Bright Eyes - The People's Key

Our friend Conner is back with his 7th studio album. The People's Key is a bit of a break away from Bright Eyes older sound. It is a bit more coherent this time around. There are still some traces of dissonant soundscapes but no where near as many as on, say, Fevers and Mirrors. And wait...is that a bit of 1980's synth I hear sprinkled through out? Why yes it is. WAIT! That's a double bass lick?!?! On a Bright Eyes album??? They threw out the rule book on this one and to some moderate success. Do I find this to be their best album? No. It is had to top I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning but this gives it a fair run for its money. Like any band that grows up a little you are going to hear people say Bright Eyes sold out. I say go buy a copy and listen for your self. It is a highly listenable album, I sat through it 3 times before I could drag myself away from it to write this. The only major complaint I have is that the monologue on the track Firewall ran a little long. Once you get through that the album is smooth sailing. Give it a listen.

Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

Before I get into this let me just say: FORGET THE WORD EMO! I don't know where that term came from to describe so many bands out there but lets set the record straight right here: Emo is not depression. Emo is not wearing black. Emo is not hurting yourself.

With that said, lets look at another nail in the coffin of modern "emo". My Chemical Romance have been herald as emo poster boys. They took the guy liner, I'm not ok, life sucks image and just blew it away with a 1950s sci-fi ray gun. Their newest album "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys" (Here on out simply called Danger Days). They brough a new look and a new sound. All the blacks and reds that people associate with the band are out and bright primary colours are in but more importantly the sound is a total turn around. My Chemical Romance have been progressively getting more and more produced. Which isn't always a bad thing. But they started as a rough garage band and that's where the band sounds strongest, a little rough around the edges. Danger Days goes back to that rawer sound. The songs on the album are well constructed. "Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)", the albums first single, is one of the catchiest songs I have ever heard. You listen to it once and you're humming it for days. The track "Party Poison" is one of those tracks that just makes you want to throw a blowout at your parent's house while they're out of town. The song "The Only Hope for Me Is You" sounds like an old Shiny Toy Guns song, which is a new and exciting sound for My Chemical Romance to be exploring. The addition of interludes from the mysterious DJ Dr. Death Defying round off the album with a loose conceptual base.

This album is a great buy for any rock and roll lovers. If your a die hard old school My Chemical Romance fan then this album may take some getting use to but give it a chance, it will make the rest of your My Chemical Romance discography useless.

Street Sweeper Social Club - The Ghetto Blaster EP

Rap-rock. Just that alone brings up unpleasant thought of things like Limp Bizkit. But words like Rage Against the Machine and Boots Riley bring up happy connotations of good music. WAIT! Novel concept; lets counter act sub-par rap-rock with with a combination of Rage's music and Boot's vocal flow. You do that and you get The Street Sweeper Social Club. With Tom Morello writing the music and Boots handeling the lyrics there really isn't anyway to go wrong. And The Ghetto Blaster EP reflects this. 7 tracks of politically fueled anger...and its wonderful. The big stand out track, to me, has to be "Promenade (Guitar Fury Remix)" Lyrically it has a square dance caller feel with music that has that distinct Rage Against the Machine feel that Tom always brings. The EP also includes a few covers; A slightly reworked version of MIA's "Paper Plains", The Coup's "Everythang" and an amazing cover of LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out"

If your a fan of Rage Against the Machine, Boots Riley, or if you want an album to fuel your righteous anger this is for you. This is one of the most solid EPs I have ever listened to.

The Devil Wears Prada - Zombie E.P.

As anyone who really knows me and they will tell you...Shawn Loves Zombies. So when I went record shopping and noticed that The Devil Wears Prada put out an E.P. simply called Zombie I was a bit more than excited.

First, let me say that I am a sucker for free bonus stuff with music and this E.P. provided another little trinket for my amusement; The Devil Wears Prada in a Zombie comic book. It's nothing groundbreaking, the plot revolves around the band attempting to upload their E.P. to a computer and the only thing standing between them and that are a few hundred zombies. Not going to win many awards but, hey it was free, so kudos for that.

As far as the record its self goes something caught my eye...no silly song titles. The Devil Wears Prada is know for silly song titles (I Hate Buffering and Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over to just name a couple) but all the song titles on Zombie are words like Escape and Outbreak...and then I realized that this was a concept E.P. documenting a full zombie apocalypse. Awesome Idea...my second Kudos to the band.

The music is exactly what you would expect from The Devil Wears Prada, hard, fast and abrasive metal. In all honesty this E.P. has some of their hardest hitting songs to date. One thing I love about these songs are the samples. A lot of bands attempt to be hip and use samples in their records but some bands just don"t know when to stop....The Devil Wears Prada is NOT one of those bands. The sampling is near perfect; the gun shots at the end of Revive are a great touch.


If you like metal and you like zombies this E.P. Is a no brainier, get it now. The only fault I can find with the Zombie E.P. is that it is way to short. You really start getting into this world they have created for you and your suddenly jerked out (By an INTENSE breakdown...so I guess getting jerked out isn't all that bad)

Where Saints Roam/Cheap Thrills Cost the Most 7" - Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster

For thoes of you that don't know Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster...shame on you. The band is fronted by Dallas Taylor, who was the original singer for the Christian metal-core band Underoath. Before I get into this review I want to point out that this 7 inch is on a limited hand numbered run (I own #973) so get it while you can.

Ill do a track by track break down (There are only 2, I figure I'm not that lazy)

Side A is a track called "Where Saints Roam" When I first listened to this track I was reminded of home. I went to party before I went back to college this year and the night ended with a bunch of my friends out on a porch, drunk at 2 in the morning singing to an acoustic guitar. That's what this song is. No, drums, no bass, no over production. Just an acoustic guitar and gang vocals. It is honestly beautiful.

The B-side is "Cheap Thrills Cost the Most " and is a straight up, driving, southern metal song. It honestly sounds like the soundtrack to a bar fight. If you cant bob your head to the groove of this track you better be dead, because this song is hooky as all get out.


Guys if you can find a copy of this 7 inch, buy it. The tracks are exclusive to the single. Your not going to find them on an album and they are more than worth it.


(Yeah, the pic isn't of my record. Its 3 am and I dont want to dig out my camera. Deal with it)

Trash Talk - Eyes & Nines

To be honest I bought Trash Talk's "Eyes & Nines" on vinyl based solely on the art work...and it wasn't a bad buy at all. I really do enjoy hardcore punk but a lot of it coming out today is pretty weak. Everyone wants to have the most brutal breakdown or best gang vocals, but not trash talk. From start to Finnish the album gives legit blast beats and crunching guitar riffs. The only exception being the track "Hash Wednesday" which sounded like Black Sabbath if they had grown up in D.C. in the 80s. For as good as this album is I don't recommend it for people just getting into hardcore punk. Most of the tracks do start to blend together after a while and the fact that they are short hardcore tracks may turn off a new listener. But over all if you really do enjoy hardcoe punk and want to expand your collection I highly recommend Eyes and Nines by Trash Talk.

Tri-Awesome!

No beating around the bush on this one. Sick Puppies new album, Tri-Polar is freaking amazing!
Bands are always pressured to top their last album, which the Puppies were going to have a hard time of doing after the success of their album, Dressed Up As Life...but they did it. This album rocks so much harder than Dressed Up As Life, literally. The rock tracks on this album are a lot harder than their previous work. Tri-polar is very reminiscent of their first album, Welcome to the Real world. Tracks like Should Have Known Better and I Hate You are so intense. And on the other side of the coin you have songs like White Balloons which, in my opinion could have been an Iron & Wine song. Over all this album is some of the best work the Sick Puppies have put out so far. Its an amazing album to get hooked to the Puppies on and if your already a fan run, don't walk, to get a copy of this cd.