Architects - The Here And Now (2011)

This may be their lightest, most melodic and most ‘radio-friendly’ release to date, but I’m not going to hate on 'The Here And Now' just because a band has chosen to change their musical direction.

In actual fact, I’m not really going to hate on it at all. This album isn’t bad. It’s just really not very good, either. I have no issue with a band that is willing to progress their sound musically; in fact I generally applaud it. However, I think ‘The Here and Now’ marks a step in the wrong direction for Architects. Following on from the sound of Hollow Crown and the sudden djent boom on the metal scene, I believe Architects could’ve gone on to be innovators in a more hardcore interpretation of djent. This would be pioneering and something a little original, but not so much of a step from Hollow Crown that they’d be selling their souls, and they could have pulled it off – in my opinion - very well indeed.

Instead, they’ve elected to go down the commercial melodic hardcore / metalcore route, which I see as a bit like giving up: Giving up your sound to fit the norm to gain popularity, instead of making your own sound so good that it becomes the norm. I suppose the change would have been fine, if the new sound was done well. The truth is, though, that Sam Carter is an alright screamer and a pretty bad singer, and unfortunately for him, the musical direction that the band are taking requires a very strong vocal performance on every level. I don’t think it’s quite hit the mark on ‘The Here And Now’.

There are some good songs on this record, though. Curiously enough, my favourite is the song that departs farthest from their norm: ‘Heartburn’. What this album really lacks for me, however, is something exceptional. Anything, in fact. All the songs are all okay - some better than others - but there’s nothing that give you a ‘wow’ factor and makes you want to go back for more.

It leaves a lot wanting, then, but it’s not a wholly unpleasant listen. A lot of people have been complaining of their leaving the complexity behind, and yes; the songs have become simpler, but the more melodic approach allows a more varied sound throughout the album, and so I don’t see it as a huge tragedy. When push comes to shove, though, if you want a heavy, technical hardcore album; get Hollow Crown. If you want a good, English, melodic hardcore album, get ‘The Kids We Used to Be’. And if you still want more, get this.


5/10


1. Day In Day Out
2. Learn to Live
3. Delete Rewind
4. BTN
5. An Open Letter To Myself
6. The Blues
7. Red Eyes
8. Stay Young Forever
9. Heartburn
10. Year In Year Out/Up And Away
*11. Day In Day Out (Big Chocolate Remix)*


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DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM HERE

The Carrier - Blind To What Is Right (2010)

It sounds a lot like Stick To Your Guns. I’d say it sounds too much like Stick To Your Guns. Is that really such a bad thing, though?

I think so. This record is good, very good in fact. The fact that there is pretty much nothing to differentiate it from Stick To Your Guns, though, does raise serious cause for concern. I mean, it really is the same: The guitars; the singing; the drums... everything. If you didn’t know otherwise, I wouldn’t blame you at all for mistaking it to be STYG.

I have no problem with a band having a strong influence from another band, but they have to make your own music: Draw influence from more than one place; do something original. The Carrier sound to me like a very good cover band. Which would be fine, if that’s what they said they were. But they don’t.

It’s not completely without merit, though. Like I said, it’s a good album. Very listenable to, in fact. All the songs on it are good, and it’s all fairly well made. All the music is played well; the vocals are good, if a little repetitive. I just can’t get over how much of a copy this is. I suppose in some genres, all bands sound the same. But somehow, this is different.

The song that stuck out to me most was the last one: ‘All That’s Left To See’. It sounds somewhat less like a Stick To Your Guns copy than some of the others, and has some good catchy parts to it and is an all round enjoyable listen. This whole album is definitely worth listening to if you’re a STYG fan, but I feel your pain if you think it too much of a rip off.


5/10


1. Blind to What is Right
2. Everyone Who I Knew and Loved is Gone
3. Wash Away My Sins
4. Hollow Pain
5. A Stranger to Myself
6. In Silence Together
7. Downstream
8. Into Darkness
9. All That's Left to See

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DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM HERE

Foreboding Ether - Prolonging the Agony [Demo] (2010)

This demo was thrust into my hands outside a The Black Dahlia Murder gig back in August. I was a little sceptical of it at first. Ok, I lie; I thought it was going to be awful. But I decided ‘why not give it a try’, and stuck it in the player the next day.

I was actually very pleasantly surprised. Simply, at first, by the quality of the recording: The demo was held on an Asda’s own CD, in a cheaply produced sleeve. Perhaps I was wrong to assume that the music would be of the same quality. In fact the mixing and production are actually very good considering its only a demo.

The music itself isn’t anything incredibly original; nor is it, however, incredibly predictable or samey. It is in the same ballpark of Melodic Death as ‘The Black Dahlia Murder’, but they do have a couple of breakdowns thrown in for good measure; and even some progressive parts. All the members seem pretty competent with their instruments, and there are even some flashy guitar parts which do add to the record.

An all round solid effort, then. It’s only about 10 minutes long, and so I’m now eagerly anticipating anything else they produce. But the 10 minutes showcase some of the best local music talent in the genre that I’ve heard. I would have much rather have had Foreboding Ether warm up for The Black Dahlia Murder than ‘Dyscarnate’ who were fairly awful. Certainly worth checking out: I’m sure they’d appreciate it.


7/10


1. Faces of Stigmata
2. Columbian Flu
3. Deadline

VISIT THEIR MYSPACE

undermorphine - Healing (2010)

There is no word I can use to accurately describe this record. Angry, relentless, insane and brutal all spring to mind, but those words all conjure images of dreary brutal Deathcore and the likes, which this isn’t.

What it actually is, I don’t know. No description will really make it seem desirable, but for some unearthly reason, it is – quite frankly - awesome. The whole thing should sound rubbish: The guitar tone is horrible, the drums are too loud and the vocals are... well. Different. Yet the chaotic sound that somehow slides from berzerk verse into thumping breakdown just has a very odd charm about it.

I’ve never heard drumming so angry. It sounds like the snare breaks every time its hit. To describe the vocals to someone who hasn’t heard them, I’d have to say ‘imagine a standard shouty hardcore vocalist who’s just found the bastard who killed his family and his dog. While shooting morphine’. Not, then, one for the faint hearted. Certainly this pummelling wall of aggressive noise is not for everyone. Not for most, I’d say. But if you enjoy psychedelic, somewhat trippy journeys into the realm of insane aggression (so basically, if you’re a psychopath who enjoys hallucinogens), then this will be perfect for you.

It’s not perfect for me, though. There are too many obvious drawbacks to the record for it to receive a perfect score. But it is the first time anything like this has grabbed my attention and kept it. And made me go back for more. Although the record maintains a fairly predictable structure, the sound doesn’t really change, and as I’ve said, the actual sound of the instruments is pretty abominable, I just feel that this is a record that’s just so damn outrageously fun that it doesn’t even matter. The line ‘live fast die young’ in one of the songs is enough to suggest that these guys don’t take themselves too seriously anyway, so why should you?


6/10


1. Morphine: Another Trip Is Beginning
2. Psycho
3. Healing
4. Skyscrapers
5. Just Flaming Chaos Recieve My Fall
6. Burnt By The Dawn
7. Inhaling the Poison
8. Water
9. Burnt By The Dawn (Zombie Vs. Zombie Remix)

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE HERE(uploaded by the band)

Your Demise - The Kids We Used To Be (2010)

Being from the same town as the original members of ‘Your Demise’ probably makes me subconsciously loyal to them and likely to like them more (even though this is not the case for ‘Enter Shikari’). However, ‘The Kids We Used To Be’ departs from the ‘SAHC’ sound I know and love.

The most significant change is that vocalist George Noble has been replaced- after some supposedly quite brutal band politics- with Centurion’s old frontman; Ed McRae. The new voice is a lot less pummelling, and the feel music matches that.

While there is still some aspects that hint towards the old 'Your Demise' sound, they have pretty much completely re-invented themselves, which is perhaps to their credit. While the new sound is less brutal (there are very few (if any) noteworthy breakdowns, and the riffage on the whole has toned down noticeably), it’s not quite ‘soft’: It is still most definitely still hardcore (though perhaps a leaning towards metalcore).

It perhaps falls into a style I’ll have to call ‘sing-along hardcore’. Some may perhaps call it selling out. Live, they’ve changed their crowd appeal: Previously it’s been all about giving the people in the pit something to dance to; now it’s more about giving the keen fans at the barrier something to sing to. And I’m not such a die-hard fan that I won’t accept a band changing their sound. Besides, the title track is fun to sing along to live, just in the same way ‘Burnt Tongues’ is fun to throw windmills to.

They may have lost their focus on breakdowns, but this is not all a bad thing. As a result, ‘The Kids We Used To Be’ has a lot of pace and energy that I see as very important in a hardcore record. While a decent breakdown may energise the crowd, it kills the pace of the song like nothing else. The breakdowns themselves (the best probably being the one in ‘Shine On’) are not as slow as they used to be and seem to flow with the rest of the song more than they used to.

The standout track for me on this album is the title track (The Kids We Used To Be). It has great energy, an awesome riff, and one of the best live sing-along choruses to have appeared in quite a while. The clean singing may not be to everyone’s tastes, but if you don’t like clean singing then this is probably not the kind of hardcore you like anyway.

7/10

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DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM HERE

1. MMX
2. Miles Away
3. Scared Of The Light
4. Life of Luxury
5. Teenage Lust
6. The Kids We Used To Be...
7. Get The Fuck Out Of Little Rock
8. Like A Broken Record
9. Shine On
10. Give Up, Get Dropped, Lose Out
11. xo