shows just the in-saneness of their shows.

Miss May I - Monument: Deluxe Edition            8.7/10

Relentless Chaos


Masses Of A Dying Breed

Monday 15 August 2011

Chelsea Grin - My Damnation (Review)

The latest album by Chelsea Grin on the 19th of July is "My Damnation" being the album said to ye the band, that this album is actually what they really want to write and not them setting their sort of sound. And if this is how Chelsea Grin will definitely sound, then I am already pleased for their later work.

The album doesn't sound to different to their previous albums, though a difference is noted with the slight change of vocal style and the added use of solos, and not just sweeps. The album still includes the Chelsea Grin sort of breakdown with the use of chords with blemish notes (notes out of scale) to have a sort of, off note chord giving the breakdown a sort of eerie sound. The album even has an acoustic track which was quite surprising, and not as surprising as a later song in their album.

The guitar work still has the same sort of writing style as in the previous album, the use of blemish chords and low notes and obvious low tunings. The writing is a bit more faster which I like, so the album seems a little faster making it a little more interesting for me. As mentioned before the songs usually have a sort of solo included, not incredibly technical, but a few are quite well done and difficult. I actually looked over the lyrics of the album and they seem to have a sort of religious twist to the songs, but not in the praise god sort of way, more like salvation of sin and wrong, the sort lyrics I like, being the sort of dark side religion in a way, so it neither is pro god or anti god, but references sins, salvation, curses and being damned, and in my opinion, great sort of dark lyrics. The drumming in this album is quite great, with real nice double pedal action done, nicely complimenting the breakdowns, but not overpowering the songs. The vocals are less lower than the previous album, so a lot of high screams and fries are used, which I really like as you can understand the words better, and just feel more emotive than low screams in my opinion.

So the song Kharon was quite a surprise being an acoustic song, but not totally out of place. The most interesting song for me is "Last Breath", going on a tangent to the lyrics of the album and some what hard to interpret song. The song seems to be about decaying and wasting away, but then mentions someone seducing the person presented by the lyrics and also being eaten away from this person. To me the song is about someone who is wasting away and loathing themselves as they have fallen in love with another person which in a way is using them. So the lyrics are different to the other songs and quite meaningful. But the real surprise, is the really nice melodic chorus in the song, involving clean guitars with the high screams, which in my opinion sounds so beautiful, and sends that shiver down my back that tells me this is a good song. Last Breath defiantly is my favorite out of all the great songs on the album.

Overall the album is stunning, a certain improvement on their previous albums, staying heavy as Chelsea Grin is with the more technical writing of solos and the sort of melodic feel to the heaviness they write. The songs are well constructed and the addition of Phil Bozeman from Whitechapel was nice. This album is a great example of good deathcore, and I will use this album when someone says it is a bad genre, as this will prove them wrong so well.

Chelsea Grin - My Damnation      8.5/10

Last Breath


My Damnation



Saturday 13 August 2011

Major Blog Update

I have finally finished producing the html coding needed for the reviews page. A page for only the reviews I have done with thumbnail representations of the reviews linking the image to the review. So far I have only put 6 reviews in, but I will update it with new reviews and soon previous reviews.




I have also made a "Follow" button for the blog as the follwers widget seems not to always load properly, or at least for me. Plus this is more attractive than the followers widget and just a little fun scripting.




This blog is really an experience or working scripting, creating a domain, servers, hosting, and website construction while having all the little things like ads and making the blog visible in search engines. Sure this is a blogger based site, and doesn't seem very prestigious for being so, it is a start till I know enough scripting, and web hosting knowledge to actually create a full blown website.

Friday 12 August 2011

Order Received

I just got my package from MerchNow for my Chelsea Grin Bundle, Crimson Armada Bundle and Miss May I bundle. And as always from MerchNow, I am impressed and happy how these things came.

Though I did make a mistake with the orders with Chelsea Grin as it was being released in july, while the rest will be released in june, I didn't see this and because of it had to wait an entire month extra, but completely my error, I thought it said june.

Here is a close up on the actual CD's. And just to note, CD's are always better than downloading songs, for one, you don't get the lyric book, a cool case, and the feel of supporting small bands (well they have grown since I have). But most of all, is quality, downloaded songs must be ripped from the CD and so are not exactly the same, a CD is as high quality as it gets, ripped songs are not completely the same, but that is an issue with how files are converted and extracted. So basically if you have a surround sound system, having a CD will let you have a real nice high quality experience.

The CD's come in these covers (Chelsea Grin and Crimson Armada) which protects the plastic CD case, which is just nice so it is like a nice display for the cases. The Miss May I CD is a one that is all card and plastic and opens up for 2 CD's which I both already looked over.

I will be doing a review on the new Chelsea Grin Album and Miss May I albums.

Thursday 11 August 2011

Parkway Drive - Deep Blue

Parkway Drive are a metalcore band from Byron Bay in Australia and have gained international popularity while also being quite a well supported band in Australia. I have been able to see Parkway Drive live two times with "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Miss May I". Both were great shows and first of all their live shows sounds as great as the albums and still bring a great stage presence.

Deep Blue was released in 2010 being their 4th release. Their previous release being Horizons.

Deep Blue continues the "Parkway Drive sound" with their heavy style while remaining to have melodic elements, which also has gotten them the label of melodic metalcore, but I wouldn't say it is as accurate as just metalcore.

Guitar work in this album is it appears to be slightly less technical than their previous album "Horizons" which is quite a difficult album to play. This is still quite technical, but not in the aspects similar to "Horizons". I also feel that this album sounds more bassy than "Horizons", but the sound is more fuller than "Horizons", it was far more trebled and not as well produced as this album, but I still quite enjoy "Horizons".

Vocals have not changed through out all the albums though, as for some reason, it feels it works well for Parkway Drive, usually I dislike it when screams sound some what monotone, but Parkway Drive works this and makes it sound great. No clean vocals are done either, not since "Don't Close Your Eyes".

Drums are still consistent and great, giving a great feel and heaviness to the band while being mixed well into the songs. I have always liked Parkway Drive's drumming. It just compliments the guitars well, it is as if it is playing along with the guitars (well of course it is a band), but I mean this it goes with the rhythm of the guitars.

Parkway Drive - Deep Blue                   8/10

Sleepwalker


Karma (Watch for the super wobbly bass string)

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Trivium - In Waves (Review)

The just newly released album from Trivium is In Waves after a three year wait from the previous. This album even before listening to it was different to many other, this album (being the Special Edition) had 18 songs on the album, so I know I was in for a long ride. And sure was taking a good amount of time reviewing each song, which is why there was a gap between posts, so this will be fairly long. The band did release a music video which is sort of slow paced and kind of a more artsy music video than their other music videos.



1. "Capsizing the Sea" 1:30
2. "In Waves" 5:02
3. "Inception of the End" 3:48
4. "Dusk Dismantled" 3:47
5. "Watch the World Burn" 4:53
6. "Black" 3:27
7. "A Skyline's Severance" 4:52
8. "Ensnare the Sun" 1:22
9. "Built to Fall" 3:08
10. "Caustic Are the Ties That Bind" 5:34
11. "Forsake Not the Dream" 5:20
12. "Drowning in Slow Motion" 4:29
13. "A Grey So Dark" 2:41
14. "Chaos Reigns" 4:07
15. "Of All These Yesterdays" 4:21
16. "Leaving This World Behind" 1:32
17. "Shattering the Skies Above" 4:45
18. "Slave New World" (Sepultura Cover) 2:58
Total length: 67:33

The album "In Waves" is quite different to their previous album "Shogun" and quite different to their single release of "Shattering The Skies Above", which I found quite surprising as they just got a new drummer Nick Augusto who was previously in a metalcore band, and with the drumming done in "Shattering The Skies Above" I assumed their would be more blast beats and actually a little heavier than their previous albums.

This album is actually a little less technical in my opinion than their previous album "Shogun" which I really liked the sort of technical and some what heavy songs their wrote for that album, being my favourite of theirs. Unfortunately, I do not usually do this, but I looked at a few other people's reviews, and found we all came to a same conclusion, including another avid fan of metal a friend of mine said "It is not as good as I thought it was going to be". Sure it sounds Trivium, so they didn't change, but it just doesn't seem to have pushed to something new and avid as their previous album "Shogun". Though I would not say it is a bad album, it is quite superb, and anyone saying other wise is ignoring the effort, and skill put together for this album.

As said before the guitar work of the album is more melodic than their other albums and a bit less technical, which I kind of dislike as Trivium is one of those bands that built up a sort of "have an awesome solo a song" sort of thing, but this album is kind of off from that. Though the melodic writing is quite well done, and Matt Heafy has even kept some of that sort of "Ascendency" feel to a few of their songs in my opinion like "Built To Fall", while the next track "Caustic Are The Ties That Bind" sounds so different, but the vocals sound so clear and clean, that this would feel like one of the songs they should of kept in the album, while other I believe should of been replaced with a more heavier and sort of older Trivium to settle the new ideas and the feel of Trivium. Even in that song the solo isn't as "Trivium feeling" as I thought it was, and was surprising as it that feel seemed constant through out their albums. Vocals are nice and clean, but more clean is put in the albu, which I felt was odd knowing that people's response to "Crusade" wasn't to positive when that happened.

Overall the album is quite nice and well put together with a nice amount of songs to go along with it. Though it doesn't feel how Trivium were meant to go, especially how I really liked "Shattering The Skies Above", where it felt they were staying "Trivium like" but with some heavier stuff put in. But I believe this album should be respected from such a band. Though their music video seems a bit odd, I feel like that the drummer shouldn't of changed, though that was the drummer's choice. But I believe the reviewers are being quite to unfair with their opinions on the album.

Trivium - In Waves 8/10

In Waves


In Waves live (got to love the bass player Paulo in this video)


Black live


Shattering The Skies Above

Monday 8 August 2011

New Domain

Yes, I purchased a domain www.sketchars.com, and quite glad I own one now. So now some improvements will be done. For one I will replace that banner on the page, doesn't look good at all and I will change that with some custom graphics.

So thank you all who comment and view the blog and helping it get a bit popular, I will keep you posted on updates :).

Sorry for the lack of news today (besides the release of in waves). But I have been busy choosing a domain and such.

Trivium - In Waves

Just recently Trivium just released their new album "In Waves" being their first full album with the new drummer Nick Augusto. Unfortunently when I went to see these guys live, they didn't want to play anything from their just recorded album, which was kind of disappointing. I will be getting this album now and will shortly post a review on it.

Sunday 7 August 2011

Attack Attack Update

Attack Attack is now on the warp tour including some updates on what the band gets up to on the tour. The latest update is as follows.

Annotations Of An Autopsy - The Reign Of Darkness (Review)

The latest album and second latest release from Annotations Of An Autopsy before their just released EP. Though I will probably not even listen to their EP. Annotations Of An Autopsy is a British Deathcore band though they may be considered hardcore with their new release. Though not very popular probably from the fact the singer looks like is not thin nor scene.

The album compromises of probably the simplest deathcore written songs I have seen being mostly breakdowns and kind of eerie riffing. Though saying that I wouldn't say that they are bad. In their defense it is nice having a kind of simplistic but heavy album, and heavy it is.

The guitar work is mainly compromised of breakdowns and tremolo picking, nothing to a great speed, but some what moderate. Though it is kind of nice just having a heavy sounding album like already stated. Vocals are quite neat with their low sounds, some what death growls. Though I miss how they took out so much pig squeals that they use to do in the previous album. Sure the first album had loads of pig squeals, they could kept a bit though, but that may be due to their seeming transition to hardcore. Drums is alright, nothing to great, but keeps the beat heavy.

Annotations Of An Autopsy - The Reign Of Darkness     5.9/10

The band only have made one music video, and this is from their new EP.
And I personally do not like it.


How the band use to be.


Though my favourite would be.

Saturday 6 August 2011

Rise Records Update

Recently Rise Records, the label to such bands as Miss May I and Sleeping With Sirens, has released the full new Dream On Dreamer album on youtube.
The album is set to be released on 6th of August.

Dream On Dreamer Playlist

There is the youtube link which Rise Records posted.

This band follows the sort of bands which Rise Records tend to support, this sort of metalcore and synth bands. I still would say Rise Record's best band is Miss May I.

For What You Believe In


To The Lost

Friday 5 August 2011

The Devil Wears Prada - Studio Update 3

The Devil Wears Prada is working on their next full length album after the "Zombie EP" and keep track of it with a bit of fun updates, giving a nice artist view on them making music, and probably my favourite thing about these videos, that it shows how nice and fun loving these guys are even though some may think "oh they scream they must be sad and emo and hate things" as some people get the impression, though it is their own ignorance.

Latest update that was today.


Update 2


Update 1

As I Lay Dying - Powerless Rise (Review)

Powerless Rise is the latest release from metalcore band As I Lay Dying in 2010. Being their third album I believe. I have been able to see As I Lay Dying play live with Trivium and Disturbed and I can tell you, they probably gave the best show out of them.

The album itself is quite nice and follows how the band was sounding before, with mostly better mixing and quality, the actually style has varied only slightly, but breakdowns, solos and still their thing.

The guitar works is still technical with their little melodies and still proves to be an intermediate difficulty written songs, though I haven't tried to lay anything of theirs for a very long time. The drummer is still keeping it tight and also being claimed as best metal drummer (if that was an official title I am not sure) and sure is being respected for his drumming. Vocals are staying constant with how they sound so far through the albums with the sort of fry scream, I wouldn't same the screams deviate much. This album also seems to have more clean vocals than the previous, though I miss their old bass player as I would say I preferred his clean vocals as it sounded in "Through Struggle". Lyrics like always revolve around Christian topics as the band is Christian and I personally like supporting bands whom are Christian or are Christian bands, as metal bands singing about Christianity and its morals always make great lyrics, at least to me. Lyrics are quite emotive in this album, especially in "Anger And Apathy" which is one of my personal favourites on the album.

Generally the album is quite nicely written and is keeping up with the style the band has kept and probably improved on the vocals. I am still loving the great guitar work like in "Parallels" which would be the most liked song on the album as also having a music video to it. So far the album actually has 2 music videos.

As I Lay Dying - Powerless Rise             8/10

Parallels

Anodyne Sea

Thursday 4 August 2011

Layout And Script Edit

So I slightly changed the html of the template, nothing real impressive, just editing the pixel lengths and widths of things. So what do you guys think, better? worse?

Breaking Benjamin Law Suit

Some news which I just found out about and not to long ago is the problem that is facing the band Breaking Benjamin and has also been on American TV. People were fearing that the band was breaking up as they were not touring and cancelling shows, but it was due to Benjamin's (yes the band's name is based on the singer breaking a microphone) sickness. But was later told that he has been sick so that the fans be aware that there isn't a problem. But as their new greatest hits collection called Shallow Bay is to be soon released on Aug 16.

In May Bejamin fired the guitarist and bassist of the band over disputes over the new recording and release of blow me away (an old song of their which was featured in Halo and became quite popular) and in 2nd of August an article was released stating the issues from Benjamin.

Benjamin detailed his side of the dispute in a June court filing, saying Fink and Klepaski made unilateral and unauthorized decisions on behalf of the band, including giving permission in May for the new recording and remix of "Blow Me Away" without his consent Benjamin seeks at least $250,000 and the exclusive right to the Breaking Benjamin name. Billboard reports that Benjamin plans on continuing on without them under the "Breaking Benjamin" name.

I for one hope the band stays together as I have been listening to them for a good 5-6 years, and make some really nice music featuring a lot of clean vocals, but still including a few screams here and there.

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Within The Ruins - Invade (Review)

Within The Ruins is a American metalcore band. They have so far released 1 EP and 2 full length albums, with their latest being Omen in 2011, and also signed to victory records.

Within The Ruins adopts a very unique style in my opinion, with their sort of jumps between low notes and high notes, but I already forgot the scale in which they write their songs, but it too was different. So the one interesting thing about the band is the use of such different writing, with the interesting style and different us of scales.

The songs are written to a sort of intermediate difficulty, but I wouldn't call it quite to difficult as their songs usually involve harmmer ons and pull offs with some nice fast riffing. But don't get me wrong, there is always a part in a song which just comes off difficult to play. So guitar wise the songs are written quite nicely and technically with an odd sort of melody to it. Vocals are the sort of, lower then a fry sort of scream and generally stay constant with that which I don't always like, as his scream isn't my favourite. Drums are quite nice in this album and are pretty well done. The album is mixed quite nicely and really crisp so the quality is assured in this album.

Song wise they sound quite similiar at least to me as each song seems to adopt the same style and doesn't deviate that much from it, at least to me that telling the difference between songs can be a little tricky. But still the songs are quite enjoyable and I respect the unique style that the band adopts.

Within The Ruins - Invade                               7.3/10
Invade

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Heaven Shall Burn - Invictus (Review)

The latest addition to German death metal/metalcore/deathcore band Heaven Shall Burn, being their 6th album since 1996, with only one member change, quite impressive feat from a band. Invictus being released in 2010 and just past the 1 year anniversary of the album release.

Vocals in the album seemed to have stayed the same, with the powerful rasped fry scream that the singer seems to have greatly taken to his advantage. The guitars seem to have stayed the same as well, but still distinguishable from the previous album, but still similiar, the style might actually change a bit with their next release as Invictus is the last installment of the Iconoclast trilogy. The writing of the guitar part seems more melodic than technical in this album but is still quite well done, keeping the parts of the songs where it has that "crash" sort of feel when everything kind of goes boom and sounds incredibly heavy and great. Though this album seem to involve a bit of soloing which sounds quite nice in these songs. The drummer as usual is blasting away at the drums doing his usual constant double pedal action, which still sounds great and the recording of the drums in this album seems to be more emphasised in this album, while I would prefer the lead guitarist to get a bit more empahsis in the tracks. The lyrics still seem to be around the same theme as the previous album, with the militant support against racism and social injustice, or so what says for their wikipedia.

What surprised me is the song "Given In Death", as it actually involves female clean vocals, and I thought, how great is this, brutal screams with such nice clean vocals, now that is some good stuff. The song is quite melodic and jumps between heavy guitar and clean guitar, working smoothly between each other, and quite impressive in my opinion, and also doing the sort of clean and scream duet that I have always loved, how it will transition between each other. The song also includes a guest guitarist from the same band as the female singer (Sabine Weniger and guitarist Sebastian Reichl).

The album also has a bonus track called "Nowhere" which I think is a cover of a song as it sounds far to different to the usual songs of theirs, but sounds nice, but I am not sure what to make of it.

Rating this album is quite difficult for me, as it is similar to their previous album, yet I am not sure to feel this is better or not, it is actually quite difficult, as my feelings towards the albums have changed a bit. But as how I see it, this album deserves the same score.

Heaven Shall Burn - Invictus                     8/10

Combat

Heaven Shall Burn - Given In Death

100 Followers and Blog Update!

Well the blog has been growing quite a bit lately, now with over 100 followers, coming straight up in google's searches as someone stumbled me and now my blog comes up with just the word sketchars :D. So the blog is growing real fast and I am making sure to blog every day and keep the blog growing, thank you to all the people enjoying the blog and continue to look at my posts, hopefully you enjoy the music as well.

I still have to wait for my preorder for My Damnation, Conviction, Monument to come in, but I did get my Heaven Shall Burn - Invictus album, so that will be the next one up for a post.

Also I made a new page called "reviews" this page will have all my reviews done with hyperlinked images, but I have yet to get it right so that the images are all put together correctly.

A new template will be available soon, I just still have to make sure if the templates I have suit how I have the blog already working.

Monday 1 August 2011

Defiler - Pangea (Review)

Defiler is a quite new band and also has very younger members around the age of 17-19 and is labelled as deathcore by their fan base. The band shot up quite fast in popularity due to their quite popular music video to Cryomancer. The video getting popular for one being a quite nice song and two for having the vocalist pulling some pretty funny faces. The vocals are all screams and all pretty much in the low end of screams. The guitar is quite simple, and is more of the melodic writing than actually technical, but I guess this comes with their young age. The guitar has a very crunchy chug sound to it, which is quite different to other bands, but the mixing is done well so it works for their tracks. The drumming is some what not to complicated, but not bad, quite enjoyable. The songs are heavy but have a style which is hard to describe but it pleasant to listen to so I am not complaining, I did see a review of Cryomancer which was quite negative, but then again, this review was a review about some guy bitching about how he doesn't like deathcore. The band is worthy of being checked out though, so look up their other songs, I also put Cryomancer in my grooveshark widget, so never know what you will see in that widget. Overall the album is quite nice but the songs seem kind of similar though.

Defiler - Pangea                                     7/10\

Cryomancer