Divot "To Shape The Mold"

Do you remember around the early 2000’s or so how many alternative bands seemed to come out, not all exactly sounding the same but having similarities such as their slow and heavy tunes, not so happy lyrics and kind of a neo-grunge attitude? Bands that come to mind are Three Days Grace, Deftones, Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin, etc. This is the kind of alternative rock sound I think anyone would use to describe Divot’s sound.

Step Echo "Songs for the Broken"

In the year and a bit that I’ve been reviewing albums, I’ve got my hands on quite a few independent albums by bands from all over the world. Hell, since mid January, all but one album I’ve reviewed have been recorded by independent bands. It’s refreshing to have finally been given the follow up album to one of these bands for review. Last May I write about St. Catherine’s Step Echo and their album Jagged, an album that I was impressed with as well as a few other people that I’ve played the album for. Now I feel privileged that their independent record label Red Dragon Records felt comfortable sending me Songs for the Broken.

The Mouth of Ghosts "You Will Go Again From Me"

I always love getting albums/EPs by unique bands. Some bands are unique because they are hard to categorize, others are unique because they aren’t in the realm of bands I’d usually review: not out of disinterest but merely because I’m typically sent hard rock/metal albums, while my taste in rock music does go far beyond that limit. London’s The Mouth of Ghosts doesn’t really fit under one specific categorization. If anything, they’d be classified as one of the many alternative bands out there, but there is no rock genre more diverse than alternative. There are also surprising progressive elements to their music, as well as the odd pop moment. They call themselves “trip-hop,” I never knew what that was until reading that, but upon looking the genre up, their new EP You Will Go Again From Me is NOT remotely anything close to “trip-hop.”

Anyone's Guess "March in the Dark - Chapter 1"

It’s been a while since I’ve been given a good alternative rock album. I almost forgot how much I enjoy the genre. Being one to indulge in so many different kinds of rock, I usually have to find my way back to certain genres every now and then, though I never stay away from any genre for too long. Sometimes it takes a good song or album to do that. In this case it was Florida alternative trio Anyone’s Guess whose EP March In The Dark – Chapter 1 brought me back to my love of slightly damaged sounding well written music and transgressive lyrics.

Blowsight "Life & Death"

If there is one thing I enjoy, it’s being given an album by a band that is as hard to classify as Sweden’s Blowsight. Any band that can manage to put out an album of thirteen songs such as their album Life & Death (fourteen tracks including the bonus track) and have just about every song sound different from the other is not an easy task. I couldn’t properly decide on a true genre for the band; I mean they are definitely alternative metal, or alternative punk, but they feature elements of pop and show other surprises the more you listen to them.

decoded "Topanga"

When decoded leader Derek Jordan first emailed me to listen to Topanga, his bands new EP, he made it a point to mention that Dead Sara were a major influence on their sound. That is an intriguing statement to make, as I find Dead Sara to be easily one of modern rocks most all around talented band, possibly the most talented band to have debuted this decade. After having listened to the six-track EP, I could kind of see what he meant.

Fake Figures "They Must Be Destroyed"

In a time when heavy punk music is unfortunately turning out far too many whiny sung pop induced outfits, one must wonder what happened to not long ago when bands like Eighteen Visions and Atreyu were making music; bands that included a lot of screaming in to their music, as well as a lot of clean singing, all while being taken seriously by many music fans and not just kids. Now we have bands like Escape the Fate and Blessthefall who have a tendency to produce a lot of plastic songs, much like a pop song heard on a top 40 station, and it’s unfortunate that these bands take such influence from the likes of the previously mentioned Atreyu or Alexisonfire, and they are the closest thing we have to new music of the similar genre. That being said, it is always good to discover a band that can capture the serious side of the heavy punk, some may call “post-hardcore” sound. The most recent band that I have come across that features such aspects is California’s Fake Figures.

Top 10 Albums of 2013

Something different today; I decided that rather than reviewing an album, I’d write an article based on my Top 10 albums of 2013. I figured I’d explain why each album made the list. And probably reiterate some of each albums best moments. Hope you enjoy, I’m definitely excited to write this! I’ve provided a YouTube video to each album. Each video is the song I initially considered the highlight.

Morning Fame "Back and Forth"

The first thing I thought of when listening to Morning Fame was how much they reminded me of 90’s alternative bands similar to those of Gin Blossoms or early Foo Fighters. Funny thing is that when I went on their Facebook page and looked under info, the first band they put under “Influences” is “Gin Blossoms.” The problem with Gin Blossoms is that, while they have some very catchy hits that I love such as Follow You Down, Hey Jealousy and my personal favourite Till I Hear It From You, beyond those hits, their other songs, for the most part, didn’t sound much different. I mean, I’m a fan and can listen to their stuff and thoroughly enjoy it, but I would never argue with someone who might listen to Gin Blossoms and not enjoy them.

Peur "We Can Build Astronauts"

When I got more in to newer rock music, I went through a period where I listened to a lot of post-grunge alternative metal bands; the bands like Puddle of Mudd or Seether or Chevelle. While I still very much enjoy bands like this, I found that they lacked something that kept them from being great. I’m not going to say that these bands sound the same from one another. While some do, not all do. They just seem a bit too comfortable in a small bubble of song writing style and are too afraid to experiment.

Pearl Jam "Lightning Bolt"

The early 90’s “grunge” movement was such a unique movement; arguably the last true music scene. It was so unique and important to music that you could almost compare each bands impact with that of bands from the golden age of early 70’s British hard rock. I can make a pretty good argument as to why Alice In Chains are the Black Sabbath of grunge, just like I can make an argument, maybe not as good of one, that Soundgarden are the Deep Purple of grunge. Due to me not wanting this article to be a novel, which it already almost is, I won’t discuss those arguments here (but you’re free to ask me). I will, however, reveal my argument as to why Pearl Jam are the Led Zeppelin of grunge. I only recently came to this realization. (If you’re wondering where I’d put Nirvana, I’d go a decade sooner than the previously mentioned Brit bands and say they are the Beatles of grunge. I have more than just a simple argument for that as well.)

David Paige "This Is Love"

Having grown up in the 90’s, I have a pretty exceptional idea and memory of what music was like. My memory goes back to when I was about four and would hear songs like All Apologies by Nirvana or Interstate Love Song by Stone Temple Pilots on the radio. Then eventually I remember bands like Our Lady Peace and Collective Soul coming in to play on the radio. I was only a kid though, not knowing what I was listening to. It was when I turned about seven that I started learning artist’s names; unfortunately that was right about the time the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys hit the airwaves. A couple of years later, in the mid/late 90’s, probably ’98 or so, before I boycotted all modern music altogether, I remember the heyday of alternative pop rock bands that I quite enjoyed.

Brothers of North "Stolen Cars"

One genre of music I don’t quite understand is “Indie” rock. Don’t misread that, I’m not saying I don’t like it, I just don’t understand it. “Indie”, of course, stands for “independent”, and started a few decades ago by bands, well, basically being independent. They recorded the music themselves, distributed it themselves, etc. The part that confuses me is; if, say a heavy metal band, like the next Metallica, were to record and distribute music independently, they still wouldn’t be considered “indie” because they don’t have that sound that “indie” bands have; a sound that isn’t harsh and requires the main instruments of a rock band; guitar, drum, bass and vocals, maybe keyboards and other instruments if wanted. These bands don’t sound similar to each other, but they have something in common with their sound that keeps them indie. I guess a better way to describe my confusion is, when did “indie” become an actual sub-genre rather than just a title, and why when a band, such as Metric, becomes big and no longer distributes their own music, are they still considered “indie rock”?

Skillet "Rise"

For the past few years, Skillet have been the front runners in the slew of Christian rock bands to have hit any success. This movement of bands who are labelled as Christian rock without any complaint by the bands include artists such as Red, Thousand Foot Krutch, Fireflight, and the list goes on. The impressive thing about these bands is their ability to make music so easily accessible to the ears of moderate rock fans, while sneaking in their own messages of peace and goodwill and what have you in to their lyrics.

Barenaked Ladies "Grinning Streak"

Scarborough, Ontario’s Barenaked Ladies have always been somewhat of a novelty act to some. Probably over 90% of the population has heard of them, and most of them could only really name two songs (If I Had $1,000,000 and One Week). Fortunately there are plenty of people out there who do know more of the hits that the band has had such as Old Apartment, Enid, Falling For The First Time etc. While there are people out there who may not take them seriously because of such quirky songs as Be My Yoko Ono, the bands more serious side has never truly hit the public eye the way it deserved to with songs such as Jane and What A Good Boy being two of the absolute best examples.

Alice In Chains "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here"

The late 80’s/early 90’s “grunge” surge from Seattle was definitely a unique moment in the history of new music. It’s always debated who are true grunge bands and who just kind of got the title because they made similar sounding music at the time. Bands like Stone Temple Pilots for instance, happened to have been making heavy not-quite-heavy metal music in the early/mid 90’s so they kind of got thrown in to the mix, but it’s bands like Soundgarden and of course Nirvana who truly carried the torch as “grunge” musicians through and through. Pearl Jam has always been referred to as grunge because they are from Seattle and were making popular music around the same time, but I disagree that they are “grunge” and more just early since of alternative rock.

Dead Sara "Dead Sara"

Yes, I have already reviewed this album, but I have been unpleased with my review of this album since probably the day after I wrote in back in January. It was only my second review and I had not found a comfort in doing reviews yet, so I feel I owe it to just redo it and only keep one or two parts the same, including the introduction...I really like the introduction.

Semeron "Breathing Scarlet"

There are generally two kinds of modern metal bands as of late: Alternative metal, which derives from the sound of alternative rock/grunge bands just with much heavier distorted instruments with bands such as Godsmack or Stone Sour, and then there is Metalcore, which involves for the most part intense guttural vocals with classic metal influence incorporated in its music with bands such as All That Remains or As I Lay Dying. There really aren’t many modern metal bands that step out of these styles, with few exceptions (Volbeat and Avenged Sevenfold for instance).

Alice Sweet Alice "Mandala"

Kansas City rock outfit Alice Sweet Alice has been compared to a few artists since they started recording music. Artists such as Evanescence and Garbage have been mentioned in the same sentence as them rather frequently. Understandably they have a uniquely dark style of an alternative rock sound, which is complimented by the spooky yet smooth vocal styling of female singer Ali Kat, whom I personally would compare to that of Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries, only without the distinctive lilting style of singing that Dolores has.  What is important is that ASA do in fact have their own identity, which has been showcased on three independently released albums, from 2008’s First Light to 2009’s Moloko & Ultraviolence, and their most recent release, 2011’s Mandala.

Art of Dying "Art of Dying"

I had so much fun reviewing Art of Dying’s Vices and Virtues a few months ago, and I’ve enjoyed writing my reviews of independent bands and their independently released albums so much that I decided to mix the two, to show how far these bands can possibly go.