Last.fm Group Journal: iMosh

Ahoy thar cap'n, I spot new artists!

Thu, 29 May 2008 07:53:19 +0000

So, I've been up and at it on the music-finding front.
Here's what I've got to show for it:

1) Dukes of the Kumatai
Somewhat unknown deathcore! Great riffs, excellent vocal patterns and kickass sound. Kickass guitars on the start of Tenfold.
My rating so far: 9/10

2) Abigail Williams
Blackened deathcore (or whatever you want to call it) with keyboards! Original and atmospheric. I recommend looking at pictures of them, because the keyboardist (female) is hot! Hurrr hurr. Anyhow, it's got the ompf, it's got the edge and it's got the vocals.
My rating so far: 9.5/10

3) School Girl Knife Fight
Brutal stuff! The song "Five Finger Fillet" starts with the following: A girl screams, a man goes "HEHEHEHE that's not a knife. THIS is a knife!", followed by a stab and a scream. I lol'd. Downside so far is that the recording quality isn't that much to be excited about.
My rating so far: 7/10

4)The Funeral Pyre
Very old-school Norwegian black metal inspired, but in a new and (better) more melodic way. I'm not getting into the whole genre discussion, but I like it. Nice and tight drumming, good vocals and the atmosphere that black metal (or any music, for that matter) should have.
My rating so far: 8/10

5) Belay My Last
Deathcore done good! Brutal riffs, facemelting vocals and bree's and EXTREMELY tight drumming. If you get the chance, you should listen to the "hidden" final part of the last track "The Downfall". Funny stuff.
My rating so far: 9/10

Full FREE hardcore demo for download!

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:39:22 +0000

I absolutely love this free demo from this band formed by members of Bloody Sunday. It has the power and honest message I expect from a good hardcore band!

Band: Attack At Dawn

Influences: Bloody Sunday, Sepultura, All Out War, Hatebreed, Figure Four, Buried Alive, Turmoil, Suffocation, Early Gorguts, etc.

Tracklisting:
1. Waging War Upon Myself
2. Shatter Your Mask
3. Eyes of a Warrior
4. Your Own Tragedy
5. Triumph Over Defeat

Message on their myspace:

"Download the Attack at Dawn demo for free!!!! (troubleshooting)

After receiving a bunch of feedback on trouble downloading the demo ive decided to show in detail how to download the demo with success!!!

>>> Go to this website: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W838N3O9

enter the 3 big letters you see into the text box and click download. wait 45 seconds and then click the "click here to download" box. save the file to the desktop."

Source: link

SHARK MEN RECORDS NEWS: JULITH KRISHUN, WFAHM, ...

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:09:25 +0000

1. Julith Krishun CD OUT NOW!

This years first Shark Men Records release is ready to take off. Together with with Altin Village & Mine Records, who attracted attention by some great records (Japanther, Shokei, Kids Explode,...), we will release the first CD of JULITH KRISHUN based out of Dresden / Germany. They have been around for more than 5 years and released loads of vinyl and demo tapes and toured the continent for several times. The self-titled cd contains 9 wild and emotional tracks with an undeniable rock'n'roll-feeling and the best artwork you have seen in ages, rounded off by a great sound.
Get a little taste at MySpace (links below) or directly here by hitting this link: http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/64731037/ThecureerucehT.mp3

Available here:
www.shop.sharkmenrecords.com
www.bisaufsmesser.com
www.imperial-clothing.de

Distros, get in touch!!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

2. War From a Harlots Mouth / Dead Flesh Fashion SPLIT

We´ll release a limited split 5" and mini cd by WFAHM and Dead Flesh Fashion. More infos soon!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.myspace.com/julithkrishun
http://www.myspace.com/sharkmenrecords
http://www.myspace.com/altinvillage
http://www.myspace.com/warfromaharlotsmouth
http://www.myspace.com/deadfleshfashion

Fearless will release Punk Goes Crunk next month

Tue, 4 Mar 2008 16:59:17 +0000

“Fearless Records will release Punk Goes Crunk in April 2008. This compilation will feature popular rock, pop, screamo, and punk artists covering popular rap and hip-hop tracks.

Punk Goes Crunk will include songs off of the never released Immortal Records compilation, Yo! Indie Rock Raps, such as Say Anything, Kenny from The Starting Line, New Found Glory, The Maine, Hot Rod Circuit, My American Heart, and Scary Kids Scaring Kids. This album will also include tracks from All Time Low, The Devil Wears Prada, Set Your Goals, and other artists who will be announced soon.”

- myspace.com/fearlessrecords

♪ Track Listing:
01) Set Your Goals - Put Yo Hood Up (Lil John)
02) Say Anything - Got Your Money (Ol' Dirty Bastard)
03) The Secret Handshake - I Wish (Skee - Lo)
04) Forever The Sickest Kids - Men In Black (Will Smith)
05) My American Heart - California Love (2Pac)
06) The Maine - I Wana Love You (Akon)
07) Emanuel - Kryptonite (Purple Ribbon All-Stars)
08) Person L - The Seed (The Roots)
09) The Devil Wears Prada - Still Fly (Big Tymers)
10) All Time Low - Umbrella (Rihanna)
11) Scary Kids Scaring Kids - Notorious Thugs (Notorious BIG)
12) The Escape Frame - Nothin' But A "G" Thang (Dr.Dre)
13) Hot Rod Circuit - Gin And Juice (Snoop Dogg)
14) Lorene Drive - Hey Ya! (OutKast)
15) New Found Glory - Tennessee (Arrested Development)

The Birthday Massacre live

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:18:10 +0000

Sun 11 Nov – The Birthday Massacre, Psycho Luna

Damn, it was awesome, probably one of my best gigs ever. Besides that they played their songs as perfect as on the albums just with more passion, noise and sweat and the whole band totally rocked the shit out of Zurich I was able to stand exactly in front of Chibi. She was like a half meter higher than me but so often she was over me.
And damn, I danced, banged and sang as hell and was in total ecstasy. And the fucking best thing was, I could sing twice with her, brow to brow and once we banged our heads together. Oh man I may sound like a kid, but that lady partied so sick and I could be the closest fan... and uh, she even messed up my hair, which was ok, I didn't need any girl to get anyway this evening, Chibi's performance was by far enough.

The played most of their best songs, like Unfamiliar, Red Stars, Goodnight and Falling Down from their new Album Walking With Strangers and classics like Lovers End, To Die For, Promise Me, Video Kid and Horror Show and some many more.
The show took almost two hours overall and ended with Kill the Lights, Blue and of course Happy Birthday.

I wished they've also player Holiday but hey, that's the only one of my fav's they didn't play.

The show was opened by Psycho Luna who played some pretty nice live-act, respect.

Ya, well overall... Crazy, Amazing, Unforgettable. The Birthday Massacre was brilliant, and if there will be the time they'll come to Switzerland again I will be there fore very fucking sure.

The Frightening phenomenon of today's music branching from hardcore

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 09:15:51 +0000

(read the complete story with pictures at http://www.wizow.net)

Recently, there has been some interesting trends in music branching from hardcore punk, a trend that fans of screamed and more non-radio friendly music could consider frightening.

This year and some before it, bands who release their second or third full-length change directions and go from a lot of screamed lyrics to slim or none, and from a more harsh sound to a more poppy one.

Some bands have even gone so far as changing from mixing styles of death metal, hardcore and heavy metal to mixing styles of modern rock and metal or pop-punk. I’d say this is generally a negative change in the hardcore music genre, as bands who claim they have “grown” or “matured”, simply just adapts to a more easy listened radio or MTV-sound.

Some would say this trend is somewhat “selling out”, but I think many bands just changes their sound as their popularity grows, for the purpose of gaining more popularity.

Many bands still are signed to the smaller, independent record companies where they have more artistic freedom, and therefore choosing a sound that would more likely sell. Other bands are signed or gets signed to the major companies where they are sometimes forced to cut down on their artistic freedom and change direction of sound to something that will sell more.

A theory is that bands cut down or let go of screaming, because they change team members, or just because it’s less wearing on the vocal chords to sing rather than to scream. In some bands, the singer maybe even couldn’t sing and therefore screamed. Or maybe he had a passion for growling, but never learned clean singing and then started to sing on the new record as a result of singing lessons.

Even though most of the albums following this “trend”, not many of them are horrifically bad, but you could say that many bands has lost their edge, toughness and creativity along with their newer, softer albums.

In this article we take a look at those bands who has a part in this phenomenon, what they used to be, if they're better or worse and if the new style is good or bad.

Funeral for a Friend
Hours>Tales Don't Tell Themselves

In 20002, Funeral for a Friend released their first EP “Between order and model”.
It was a post-hardcore work which was followed in 2003 by the more melodic EP “Four ways to scream your name”.
Later that year, the band later released their debut full length “Casually dressed & deep in conversation”. The album contained some songs from the EPs, some with screaming replaced with singing, but it was just some minor changes. The debut was a melodic post-hardcore album with metal-ish guitars and some screaming.

When they returned in 2005 with “Hours”, the screaming was still there, but the album was much more melodic and sung-driven. With their third and newest full-length concept album; “Tales don’t tell themselves”, they’ve changed direction and is now basically a rock band with the similar style in guitars, but with slower tempo. However, there’s no screaming at all and Matt Davies lyrics aren’t as emotional or bloody as before.

Were they better before?
Yes, especially the first EPs and debut albums had nice melodies, catchy refrains and lyrics as well as OK screaming. Even though it could get a bit too whiny and cliché with themes as heartbreak and blood on wedding dresses, the overall picture was good.

Is the new style bad?
No, but now they sound more like other bands you hear on the radio, fortunately they still have some of the good metal-guitars, but mostly, they’ve evolved in to something more negative than before. Fans of the old style will obviously get disappointed, but the open minded fan or general listener will find the new style bearable.

Trivium
Ascendancy>The Crusade

Trivium's follow up to 2003's "Ember to Inferno" - "Ascendancy" from 2005 was a solid thrash-metal-injected metalcore-album. Although the lead throat Matt Heafy's screaming or singing was not top of the line, there were plenty of tracks encouraging you to bang your head. On their third full-length, "The Crusade" from 2006- they sounded just like a mediocre Metallica-coverband (funny because that was just what the band started out as). Gone were the screaming and the metalcore sound. In an interview, Matt Heafy said he used to prefer screaming because his singing was bad. I may say I have heard worse, but his voice didn't really improve from the one album to the next.

Were they better before?You bet! When I listen to "The Crusade", it's like the singing is a bad try to imitate James Hetfield from Metallica and the instrumentals sounds just like any other boring Trash Metal-band out there.

Is the new style bad?
It's important to say that I really don't like most Thrash Metal-albums, unless the style is incorporated with other genres, like say other styles of Metal or Hardcore, like we could here some of in Triviums later work. I wouldn't say their new style is bad, but it's mediocre at the most.

Atreyu
The Curse>Lead Sails Paper Anchor

The transition of Atreyu from a metalcore-type band, to a more metal/hard rock/whatever-band was already noticeable on their 2006 album “A deathgrip on yesterday”, where they focused more on clean singing. Even the band’s lead throat, Alex Varkatzas began to use more spoken words and try on singing (with varied results). Although “A deathgrip on yesterday” was a good album- they were heading in a different direction than fans knew them from their first two albums; “Suicide notes and butterfly kisses” from 2002 and “The Curse” from 2004, as well as their earlier two EPs.

The real downfall began as their label Victory Records released “The best of Atreyu”. Now wait a minute, isn’t a “best of” something you would expect more from stars like The Beatles or Johnny Cash, artists who had a solid career spanning over decades and with a lot of radio hits? This is where Victory Records failed. Sure, they managed to include most of my favorite Atreyu-songs on one single album, but it feels like it was just a move by the record company of milking out the last dollars from the Atreyu as their trademark before the band changed label to Holywood Records/Roadrunner Records.
At the new label in 2007, Atreyu released their fourth full length, titled “Lead sails paper anchor”- an album with a severe identity crisis. Here we all from poppy songs, love songs, hardcore or metal-ish songs, and even some freaking country(!?).

Were they better before?
Atreyu’s trademarks used to be the use of good 80’s-styled guitars, nice drumming and nice clean vocals by the drummer Brandon Seller resulting in a metal and hardcore-sound combined. Sellers vocals works as a nice contrast to Varkatzas somewhat weird screaming that’s not enjoyed by everyone, but I think is quite bearable and sometimes even pretty good.
Their trademarks are all available in their latest album, but it’s somewhat twisted and tangled in their new multi-schizoid music style. Varkatza should keep on screaming and not sing, talk or shout as much as he does- because vocally the album would be very boring if it weren’t for the good and catchy singing by Seller. So yes, they would definitely better before!

Is the new style bad?
The new album is a disappointment, especially if you’re a metalcore-fantast as me. Gone are the uses of double bass pedals, speed, lots of screaming/growling and other stuff that I would crave for. Sure the metal-fan will find some good guitar-playing and those who prefer the more hard rock/metal-splitted personality of a band should like the “new” Atreyu.

I personally think their new style is a step in a wrong direction and that their hope as a band true to its roots, free from too big influences such as commercial trends and/or record label's crave for money – is gone.

Still Remains
Of Love and Lunacy>
The Serpent

Still Remains used to be a metalcore-band with influences from the Scandinavian death metal scene and the Gothenburg-sound. On their third full length-album, pieces of those elements are still left but now they are more of a rock band with a metal sound.
On “Of love and Lunacy” from 2005 the singer T.J. Miller only used a growl-like screaming but on their latest album ,“The Serpent” he mostly sings together with the guitarist Mike Church.

However, on “The Serpent”, there are some songs that sound like their old style, but in the whole- they’re taking a different direction.
Another different thing with the new Still Remains, is their myspace-page. It portrays them like a boy band with highly retouched, horrifying pictures of the band members, where it looks like everybody is sporting an androgynous style in make-up and foundation.

Were they better before?
Oh yes, although the new album isn’t all that bad, “Of Love and Lunacy” had a solid metalcore-sound that they should continued developing.

Is the new style bad? Not the music-style, but if their image is as portrayed on their Myspace, it's seriously bad.

A worthy end of a tour

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 22:19:35 +0000

Tue 25 Sep – As I Lay Dying, Darkest Hour, Himsa, Maroon

(from Wizow.net)

Maroon
Frirst out on stage was the German metalcore band ”Maroon”. Maroon is a band I haven’t really heard that much from, just a couple of songs, but apparently, they are big in the vegan straight edge-branch of metal/hardcore.
Maroon played a handful of songs and actually managed to get some movement from the crowds pretty quickly. The singer looked like your typical German madman and encouraged the crowd to mosh and do “circle-pits”. It was so successful that a real fight broke out between two guys, something that the singer really disliked. He emphasised the point of dancing together and having fun, instead of fighting- which is the true meaning of going to these shows nowadays. Obviously that’s something not everybody understands.

It was nothing special with Maroon, they sounded like so many other metalcore bands do live, some OK breakdowns, the typical trash metal-guitars. Nothing really bad, but they gave nothing that stood out either. I like that their frontman got the crowd going right from the start, so Maroon was a pretty OK support-band. For you interested in which songs they play, I haven’t found a setlist. The only track I remember them playing was “Wake up in Hell”.

5/10

Himsa
After the mandatory work by some technicians (which often look very random and unnecessary), the second support-band, American metalband "Himsa" entered the stage.
I used to dig Himsas previous album “Hail Horror”, but I found out that I had a hard time remembering how they sounded like. They played some songs from their new album “Summon in thunder”, and I think they played “Sleezevil” from “Hail Horror”.

Himsa sounded pretty good live, even though I could think the singers characteristic sound was a little bit lost in the live experience. Their frontman is a true entertainer, he moved around all over the stage, got the crowd going, crowd surfed and some other things that made Himsa a fun band to watch.
7/10

Darkest Hour
After some more slow work by technicians and arrangers (how long time can it possibly take to sound check basically the same drum set?)- it was time for the first headliner; "Darkest Hour".
I was really thrilled about DH since they seem to deliver good shows- and I wasn’t wrong. Although I’m not as a big fan of their latest album “Deliver us” as I am to their older works, their opening by the albums first track “Doomsayer” was a blast.
It was no doubt that this was what many in the crowd came for, as the crowd went wild and didn’t stop until the music slowed down. Darkest Hour is a perfect live band, they have the energy from the records, the fast drumming and outrageous guitar solos as well as the singer’s characteristic screaming. Although some of the characteristics of the screaming were lost in the wall of sound or because of some other reason, the singer sounded more like many other bands in the genre, but still with an edge.

A great thing with Darkest Hour was that they mixed songs from both “Deliver us”, with classics from their albums “Hidden hands of a Sadist nation” and “Undoing Ruin”. My favorite performance from them this night was their final song; “Sadist nation” which was just wild! everybody familiar with their older material and that song went crazy in the pit.
I got the feeling that the crowd was quite divided when it came to which album they liked the most. Those up front at the stage went crazy when the band played newer stuff and those by the pit I think appreciated their older material more.

Darkest Hour was amazing, they gave a really good mixture of songs, where they included their new best songs with the older ones- all ranging from technical solo-driven songs to mosh-encouraging parts. They were just as I expected.
8/10

After Darkest Hour I endured something that’s most be a record for me and many others as well when it comes to concerts. The technicians and crew goofed around with the microphones, drums and guitars forever without any real visual progress. Apparently they had a problem with the sound of some sort, but come on! I waited for more than a half hour until they were done. And after arriving 18:30 and seeing two support-bands and then participate in a live headliner-set, you get pretty tired and angry at 22:00 when you have to wait that long.

As I Lay dying
The waiting paid off and my tiredness just disappeared when American metalcore-band "As I lay dying" entered the stage. They began with the instrumental intro-track from their latest CD (An ocean between us) beginning with the drums and then having every member in the band entering one after another.

Then they got the crowd really going with the older track “Through struggle”. AILD continued mixing a few songs from their latest albums with solid classics as “Forever” and “Meaning in Tragedy”.

What just blew me away was how good they sounded live! The screaming was in mint condition, the guitars were beautiful and the drums were poundering. The only thing that didn’t sounded almost exactly like on their albums, were the vocals from the bassist (which were replaced in 2006) - he was good, but sounded a little bit on the border of whiny sometimes.

A song I didn’t think AILD would play was their debut single from their first song from their album “Frail words collapse” - “94 hours”. In that song, there is a part where the double basskicks on the drums sounds like a machinegun- but they played it and their insane drummer pulled it off! There was also a song where AILD’s new friends from the support-band Himsa’s singer came out on the stage and screamed together with the band, which was fun to see.

This was the last gig for the bands on this tour and therefore, there was a little celebration during the song “The Darkest nights”, where everybody in the crews and other bands basically grabbed everything they could find backstage and then entered the stage, spraying liquids, holding up objects, brushing teeths(!) and throwing toilet paper. This was a real fun thing to watch, as all the bands went bananas together as a nice finish to this tour. You haven’t seen metal until you’ve seen AILD’s frontman screaming with a teapot in his hand.

As I Lay dying’s gig was everything you may ask from a band, it was fun to watch, emotional, great sounding and it really got the crowd moving. They managed to include all my favorite songs, both old and new ones and all their dozen songs were just rapture. Even if AILD isn’t among my biggest favorites in the metal/hardcore-genres, they spellbound me with this really professional, yet not arrogant at all performance.
9/10

As I Lay Dying Maroon Darkest Hour Himsa

♥ Lovesongs ♥ - Part One

Mon, 4 Jun 2007 16:37:21 +0000

Now, after some years of listening to music and more and more finding my tastes I thougt I'd try to share my most loved Lovesongs, probably the most beautiful type of music in my opinion.

There's no real ranking, i'll start with my recent favorites though, this being the first part. Amount of coming parts open. =)

...And Then I Kissed Him by Hans Zimmer
I'm totally overwhelmed by this song, it's part and the highlight of the classical soundtrack to the movie Pearl Harbour. It's playing in the last night before the "hero" leaves the girl for unknown time, this is tragic-melancholic romance in its perfection.

With Eyes Wide Shut by blessthefall
This song may be an outsider, it's even almost the least listened Song on their newest Album. It's Melodic Soft Vocals with a lot Electronica and Drum Computer as far as I can hear. It's simple and damn I like it so much. The Lyrics are simple, but so meaningful... listen to it yourself. It's worth it.

Distraction by Angels & Airwaves
Beautiful: "I'll be your distraction..." "I'll be yours!" With all my body, my soul, my spirit.
I love AVA, and eventhough this isn't my favorite song by them, it's a great and sweet Lovesong only AVA can sing/play like this.

Dienen by Ich und Ich
It's german. This song isn't even a Lovesong, it's a song about Love. Trying to take away your worries about love, motivating you not to totally seal yourself off love. Some of the Lyrics translated:

You say, you don't share your time with none
you say, you swear on none
You say, your love will none ever get
that you'll never belong to someone

Even you will serve someone someday
someone who's softer and more tender than you
Even you will serve someone someday
someone who's stronger and wiser than you

...

Your poor sick heart will drown in love
Every wonderfulness on earth will be given to you
There's someone who loves you
"To Serve" is meant as "To Give Love" here, which I find even sweeter.

Far Away by Nickelback
Wow. One so popular song, played on the TV over and over again, but one song, I never got tired or even annoyed of. Lyrics, Melody, Voice, everything fits together perfectly, the song full of yearning (which I feel very strongly myself these days) until the last second.
I want to quote the lyrics of the part I love most in this song:
But you know, you know, you know
I wanted
I wanted you to stay
'Cause I needed
I need to hear you say
I love you
I loved you all along
And I forgive you
For being away for far too long
So keep breathing
'Cause I'm not leaving you anymore
Believe it
Hold on to me,and never let me go
Keep breathing
'Cause I'm not leaving you anymore
Believe it
hold on to me never let me go<3

Real Life Fairytale by Plumb
Well, the title says it all. This song is totally dedicated to a Real Life Fairytale told/sung by a woman just totally in love. This song is so infective.

These are the first 6, more soon to come =D