For All I Am - Skinwalker Review

When I do metalcore albums, there are some points I try to look for. Do something different with your breakdowns (production experimentation, time signature switch ups). Also, a little bit of lyrical exploration is greatly appreciated instead of falling into the anger or depressing tropes. So how does Chicago’s For All I Am fare on their first album Skinwalker? Well...disappointment is a good word to use.

I use the word disappointment because For All I Am showed some strong promise on their first EP Lone Wolf. Vocalist Aria Yavarinejad has some power in his vocal cords. He also has a voice that is pretty unique and distinct to give the band an edge. Add in the fact that Lone Wolf had some creative breakdowns that messed with time signatures and even some production experimentation that had some critics comparing them to Underoath.

So how does Skinwalker fall short? The production of the album is problem number one. All the songs pretty much sound the same on a production sound point. All the instruments are put on the same level, and they aren’t put loud like most metal albums should. The instruments are easily tuned out by whoever is in control, whether it be the vocals, guitars, or drums. This leads to the songs sounding alike and leading me to feel like not a lot of creativity was put into the album.

Speaking of creativity...it isn’t just the production that makes me believe that not a lot of creative juices were flowing during the recording of the album. The band doesn’t get as experimental as they did on Lone Wolf. Instead, we get the kind of metalcore album we hear a lot in the scene today. Breakdown, chorus, breakdown, chorus, rinse and repeat. This also leads to me starting to feel like all the songs are the same towards the end. It is only the strong “Forgotten” that takes me out of this mentality. “Forgotten” starts with a fast ferocity that has been lacking throughout the album. It also takes some experimentation with the time signatures that also has been lacking in the album. “Forgotten” is a prime example of what For All I Am is capable of, and it makes you realize they didn’t reach that potential anywhere else in the album.

The final verdict: Skinwalker is a disappointment in my eyes. For All I Am have strong potential to be something great as shown in “Forgotten”. Unfortunately, those pieces didn’t come together as we get a generic metalcore release. One that only has me specifically remembering 2 songs being above average. For All I Am is off to a shaky start, but I’m not writing these guys off yet.

FINAL GRADE: D+
CHOICE CUT: Forgotten

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcUkgq0s2cE

R.I.P. Underoath

Earlier this week, metal kings Underoath played their last show in their hometown of Tampa, FL. Many fans of metal, and rock music are still mourning at the fact the band is done. So, if you don’t listen to rock, you are probably wondering why this band leaving the rock scene is such a big deal? Well, let me try to paint a picture that is a little more relatable to people. Lets say Lady Gaga calls it quits. The world of pop music will be shaken up monumentally. So many pop artist and up and coming musicians see her as a huge inspiration, so of course people are going to be sad. Everyone from fans, to her musical peers will be affected. It is not at the same level of pandemonium that Lady Gaga quitting would be, but that is a good way to how the rock scene has reacted to Underoath saying they are done.

Underoath is one of those bands that somehow found a way to resonate with everyone. You might not know it, but you might have heard an Underoath song before. They are one of the rare metal bands that had people liking them who usually hate metal music. They managed to do this in a couple of ways.

1. Incredible live shows - If you have seen Underoath live, consider yourself a lucky soul. The amount of energy put into Underoath’s live performances is something unparalleled not only in metal, but in music in general. The sheer amount of energy that went into each performance by the band was something that I still have not seen replicated by bands not only in the rock scene, but bands and artist who have made it big.

2. Amazing, relatable lyricism - More than likely, you can relate to one song in Underoath’s incredible discography. No song is the same in the Underoath catalog.  It is something special that many people appreciated about the band. Even if you don’t like metal, you could probably find a song that you could appreciate from Underoath from a lyrical standpoint.

3. Unbelievable Musicianship. That point about no Underoath song being the same lyrically, that same mentality goes for musicianship. No Underoath song SOUNDED the same. Every song you were getting something unique and different. Each album is easy to differentiate, and each song on that album you can tell real quickly what it is. This is in part because of the true talent that each member of Underoath had with their instruments.

Underoath is a band that is going to be missed in the rock scene for a very long time. I can always remember the first time I heard of the band. After my friend was so excited to get their album Lost In The Sound Of Separation, I asked her who they were. She told me that they were a band that couldn’t be described, you just had to listen to them. Taking her advice, I listened to Lost In The Sound Of Separation that night and was blown away. To this day, that still is one of my most favorite albums of all time. I am always grateful of the fact I got to see them live, and I hope people will still discover their fantastic music for years to come. Chris, Tim, Grant, Spencer, James, Daniel, Aaron, and to any other former members of Underoath, you guys have no idea how many lives you touched. How many bands and musicians you have influenced. Your music will always be remembered by a lot of people, and hopefully more. We’ll all miss you guys.

I leave you guys with my favorite Underoath song. The atmospheric and incredible “Too Bright To See Too Loud To Hear”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63EetspU6Is

Frank Ocean Channel ORANGE Review

Well, after doing two rock albums, it is time to switch things up a bit. Time to talk about one of my favorite albums of last year. An album that has been getting a lot of praise, including a nomination for best album of the year at the 2013 Grammy’s. That album is Frank Ocean’s Channel ORANGE. In a year where rap, hip-hop, and R&B was lackluster to say the least, Channel ORANGE came in and blew everyone away. It was something unique. It mixed many forms of R&B, rap, and soul that nobody knew what to technically classify it as. Here are some of the genre’s Channel ORANGE uses. R&B is the obvious one, neo-soul, psychedelic funk, pop-soul, jazz-funk, and electro-funk. A lot to mix into one album, right? Mix in an unconventional method of treating each song like a channel on the good old tv and you have one of the most creative, unique, and most importantly, well executed album musically in years.
   
Channel ORANGE was one of my most anticipated of last year. Being an Odd Future fan, I was excited to see the soulful member of the group get his chance to show his talent. Plus, his spot on Jay-Z and Kanye West’s song “No Church In The Wild” was fantastic, so my expectations were high. Gladly, Ocean did not disappoint with ORANGE. From the first song, (Thinkin Bout You) you realize what you are in for. Each “channel” on ORANGE is a different type of genre. With “Thinkin Bout You” being some quality R&B to “Sweet Life” taking some amazing influence of Jazz-Funk, each song is something different and widely creative.
   
What also helps the album is Ocean has the voice and lyricism to back up his ambitious ideas. Ocean can hit the low notes to rap, and he can hit the high notes to sing. At no point in the album does it sound like he messed up his vocals. They are damn near perfect. Ocean also covers some interesting topics with his lyricism. I always have this rule about rap or R&B:  don’t rap about partying or having sex. That has been done to death. Just rap about life, your experiences, or something your listener can relate too. Ocean does this as songs like “Super Rich Kids” have Ocean questioning why kids are spoiled, or “Pilot Jones”, which has Ocean talking about how dependent people addicted to drugs are to other addicts.
   
There is not much bad to say about the album. I actually tried really hard to find something. The only thing I guess I could say is that I do wish some songs would have been longer or fleshed out instead of being intermissions. Take the 40 seconds “Fertilizer”. I feel like that could have been an incredible song about heartbreak. Instead, it was just a 40 second intermission. My only real complain is songs like that were full, but that is only a minuscule problem.
   
The final verdict:  In a year where good R&B and rap was few and far, Frank Ocean came in and wiped the floor with Channel ORANGE. ORANGE is creative, ambitious, but most importantly, true and well crafted. It is rare that you listen to an album and every time, you find something new to love. I’m on the bandwagon of saying Ocean deserves album of the year at the Grammy’s. Will he get it? God I hope so.

FINAL GRADE: A

CHOICE CUT: Sweet Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZaWY2ROxrc

The Plot In You - Could You Watch Your Children Burn Review

Ever get so pissed off you just need some music that fits your mood perfectly to go work out too? Ever have someone you care about terribly used, or even worse, taken advantaged of? Well, let me show you a band and an album that can relate. Could You Watch Your Children Burn, the second album by Findlay, Ohio’s The Plot In You. To say The Plot In You is angry on this album is an understatement. Let me talk about some events that happened to the band leading up to recording time. First, you got constant critics and online trolls writing off the band as a “generic breakdown band” that doesn’t deserve any attention. Second, you got vocalist Landon Tewers girlfriend getting raped while they are on tour, thus leading to his complete loss of faith. So, the band has more than enough reason to be pissed off, but does that anger translate well into the music? Hell yes it does.
 
Pardon my language, but every song on CYWYCB is ANGRY AS F@#$! Seriously, I have not heard an album this pissed off in every song in a very long time. The band obviously have been through a lot in the last couple of years, and they take all of it out on the album, especially vocalist Landon Tewers. The Plot In You’s first album, First Born, didn’t have a lot of dynamic vocals or instrumentals. Yes, it was angry and heavy, but plagued by predicable breakdowns. Tewers must have taken all the hate and used it as motivation. On this album, he is pissed, and he showcases it in his powerful voice on every song. He also went out of his way to clean his vocals and sing with a normal voice, which wasn’t heard on the last album. This really helps on album two as even his clean vocals are furious as hell and do a great job in adding the feeling of anger to each song.
 
One other positive point to bring up real quick is the sign of progression by the rest of the band instrumentally. Its not a big step with guitar and drum solos, but The Plot In You did find a way to get pretty creative with some of the breakdowns. “Troll” is an excellent example as the opening is very unique with how it sounds. I also give the band major credit for making the album loud. If soft production was used on the album, it could have easily been killed, but that is not the case with CYWYCB. Each song is loud and furious. You hear every part, and it helps in lending to the aesthetic of the album.

Each song on CYWYCB deals with some dark topics, so this is fair warning. On the album, you’ll be dealing with songs that deal with the topics of rape, killing, giving assholes what is coming to them, taking down trolls, and the devil inside all of us. If these topics sound too dark for you, I don’t blame you for not wanting to listen to the album. If you can deal with these topics, then you can make it through the album.
 
Now there are some problems to bring up. Yes, every song is angry, but that does begin to wear after a bit. You just feel drained towards the end with all the negativity that is tough to listen front to back. Some songs also go into the generic territory with the breakdowns. You notice it pretty quick and it does take the anger muster away.
 
The final verdict:  CYWYCB is one of the angriest albums I have heard in a very long time.  On all angles, from vocals, to instrumentals, to production, CYWYCB is loud, angry, and ready to help you take out your anger. It is not an album for everyone, that is for damn sure. If you want some dark as hell, brutal metal though, this is your ticket.

FINAL GRADE: B-
CHOICE CUT: Troll
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeR6f0JB918

Say Anything - Anarchy My Dear Review

Hey pretentious hipsters! Your arch-enemy, Max Bemis, is back and ready to piss you off! Let me start this review by saying this. I have NO CLUE why this album is receiving some bad reviews. Not only that, but every bad review seems to complain about the fact that this album isn’t ...Is A Real Boy Part 2. This is a pretty bull crap reason to negatively review this album! I’ve pretty much accepted the fact no album by Say Anything is ever going to be like ...Is A Real Boy Part 2. ...Is A Real Boy was an album created out of young angst and immaturity combined with drugs. Now, the band is older, sober, much more mature, and still lyrically a force to be reckoned with. Anarchy My Dear holds some clues that this album could have been IARBP2, (“Admit It Again” is obviously a sequel to the great “Admit It” off IARB) but I really don’t care that the album isn’t a sequel. To me, Anarchy My Dear is another wonderful album to the discography of Say Anything.

Say Anything works for me because of the wonderful lyricism that spills out of Bemis’s mouth on every album. Bemis has always not gave a shit if he pissed anyone off with his lyrics. At the same time, he always finds a way to be creative with topics that have been beaten like a dead horse. I don’t think anyone is better with honest, truthful love songs than Bemis. It shows once again this album with the wonderful “So Good” which has Bemis using great metaphors and personal angst to paint a picture on how much he loves his wife. Another thing that shows strongly on this album is the maturity of Bemis and the band. Don’t worry fans. Bemis wrote a special tribute to the hipsters, (Admit It Again) but also delves into some more mature topics that the band would not have touched 10 years ago. Take “Peace Out” for example:  where Bemis puts his drug addiction behind him. I always admire someone that can look at their mistakes, realize it happened, and turn an experience into art.

Other positive factors to mention before the negative. The musicianship is top notch as each band member gets a chance to experiment at some point in the album. Group vocals, bass solos, guitar hooks, drum solos, you get the idea. Plus, the guest spots by Bemis’s wife, Sherri DuPree, are fantastic as shown in the upbeat sounding “Overbiter”. As you readers will get to know, I always give a band points for being a little creative. I’d rather a band fail by being creative than being generic.

Unfortunately, there are some negatives to bring up with the album. Some songs go on a little longer than they should. “The Stephen Hawking” is a great example of a song that could have ended on a great spot but went another minute than it should of. Also, the album does lose its high energy towards the end of the album. With 3/4 of the album being so fast paced, it gets boring with the last two songs being the slowest and also the longest.

The final verdict:  I really don’t understand all the negative reviews of Anarchy My Dear. Yes, it is not the best Say Anything album, but it is not a bad album by any stretch of the imagination. Even Say Anything’s weakest work is pretty far ahead of the generic pop punk that you hear a lot of on the radio. So Anarchy My Dear is not Say Anything’s best work, but it is a damn good one that shows the band’s maturity. Plus, they still piss off the hipsters, so I don’t see a problem with that.

FINAL GRADE: B
CHOICE CUT: Peace Out


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcfbR_sDtHo

The Opening Notes

People say I listen to way too much music. To those people, I would say you're probably right. I love music. Ever since I heard “Ants Marching” by Dave Matthews Band, I have always loved music. When I turned 8, I finally started to learn more about how music was created. I took up the drums and learned everything that went into the most important parts of the song:  types of notes, time signatures, and in the case of drums, all the different parts of the kit. Unfortunately, my drumming days are near and far since I am at college as a Film major and English minor. Like everyone I know, I listen to music every day, and I always love showing people new music. Just so you know, I primarily listen to rock, but I am always open to hearing new genres. If you take a look at my iPod, you will see I could have a Disturbed song next to a Lupe Fiasco song. This blog is always open to any suggestions. One week I might do a band you have never heard  or I could review Wiz Khalifa the next week. My reviews, editorials, and opinions are all meant to entertain you as readers. If you ever want to suggest an album, or even send your own material, I would love to take a look at it. Thank you all in advance for giving me your time, and I hope I can show you some great music!