Review: Deftones – Saturday Night Wrist

Drew Beringer Oct 29, 2006

Throughout their long career, Deftones have been pushing the musical boundaries of metal since day one. Their first two albums (1995’s Adrenaline and 1997’s Around The Fur) were raw, chaotic, and in your face. After a 3 year break, the Sacramento band, which was originally a quartet (vocalist/guitarist Chino Moreno, guitarist Stephen Carpenter, bassist Chi Cheng, and drummer Abe Cunningham), officially added keyboardist/DJ Frank Delgado to the mix, and released the genre defying White Pony. Heavier, moodier, and complex, it prompted all major music publications to crown them as the “Radiohead of Metal.” It is also very likely that White Pony influenced some of your favorite post-hardcore bands recent albums. After all the success and hype (Pony went on to go platinum), Deftones followed it up with 2003’s self titled effort, which left much to be desired. The band has said they became lazy on that record and that album showed how much they put into it. Leaving many fans disappointed, Deftones barely toured to support that record, and many began to forget about them and/or write them off. Their latest release, Saturday Night Wrist, is here to win back those fans and erase the disappointment of the last album.

Drew Beringer Oct 24, 2006

This Halloween, just like any other, many people go out looking for something that’ll scare them. They search for something that rattle their bones, haunt their dreams, and leave a lasting impression on their senses. While most people will look for this sensation in the wrong places, such as going to cheesy haunted houses or wasting eight bucks on Saw III, I am here to point you towards something that is truly horrific, brutal and unforgiving. This “something” is nothing but Converge’s latest hardcore offering, the ruthless No Heroes. The longtime Boston outfit – vocalist/madman Jake Bannon, guitarist Kurt Ballou, bassist Nate Newton, and drummer Ben Koller – are back to old habits here, as fans who were disappointed by 2004’s You Fail Me will be happy to notice somewhat of a return back to the style of Petitioning The Empty Sky and When Forever Comes Crashing. Produced by Ballou and guided by Bannon’s artistic vision and meditative lyrics, No Heroes is here to take no prisoners.

AbsolutePunk Oct 23, 2006

You may love to rip them for what you perceive their image to be. But there’s one thing you can’t take away from the powerhouse known as My Chemical Romance: This is a group of talented musicians with a vision that refuse to apply the brakes to their imagination, creativity, and ability.

The New Jersey quintet – singer Gerard Way, bassist Mikey Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, drummer Bob Bryar – has pulled out all the stops for The Black Parade and has released anything but a sequel to their last material. The 13-track (14 if you want to get technical and include the “Hidden Track”) effort will leave you with a feeling like that of being in a theatre on Broadway, watching dancers and singers bring to life the latest Andrew Lloyd Weber tale.

AbsolutePunk Oct 23, 2006

Maynard James Keenan would be proud.

Being the new millennium and all, alternative music of today has strayed from the place of where alternative music came from in the early 90s. Bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Tool stood as monuments for how rock and roll would be angrier and more personal, intuitive and unabbreviated. On Vices, Dead Poetic have certainly bottled that charisma and whittled away any form of screamo critics thought they were. Capturing themes of—you guessed it—vices, the lyrical development of Vices strains through sexuality, pride, vanity and ultimately redemption.

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Review: Copeland – Eat, Sleep, Repeat

AbsolutePunk Oct 18, 2006

Every so often, a band comes into the music scene and establishes an enigmatic relationship with their fans. Not in a Radiohead-esque way, but they look just a little bit deeper than everyone else and their fans grow fiercely loyal, just as the haters ruthlessly defend their feelings. Copeland is one of those bands. Three original studio albums into their career on The Militia Group, each has been an exercise in creativity, expansive songwriting, and flamboyant musical excess. Eat, Sleep, Repeat, despite its mundane title, is the pinnacle of the band’s career so far, and both sides of the scene will be coming to blows for years over this CD.

Drew Beringer Oct 16, 2006

In 2003, a small five-piece from California named A Static Lullaby released their debut album, …And Don’t Forget To Breathe, on Ferret Records and where one of the first bands to make the “sing-scream” pattern huge. Forget To Breathe was a gateway album for many people, as it was the first album kids heard of this style. As they developed a devout following, they signed to major label Columbia records and released what we would call the sophomore slump. ASL released Faso Latido in 2005 and switched up their style a bit, making their sound more rock-orientated. Needless to say, this blew up in their face; they were dropped by Columbia and were near breaking up. 3 original members – bassist/vocalist Phil Pirrone, drummer Brett Dinovo, and guitarist Nate Lindeman – quit the band to pursue other projects, leaving the other two members, vocalist Joe Brown and guitarist/vocalist Dan Arnold in a tight spot. Instead of retiring A Static Lullaby for good, they recruited three new members – guitarist John Death, bassist Dane Poppin, and drummer Jarrod Alexander – and signed to a new label (Fearless) to release their self-titled third album. Produced by Steve Evetts (Saves The Day, He Is Legend, Lifetime), A Static Lullaby is a return to their roots; Brown’s scream dominates many tracks and the song structures closely follow those of Forget To Breathe. This album is meant to bring back their old fans, which this album succeeds at doing.

AbsolutePunk Oct 7, 2006

Justin Timberlake obviously missed the whole “quit while you’re on top” lecture. Too stubborn to exit the public after his stint on the Mickey Mouse Club with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and JC Chasez, Timberlake recruited a juggernaut boy band which danced and moaned their way to the fastest selling album of all time, 2000’s No Strings Attached. Still craving an artistic outlet, a few more heaping piles of cash, or perhaps simple celebrity, Timberlake embarked on his solo journey after ‘N Sync’s 2002 demise. Rather than subtly testing the waters of solitude, the former paragon of all things squeaky clean and role model-worthy made ferocious waves everywhere by inundating fans and detractors alike with both a redeveloped persona and revamped sound. Conquering the masses with his debut chart-topper Justified, which sold a towering 7,000,000 some-odd copies worldwide left J.T. feeling unfulfilled still. Enter FutureSex/LoveSounds.

Drew Beringer Oct 4, 2006

It’s just another stretch of highway. 
I never asked for ordinary. 
Time and time change. 
If I rewrote this it might just sound the same.

Those are the words that begin Spitalfield’s third album, Better Than Knowing Where You Are. That intro (titled “Dare To…”), backed by dreamy guitar tones and softly sung by vocalist and guitarist Mark Rose, displays the writing perspective from the Chicago quartet. Spitalfield has never written the same record twice, from the pop-punk goodness of their debut, Remember Right Now to the more rock-orientated second album, 2005’s Stop Doing Bad Things. These lyrics can also be directed towards Spitalfield’s fans, the majority of which despised the critically acclaimed Bad Things, longing for the pop-filled hooks that dominated Right Now. Fans need not worry about the groups latest (and best) offering yet. Combining the hooks and melody of the first record along with the maturity of the second, Better Than Knowing displays how much progression this band has made over the course of their eight year existence.

Review: Deftones – Saturday Night Wrist

Review: Converge – No Heroes

Review: My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade

Review: Dead Poetic – Vices

Review: Copeland – Eat, Sleep, Repeat

Review: A Static Lullaby – A Static Lullaby

Review: Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSounds

Review: Spitalfield – Better Than Knowing Where You Are