Review: Foo Fighters – Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace

Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace

If I were to use a simile to describe the Foo Fighters, I would definitely exclaim that they’re like a fine wine. With the release of their sixth studio album Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace, the Foo is a band that just gets better with age. Produced by Gil Norton, the same man who produced the defining record of the Foo’s career (1996 The Colour And The Shape), Echoes is a hauntingly beautiful display of how good this band is.

Don’t let the opening track (also the first single), “The Pretender,” fool you, Echoes is not as rip-roaring as that track is. This is very recognizable on “Let It Die,” a song that repeatedly tip toes the line behind quiet and loud. The verses are paced by the gentle strumming of the guitar, while the bridge and ending feature Dave Grohl yelling his lungs out. And this particular song is what Echoes is in a nutshell. We still have the hard-hitting and fast-paced music that we all know and love about the Foo Fighters, but, overall, they show a mellow demeanor throughout the album. 

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Review: The Wonder Years – Get Stoked On It!

The Wonder Years – Get Stoked On It!

Take a look around. What do you see? 

Half-eaten bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos? Check. 
Nunchucks hanging on wall (you know, just in case)? Check. 
Telescope facing hot co-eds. Triple check (they’re blondes!). 
A general air of debauchery and laziness? Check** 

Well then, you’re an idiot. Whoa, whoa, whoa, don’t take that as a put-down. You have not been forgotten this time. You can finally dive into the cesspool of discarded expectations and “you had to be there” stories with a sufficiently boisterous soundtrack. For The Wonder Years have created Get Stoked On It! And Ted saw all that he had influenced, and that it was very good. He tried to tell Bill, but Bill had fallen asleep in the phone booth and was transported back to feudal Japan. Moving on.

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Review: Josh Ritter – The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter

Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter

Usually only once or twice a year, an album comes along, trailing behind it a robust passion for music, an appreciation for the legends of the genre, and above all, the ability to capture the hearts and minds of all those who listen. In 2007, that album is without a doubt Josh Ritter’s The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. Ritter walks the same traveling minstrel line as Springsteen and the Man in Black himself, producing songs that go far beyond a simple entertainment factor. Many critics believed Josh Ritter might never top his heavily-praised release from seventeen months before, The Animal Years. Switching musical styles quite noticeably, Ritter instead chose to blow the doors off of his earlier work.

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Review: Four Year Strong – Rise or Die Trying

Four Year Strong - Rise Or Die Trying

Start the takeover.

The Takeover

Almost knowing what was to come, the first words said on Four Year Strong’s full-length debut, Rise or Die Trying, are evocative of the buzz that the band is being adorned with on this release. The band has received a notable following from their insane live shows, positive word of mouth, and critical acclaim from websites (guilty as charged) before their highly-anticipated full-length even hit stores. So, does Four Year Strong’s latest rise over the hype or die as an overhyped effort in mediocrity?

Simply put, this album rocks. Describing their music as “happy hardcore,” the band is essentially a pop-punk band with hardcore elements, thus being accessible to all sorts of fans. If you like singing along to music, you’re covered. If you like screaming along to music, you’re covered. If you like banging your head to music, you’re covered. Dueling vocals, great lyrical content, synth lines…I can go on. Rise Or Die Trying has elements that will capture the attention of any fan of rock music. The band is burning up and hitting up this scene that has become theirs for the taking.

Let me see you put your hands upon the stereo/It’s spitting out a ridiculous frequency/But turn it up turn it up/Break a sweat/’Cause were just burning up and hitting up the scene that was ours to hit up.

Bada Bing! Wit A Pipe!

Rise Or Die Trying is an absolute treat for the ears. The album starts with a warning siren on “The Takeover,” indicating that this album is about to take over–thrash your aural senses while leaving a smile on your face. (Talk about happy hardcore.) The album kicks off with “Prepare to Be Digitally Manipulated” and, while seeming to be a speedy punk tune immediately shifts to the hardcore with former Bury Your Dead singer Mat Bruso putting forth his vocals that let you know that Four Year Strong is not your typical pop-punk band in the vein of Cartel or Motion City Soundtrack, but pop-punk that truly exemplifies the roots of punk with the charm of pop.

Drummer Jake Massucco shines on every track with quick feet on the double bass pedals and crafting some really great fills in between the dual singing of guitarists Dan O’Connor and Alan Day. Their first single, “Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die” is a standout track and the perfect representation of what this band is, especially the dual vocals into the breakdown toward the end of the song. 

Try not to make it so obvious/You always make it so obvious/I’m fighting it off.

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Hell

However, it is this representation of the band that underlies the album’s main flaw–the lack of originality. Like I have said earlier, they combine a variety of elements into one package that works but it seems like all of these elements are just taken from other bands. Song titles reminiscent of those popularized by Fall Out Boy, dual vocals, and the use of a synthesizer to enhance the music are just some facets that make this release seem a bit too familiar at times from a band that has not had much time or exposure to distinguish themselves amidst their peers. The lyrics, while they employ metaphor very well on tracks like “Abandon Ship or Abandon All Hope” and take a vengeful view on sex in “Catastrophe” and “Beatdown in the Key of Happy,” are surprisingly solid though many deal with the topic of the opposite sex. The most glaring problem is that the band has essentially done the same thing for eleven tracks so there is a genuine sense of repetition by the end of the album. Although the lack of originality is the main fault of this album, the band’s ability to combine each of these parts and make it their own is no easy task, but it is one that they have excelled at. 

Many will decry the slick production and mixing that have been done for this album, but I find that it is one of the album’s appeals, as it is intended to not be a full-fledged raw hardcore release but a pop-hardcore release. The clear sound makes it an easier listen than one that is muddled by murky sound quality and allows the guitar work and Josh Lyford’s synth lines to be heard easily. 

Ladies and gentlemen, open up your eyes and ears and listen up.

Prepare to Be Digitally Manipulated

All in all, this is an album that should not be missed. It is a true pop-punk release, a refreshing look into an increasingly stale genre. This is an album that fits with any mood one is feeling, allowing you to sing along or bang your head. Most of all, it is fun and will have a ton of staying power as a result.

Though many will inevitably shy away from this release because of the immense buildup it has received, they are doing their ears a disservice as Four Year Strong has risen above the hype and made an album worth every word of praise it has received.

This article was originally published on AbsolutePunk.net

Review: Motion City Soundtrack – Even if It Kills Me

Motion City Soundtrack - Even if it Kills Me

Here we are again, Motion City Soundtrack and I. Our sizzling nerd sex is back with their third Epitaph release, Even If It Kills Me. Of course, the question here is not if the performance will be up to par. The question here is whether it will blow me out of the water, in which Justin Pierre and crew are certainly capable. I Am The Movie is justifiably priceless and Commit This To Memory is a careful and successful step into a growing style and sound. When I first heard Even If It Kills Me, I felt the hooks, felt the clever shapes, and felt what could be, but it needed to grow. Now, moments away from release day, MCS are wrapping their vines around my ankles and reeling me in like a helpless fish. What a turn-on.

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Review: New Found Glory – From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II

New Found Glory - From the Screen..

The majority of movies that make a lot of money at the box office are followed up with a sequel: Jurassic ParkSpider-ManStar Wars, etc. New Found Glory, a band that has already accomplished many things, are trying to make this concept work on record. So, the Coral Springs, Florida, quintet hopped into their De Lorean, signed with the label who jump started their career (Drive Thru for this one record deal), and created the sequel to the fan-favorite 2000 EP, From The Screen To Your Stereo

This time around, NFG recorded an entire album’s worth of covers from famous movies, such as Donnie DarkoThe Breakfast Club, and Napoleon Dynamite. The album also features a large list of guests, featuring the likes of Chris Carrabba, Max Bemis, Will Pugh, Patrick Stump, Adam Lazzara, Sheri Dupree, and Lisa Loeb. The end result is eleven covers that perfectly display the band at their finest: energy, fun, and full out effort. The production of Thom Panunzio (whom produced 2006’s Coming Home) and the band is nearly perfect. You won’t find a better cover album on the market.

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