Paramore "Paramore"

Pop punk band Paramore have practically made a career for themselves, at such a young age, for being one of the most recognizable names in modern rock. They have released three albums, 2005’s All We Know Is Falling, 2007’s Riot! And 2009’s Brand New Eyes, all of which have a distinctive signature sound that no other band has really been able to duplicate. Much of the credit for the band’s sound has always gone to lead vocalist Hayley Williams and her powerful yet charming voice and her capability to sing a rock song and still be taken seriously. Not enough credit ever does go to the band itself, which consists of bassist Jeremy Davis, guitarist Taylor York (who joined in 2007) as well as the Farro brothers Josh and Zac respectfully on lead guitar and drums.

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.

Device "Device"

By the time Disturbed released their fifth and most recent album, Asylum, in summer of 2010, fans pretty much had an idea of what a Disturbed album would sound liked; David Draiman’s growl of a singing voice and Dan Donegan’s heavy and sometimes over-computer processed guitar licks on top of many different electronic sounds that only a production studio could muster. There were definite differences between each album, but by the time Asylum came out, the band just sounded uninspired and unwilling to really try anything new. To no surprise the band would go on “hiatus” approximately a year later.

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.

Rush "Clockwork Angels"

It has been well documented lately how Canadian progressive power house Rush have made it from being the world’s “Least-Hip Rock & Roll band” to being one of the biggest names in rock history. And this is true. There was a time when Rush fans may have stayed in the closet of their love for the band, didn’t really go out and admit they were fans because they weren’t the coolest band around. In the past ten or so years this has changed drastically; so much so that the band is about to be inducted in a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

J'nai "J'nai"

Probably the best albums to review are the ones by independent artists. These are the bands that know they have everything to lose and everything to gain, so it’s important to put every bit of effort possible in to the songs they record, and the ones who really know what’s good for them put even more effort in to their live shows.

Kiss "Monster"

Long gone are the days that classic rock mammoths KISS were a relevant rock band that were taken (to an extent) seriously. They went from being revolutionary shock-rockers with their then never before seen rock shows, to recording many anthems that are still listened to religiously by rock fans to this day, to taking off the make-up and letting their music do the talking. Then in the late 90’s when the make-up came back on, that changed everything. Ever since, KISS have been pretty much just a novelty act.

Green Day " ¡Tré!"

We’ve done ¡Uno!, then ¡Dos! , finally, part three of the recent Green Day trilogy. ¡Tré!, appropriately featuring drummer Tre Cool on the cover, was said to be the album to feature the “epic” songs. Billie Joe Armstrong described the three albums accordingly: The first album is like you’re on your way to the party, the second album is like you’re at the party and going full swing, and the third album you’re just cleaning up the mess that was made. While it is true that this is the only of the three albums to feature instruments other than the basic three instruments needed to make a rock album, it is not filled with epics, but it does feel like its cleaning up a mess.