The Glorious Sons are a Canadian rock band from Kingston, Ontario, and in 2013, they released their first EP, Shapeless Art. The following year, on September 16, they released their first full length album, The Union. We were going to review that one, as it seemed more relevant to now, but we could not find the entire album online, nor could we afford to purchase it from iTunes at this time. We still wanted to do a review for them though, so it only made sense to review Shapeless Art.
Perhaps its because they are a lesser known band, but we still could not find much of their studio work online. From what we could gather though from the live footage, and the few studio recordings we did stumble upon, The Glorious Sons is on the path for something wonderful. Off of this EP -keeping in mind that we were working on live footage primarily, so some lyrics may have been lost to their surroundings, hands down "Mama" is the best track. This one one of the few to have an official video, which made hunting for a studio version a piece of cake. Its simply beautiful, and starts briefly with their singer singing acapella. The song speaks of loving with all your heart, and living life all at once in a very catchy way. It sort of sounds like he may be speaking to his mother about such matters, hence the title of the song. One line in particular stood out to us greatly, "Living life like its a heart attack. Once the blood starts pumping, you can't go back." There's no going back in life -you just gotta keep moving forward. Surely that is what The Glorious Sons are going to be doing and we encourage you to do the same. You can catch The Glorious Sons on The Contender Tour starting September 13, with Cage The Elephant, Coheed And Cambria, Cold War Kids and X Ambassadors. The tour appears to end on October 9, at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ. After that, they will be at the Rock Allegiance Festival, and in the middle of their tour will be the Louder Than Life Festival. Be sure to visit The Glorious Sons website for more information! Purchase this EP on iTunes and follow them at all the following social media links; Facebook/ Twitter/ Instagram/ Tumblr/ Offical website
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Back in December of 2014, Dorthy released their debut, self titled EP. This EP gives you a taste of Dorthy's talent, though we get the impression that Dorthy is best live, rather than on recording. We didn't pick up on an exact theme for the EP, but we did enjoy what we heard. We can't say much about the EP, we're afraid, but we have determined that Dorthy is best live based off of what we have heard.
Half of the EP felt like great 'hype' songs, like the kinds bands would play in the middle of their set at a concert simply to get the crowd moving a bit. The other half, was melodic in its own sort of way. "Gun In My Hand" had a sort of western feel to it, and asks the question, "Why did love put a gun in my hand?" Well, we're afraid we don't have answers to that question, but love is a battlefield. You have to fight for what you love, and perhaps that on its own answers your question. Then there's "Wildfire", this one is probably the catchiest on the album. It speaks of a woman who is a 'wildfire', and we're taking that as this woman is something special and should be appreciated. If anyone is interested you can get Dorthy's EP on iTunes now, and can catch them at the Rock Allegiance festival on October 10, in Chester, PA. Be sure to follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up with all their future endeavors as well! Five Finger Death Punch will be releasing their sixth studio album, appropriately called Got Your Six, on September 4, 2015. However, they decided to stream it on Pandora Premieres for a solid week before release day.
The band had promised a 'heavier' album that their previous work has been, but this album has actually been simply classic 5FDP. Great, but over all, its not heavier than anything else they've ever released. The over all theme for the album seems to be slightly up for debate. We took it as living for yourself, and not really paying much attention to what society or anyone else really wants for you, but others seemed to not pick up on a message at all. Several of the songs do seem to go together, such as "Wash It All Away", "Ain't My Last Dance" and "My Nemesis." "Wash It All Away" is about staying yourself, even if others want you to be something different. "I won't change for you, and I can't take the pain. There's nothing you do and there's nothing you can stay." "Ain't My Last Dance" is speaking of when you've given all you have to a person, and they just keep wanting more. Honestly, they established this feeling several albums ago, with the song "Never Enough" but the feeling is still very relevant and this track is very well done, so its by far not a repeat of anything. To go with this track is the very next one, "My Nemesis." The two seems to go hand in hand very well, because "My Nemesis" seems to be about living in the moment and asking to be treated the way you treat others. Those three songs just compliment each other very well, and that was something we quite liked. One other song that really stood out was "Question Everything", because it tells quite the story that we're not going to give away yet. We will say that Five Finger Death Punch should make a music video for this song, and it gave us many, many ideas that we may be writing about soon. Five Finger Death Punch has done it once again, and made another incredible album. You can get Got Your Six officially on September 4, wherever music is sold or you can hear it now on Pandora Premieres. Its also worth remembering that 5FDP is on tour right now with Papa Roach, In This Moment and From Ashes To New and will be until October 10. The tour ends at the Rock Allegiance festival in Chester, PA, and about a month after that, the band will go on tour in Europe. Get excited, because Five Finger Death Punch has a lot of great things going on for you right now. On September 29. 2014, Marmozets released their debut album, The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets. Now, we have to admit -this was our introduction to the band, and they actually were the exact opposite of what was expected. For some reason, we were not expecting a female fronted metal core, but rather some sort of indy pop band. What we received was much better than the expectation.
The band sounds a bit like a mix between Paramore and In This Moment and they did a wonderful job. Through out the album, there's several tracks that encourage people to just keep going and live their life for them. Those tracks include, "Born Young And Free", "Cover Up", and their beautiful piano track, "Cry." "Cry" actually encourages people to keep moving forward even when they feel like giving up, and tries to show them they are so much more than they may think. "You are invincible, shining like a heart of gold." That alone is rather beautiful on its own, but another part spoke volumes. "Lost in life, feeling free. Why we cry -unity. Holding on what has gone. When we blame ones at home. Hand and hand, you will see, you can stand truthfully. Pushing on is so good. Fight your wars, don't leave blood. Cut your shame from the vane. Now you know in your heart -life's too short to fall apart." That is beautiful, and we highly recommend everyone look up that song. While you're at it, you may as well listen to the rest of the album, which is available now wherever music is sold. If you like what you hear and wish to catch Marmozets live in concert, they will be on tour with Nothing More here very shortly on the Outbreak tour, and will be at several festivals such as the Reading Festival, Leeds Festival, Riot Festival, Louder Than Life and Rock Allegiance. For more information, please visit the official website for Marmozets. Butcher Babies have released yet another great album, Take It Like A Man! While keeping their trademark energy, they expressed a message of finding inner strength through thrash metal music.
Vocalist, Carla Harvey was quoted saying the following about the album, "We wanted to go back to our thrash roots, and 90% of the album reflects that." And co-vocalist, Heidi Shepherd added, "We wanted to bring back metal and aggression on the radio... We kind of merged the two worlds." The merging worked out extremely well, especially in the guitar work and over all sound. Tracks like "Igniter" and "Thrown Away" really stood out, but for completely different reasons. "Thrown Away", is the ballad on the album, and "Igniter" just has killer riffs and reminds you why Butcher Babies is something unique. The album was released on August 21, 2015 and can be purchased now iTunes! And you can catch Butcher Babies on tour now with GWAR until September 18. After that, you can catch them at festivals like the Slang Metal Fest VII, Louder Than Life, and Rock Allegiance. For more information, please visit the Butcher Babies website. On August 21, 2015, unveiled the fourth chapter of their career, Up. Its quite rare when the title of an album actually creates a theme, but Pop Evil definitely has a theme.
Through out the album, you pick up on a vibe of rising up and doing better for yourself. Hence the album title, Up. The main focus we have for this album is the lyrics, because there's a lot of empowering messages to be heard through out the album. Such as "Core", which basically is about being done with someone who's holding you back, and moving on to your own thing. "Take It All" which seems to be about taking on the world, and then there's "Ghost Of Muskegon." "Ghost Of Muskegon", definitely is the stand out track of this album. It speaks of struggling in life in the most beautiful manner. It speaks for itself with just this one simple lyric actually. "Lost, still I'm searching." You may be totally at your wits end, and feeling lost, but if you just keep looking, something will work out and you will be okay. Be sure to get this album anywhere music is sold, this includes Amazon, FYE, iTunes and more! You can also catch Pop Evil on tour September 8 through September 27, and then at several festivals like Rock Allegiance, Buzzfest 34, and Aftershock festival. For more information, please visit Pop Evil's website! Facebook/ Twitter/ Instagram/YouTube From Ashes To New released their Downfall EP back in March, and its one of those EPs that connects with listeners very deeply.
Being only four tracks, the entire EP is something special. Sound wise, it could easily be compared to Hollywood Undead or Linkin Park, and tells various different tales of survival, judgement, and relationship struggles. The ones that stood out the most though were "Downfall" and "Land Of Make Believe." "Downfall" encourages people to keep going, and makes you feel like you can take on the world. "We all fall down sometimes and it makes it hard to believe, we can learn to somehow survive, no matter how much we bleed!” In other words, they are saying you can get through this, no matter what. Then there's "Land Of Make Believe", which basically says you should never judge a book by its cover or underestimate your enemies. You never quite know what someone is capable of, and some people have a sense of entitlement to them. This song is basically telling you to leave those people behind and go your own way. because you don't need those people. This EP is wonderful and well worth a listen. If this is your introduction to From Ashes To New, its pretty much guaranteed you will be hooked and want to look into them more soon. If that happens to be the case, you can get this EP now on iTunes and can catch From Ashes to New on tour with Five Finger Death Punch, Papa Roach, and In This Moment now through October 10, which is the Rock Allegiance Festival, where all four bands will be performing. For more information, please visit the From Ashes To New website! Facebook/ Twitter/ Instagram/YouTube In June 2014, Nothing More released their self titled album, and since then the band has just continued to grow. After listening to the album, its pretty obvious why they have grown so much.
They clearly are incredibly deep thinkers, and implore others think deeper as well. Every track appears to have their own meanings. Going against the grain, and being your own person, despite what 'the system' may encourage. Putting yourself first, you don't lose yourself, fighting back when enough is enough, etc. This album could definitely inspire someone to make some life changes, where changes are due. Every song on the album tells a different story that should be heard, without a doubt, but some spoke louder than others to us. There's the lead single, "Ballast", which is simply trying to get people to stop and think. "You can't see because you don't know. You're caught below, beneath your own shadow. Stuck inside, half alive. Do you ever stop to ask yourself why? Close your mind, identify. Do you feel, do you feel? Do you call this a life? All you waited for was drowning, just to keep the score. We always start with good intentions but lose ourselves along the way." Its far too easy to get caught up in the motions of life, always doing things for other people, and sometimes we do need to step back and look out for number one. Yourself. This song could easily remind someone to do just that. "First Punch" is literally saying "Enough's enough." Sometimes you just need to take a stand against those who do you wrong. Something's gotta give, and sometimes that means you have to put your foot down and make it happen manually. This song is the perfect representation of that. "I'll throw the first punch because I've kept my mouth shut for far too long. Enough's enough." There's a lot to be said about this album, but sometimes its best to just let the music speak for itself. Definitely give this album a listen, chances are you will be highly impressed. You can get this, and more music from Nothing More now on iTunes, Amazon, or wherever music is sold. You can also catch Nothing More on tour September 14 through December 8! They will be making stops all over the US, and into Europe and the UK! These dates include their own headlining tour, festivals such as the Louder Than Life Festival and Rock Allegiance, and the tour they will be doing with Shinedown and Breaking Benjamin! For more information, please visit Nothing More's website! Back on March 31, Hollywood Undead released their fourth studio album, Day Of The Dead through Interscope Records. Hollywood Undead is known for being high energy, and something special, and this album is no different.
There's plenty of your fun, catchy, party type songs, but there's a few pretty meaningful ones too. You have "Take Me Home" which tells a very interesting story that shouldn't be explained, only listened to. There's enough to it to make a pretty great plot line for a book, and someone should get on that. Then you have "Dark Places" which is all about working toward something even though things are going wrong. That is a message I can get behind! "When you come from nothing, you want to die for something. So I started to run and just kept on gunning." This is definitely the best track on the album! Then there's more party type tracks like "War Child", "How We Roll" and "Usual Suspects." Over all, its a decent album, but may not exactly be for everyone. If you're in it for the meaning, you're not going to love it. If you're in it for fun though, you just may love it. Either way, if you are interested, you can get the album now on iTunes and can catch Hollywood Undead on tour with Crown The Empire starting September 8. In the middle of that tour will be the Rock Allegiance festival, and just after it concludes will be the Aftershock festival! For more information, please visit the respective websites. In November 2014, In This Moment released their fifth studio album Black Widow and it definitely is a hit. Though some of the titles are slightly questionable. Tracks like, "Sex Metal Barbie", and "Bloody Creature Poster Girl" just make you curious. Perhaps that's a great thing though.
The over all theme for this album is finding the light in the darkness, which is something powerful all on its own. Singer Maria bring has been quoted saying, "Black Widow is a metaphor for this innocent young girl who gets infected with life, traumas, experiences, and the balance of light and darkness. She becomes this poised and powerful creature. That's the album." The album is definitely one that will speak to those who have felt alone, and may jut empower some to live for themselves. That being said, one of the tracks that stood out the most to us perhaps didn't fit the mold the rest of the album. This track was "Sexual Hallucination", which is a duet with Brent Smith of Shinedown. Their voices just mesh together in an incredible way, and the song is actually kind of what you would expect from the title. Its something you must hear, even if you're not into sexual songs because the chemistry between Maria and Brent's voices is something you cannot pass over. At first listen, we honestly didn't care for the album. For many, it is an album that you have to give more than one chance before you actually enjoy it. After revisiting it, we see the beauty of the album. In This Moment stands out in a way you can only really understand by listening to them for yourself. Other stand out tracks on this album include, "Out Of Hell", "Sex Metal Barbie", and "Big Bad Wolf." Let us know what you think of the album! Also keep in mind that you can catch In This Moment on tour right now with Five Finger Death Punch and Papa Roach, as well as at the Rock Allegiance festival on October 10. For a full list of tour dates, please visit their official website. |
InformationAll reviews have the date they were written, the album title, and the band's name, with the exception of Life Starts Now by Three Days Grace and Dear Agony by Breaking Benjamin. Those dates were guessed at, as they were written well before the website began. Archives
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