Stormy Seas

Release Date: November 1st

Rating: 8.5/10

They may be on Stormy Seas right now, but it looks like Cartwheels in Confined Spaces are sailing on to bigger things…

Stormy Seas is the debut EP from London-based duo Cartwheels in Confined Spaces, made up of jack-of-all-trades Michael Pheasant and rapper Darren Briscoe. It’s rare you get sent something to review that doesn’t immediately fall into a genre, this EP offering an ear-pleasing mix of electro-pop, rock and hip-hop.

The first track on the album, Storm’s Comin’, is a dramatic piano-filled introduction, giving us a taste of what’s to come and enticing us into the albums title track Stormy Seas. If we look past the cliché autoned vocals, this track really shows off what these guys can do, smacking you in the face with a barrage of beats, synths and a catchy pop hook, which will have you singing along by the second chorus.

The first single from the EP, Girl Shaped Hole, shows a different side to the duo, and proves why they are so hard to categorize. It’s a track filled with passionate vocals and toned down electronic effects, presenting us with a memorable pop track that seems made for mainstream radio. What Nobody Else Has is all a little bit emo in terms of its lyrics, but the duo manage to pull it back once again with its infectious pop-ridden chorus that will end up stuck in your head for days.

Don’t Give In is the perfect way for the band to conclude their debut release, proving to be the standout track on the EP. The duo’s rock influences shine through on with its head-bopping beats, and its punchy chorus proves that their out to create music to make you happy, ‘Dance like you don’t give a shit / Just look like you couldn’t care less’. That, they certainly do.

I see big things ahead for this band, but let’s hope on their next release we hear more from rapper Darren, who proves there’s no need for bad language and outrageous lyrics to grab the listener’s attention.

For fans of: Enter Shikari, Owl City, Tinie Tempah

OFFICIAL SITE

The Audition

Great Danger

Rating: 8/10

Great Danger is the fourth album from this Chicago based four piece, and the third that they have released in the past three years. Keen? I think so.

Having never been a huge fan of The Audition, they may have just managed to change my opinion, and trust me, that’s not an easy thing to do. ‘Great Danger’, without a doubt, proves to be the bands strongest album to date, and despite appearing within a year of their Self-Titled Album, it surprisingly doesn’t sound rushed.  Each song is cleverly crafted, Danny Stevens’s voice is at its best and the band manage to belt out pop tune after radio-friendly pop tune.
For first time listeners, it may all seem a little bit scatty, but Great Danger certainly shows the band is starting to create some individuality with a bizarre mix of genres. Lead single You Ruined is a huge pop anthem, and the acoustic Run Away gives you a chance to relax before the band start pounding out the riffs again. It’s a real mix bag, but I like it. The stand out track for me is The Art of Living, which picks up the pace of the album with fast guitar and drum rhythms. It proves the band are finally ready to try new things, adding a slight orchestral touch to it too.

I was a bit disappointed with the albums closing track Final Adventure, the band making a statement of maturity throughout, which is then concluded with a mediocre Angels and Airwaves like track, and there’s nothing worse than Angels and Airwaves.

Despite a poor finale, The Audition definitely deserve some recognition for their latest effort. Fans will love it, for newbies it may be a bit of a grower and for those of you expecting to hear the pop-punk sound of their previous albums, you will be very disappointed.

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This is Hell

Weight of the World

Rating: 9/10

It’s hard to believe This Is Hell are not more of a big deal by now. They are certainly at the top of their game; consistently release albums at the top of all hardcore recommendation lists, and they have a loyal following who see the band as the voice of their genre.

Oh, and guess what, they’ve only gone and done it again! Weight Of The World is another of the band’s albums that has you hooked from the very first beat. Opener ‘Bloodlines’ is a typical in-your-face hardcore track, proving impossible to criticize with its unstoppable beats and perfect punk riffs.

The whole album is consistent, each track as angst-ridden as that before, and each track proving why the band have gained such a significant name within the hardcore genre. ‘Weight of the World’ is the stand-out track on the album, and shows the band at their finest – sheer hardcore brilliance.

So why aren’t they a big deal? The band, formed in 2004, have produced another creative masterpiece with this album, but it’s fair to say it shows little direction. It would be nice to see the band pushing themselves to create a sound impossible to re-create. That said, they still sound bloody amazing.

OFFICIAL SITE

Soundtrack For Your Life

‘Soundtrack For Your Life’ is a big statement to make with an album title. My only hope is that Telford (what?) rockers Envy of the State prove this to be true with their debut release. The band have already made quite a name for themselves in the USA, so they must be doing something right, yeah?

The album is a mere 33 minutes long, but this doesn’t mean the band are short of energy, displayed perfectly with opener ‘Rags to Riches (Riches to Rehab)’. Vocalist Scott Adams has a great pop-rock voice, and the riffs are bounce-tastic and summer-friendly. The band have an immediate good feel about them, they’re creating a sound to make you smile and dance along to, a rarity amongst modern British rockers.

Next up is single ‘Take Over The Radio’, which has a touch of early pre-pretentious Lostprophets about it, which is nice. The album delivers hit after hit, and closes on a high with ‘Our Time’. It’s the longest track on the album, and is full of energy and anthemic promise.

So, maybe this could be the soundtrack for your life, if you live in a big ball of sunshine where everyone has a bloody good time, all the time. It’s amazing to think Telford has produced such a young, fresh alternative rock band. Here’s to Telford!

hey , this is zac from my uncle the wolf. you did an awesome review of our new album and i wanted to say thank you. we’re trying really hard to get some attention in the UK. we’re going ontour in sept and we are def gonna find a way to play there no matter what. when we do, the pint’s on me. thank you so much!

-zac

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Forget about Spotify, mflow is here, and it is set to revolutionize the way we purchase music online…

This past week I’ve been playing with mflow, a new music-sharing device, combining music purchasing with social networking. Think iTunes, mixed with Twitter and you’re halfway there. This is set to revolutionize they way we listen to, recommend and purchase new music – and trust me when I say, you need mflow in your life.

Admittedly at first, I didn’t really know what I was doing – but I knew what I wanted, some new metal music. So I began searching, and was honestly overwhelmed at what this product could do.

The way mflow works is very, very clever. It has over two million tracks in it’s catalogue, all, which you can preview, and go on to purchase. The tracks start from 79p, and in DRM-free 320kps quality – which you can go on to sync into your iTunes library, nothing new there then. This is where it gets interesting. You sign up and ‘flow’ songs to your followers; which can range from your friends, DJs, bloggers – the list is endless. If you send a song to a specific follower, they get to listen to the song in full, bonus!

It also now has the added function to sync these flows with your Facebook and Twitter accounts, what more could you ask for?

This is the bit I love. If you decide to purchase a track somebody your following has recommended – they are rewarded 20% of the cost price to their account. Which means: you recommend a song to your mate, they buy it and there you have it – kerching! You can’t withdraw that music from mflow, but you can go on to buy more music.

Like iTunes, mflow is beautifully crafted. The music purchasing and social networking aspects of the device are fused perfectly within its slick interface, making it extremely easy to use. After 10 minutes of playing with the device, I was following 10+ people and had purchased and recommended a multitude of songs. My screen was soon filled with new music for me to listen, and I continued to play for another couple of hours.

This device is in its early stages, but it has created something that has already revolutionized the way I discover and purchase new music. The key to its success is a wider range of music, as well as a couple of technical tweaks, but mflow is certainly well on it’s way. I certainly look forward to the improvements that are set to come later this year.

If you’re big into your music, and love ‘tweeting’ – you need mflow in your life. To sum it up, it’s sort of like Apples overrated Genius function, with an added human touch – music sharing has never reached such personal levels.

Oh, enter the code CARLYP when prompted, to see what I’ve been flowing!

Thanks to Alexei Lee @ Socal Media and Digital PR

Awaken

Release Date: June 21st

It’s nice to see ex-Killswitch Engage vocalist Jesse Leach has been keeping himself busy, and he’s about to prove he’s ready to step back into the spotlight…

The Empire Shall Fall formed back in 2008, and they are now ready to showcase their debut album, ‘Awaken’. Those looking to compare with KSE, will be disappointed – as the band have been creating a sound more diverse, and dare I say more heavy, than that of Jesse’s previous outfit.

This much anticipated album certainly doesn’t disappoint, and this is apparent from the first note. The band doesn’t mess about with fancy intros, and the album kicks straight into the metalcore riff of the album’s title track. It’s immediately satisfying to hear the strength of Leach’s screamo vocals, proving he’s certainly still got it. This pounding track shows the band’s maturity compared to KSE – another low blow for those looking to criticize.

The album moves straight into ‘Lords of War’, a track worthy of anthemic status with it’s pounding drums, riffs and vocals pushed right to their limit. ‘Voices Forming Weapons’ is one of the albums standout tracks, full of bellowing screams and those chugging guitars that we all love to hear.

‘Choir of Angels’ is a thrashy belter of a tune, similar in comparison to metalcore greats Suicide Silence. This is seriously impressive – with screeching guitars and Leech pushing his vocals way further than you could ever have imagined before. It’s satisfying to see he’s found a group of accomplished musicians who can push him to these extreme levels – ‘cause it’s really bloody exciting.

‘Awaken’ provides us with hit after hit, each track giving us something different, something heavier. It has a distinct progressive feel about it, seen in abundance on ‘We The People’.

It’s nice to see the band haven’t taken the easy route, as they could have easily done an interpretation of ‘Rose of Sharon’ gaining themselves plenty of radio airplay. I’m glad they didn’t. The Empire Shall Fall have proven that taking chances work, and have provided us with a ballsy, pounding metal debut that I dare you not to fall in love with.

Jericho proves he’s not just a wrestler; he’s a rock star…

I had big hopes for this gig, the band having already warmed up with their matinee show earlier in the day. On arriving, there was a fantastic atmosphere, with everyone seeming just as hopeful and excited to see Fozzy return to the UK.

The first support band was Halcyon Way from Atlanta, a thrashy five-piece accompanied by somewhat 80’s style wailing vocals from singer Steve Braun. They played a great set, and warmed the crowd up a treat – throwing t-shirts into the sea of headbangers, despite one unexpectedly getting caught on the lighting rig. As Braun put it himself, ‘fail’.

I’d already heard of second support band Forever Never, and hoped they could deliver a sound as punchy as on their recordings. I wasn’t disappointed, and the band immediately blew the crowd at the Garage away. The Essex-five piece seemed surprised themselves, performing hit after hit will massive smiles on their faces, aw.

By this point, you could feel the excitement in the air of the Garage, the small venue crammed full to the rafters of a hyped up crowd of all ages. The lights dimmed, and Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ blasted from the PA system. Amidst the synchronized chanting, Fozzy appeared on the stage one-by-one, in an overly dramatic, crowd-pleasing style. WWE icon Chris Jericho was greeted with an ear-splitting roar, which he prolonged for as long as possible with his crowd-satisfying antics.

Fozzy began their set with the energetic ‘Under Blackened Skies’, the opening track from their new album Chasing The Grail. Despite the microphone not working, the band produced a mind-blowing sound, and I think everybody was equally surprised at the quality of music this band was producing. The brilliant start was swiftly bettered, as the band immediately switched to ‘Martyr No More’ – a pounding rock anthem, with the collective voice of the Relentless Garage and chants of ‘Y2J’ drowning out Jericho’s surprisingly rock-star-worthy voice.

The band proved experts at working the crowd, asking their already-adoring fans to ‘f*** up the Germans in the World Cup’, before raising an Fozzy-embellished England above them, whilst chanting ‘1966’ alongside a killer riff. Quite a special moment, really.

They continued to play hit after pounding hit, including a perfect mix of both old and new material. Jericho announced they only had one more song to play, and despite the roar of boos, the crowd were soon bouncing and screaming along to ‘Paraskavedekatriaphobia (Friday The 13th)’, arguably the stand out track from their latest release. Of course, the crowd wanted more – and Fozzy, of course, did not disappoint.

What happened next, was possibly the best moment at a gig, ever. Guitarist Rich Ward asked the crowd ‘if we can’t get home because of this volcanic ash, can we stay at your house’, to which the crowd responded with a chant of ‘f*** my mum’. Sheer brilliance. A fantastic cover of Judas Priest’s ‘Freewheel Burning’ later, and I think the crowd was all in agreement, that this was an extraordinary night.

Fozzy may be so popular due to Jericho’s iconic figure in WWE, yet this doesn’t mean they are not worthy of this success. Musically, they are fantastic, and they can certainly put on a show!