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Review: Blink-182 – Dogs Eating Dogs

Blink-182 - Dogs Eating Dogs
AbsolutePunk

When it comes to Blink-182, there’s not much the three piece hasn’t done. They’ve released a couple classic albums, released even more classic songs, become a staple in modern rock music – and everything in between. Teenagers and adults took the Internet by storm when the band announced that they were reuniting back in 2009 after a four-year hiatus. Two years later came the release of the band’s first album in eight years, Neighborhoods. However, it left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths when it was revealed that the band recorded the majority of the album separately, sending each other tracks via the Internet. While the album followed in the musical direction of the band’s untitled album, it left more to be desired, especially with the uncertainty of when we would hear more material from the band. Then in October the news broke that the band had left their longtime home at Interscope and planned to continue as independent, like many others are in these changing times in the music industry. Shortly after the announcement of the band leaving Interscope, the guys tweeted that new music would be out before the year was over: the Dogs Eating Dogs EP.

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Review: Deftones – Koi No Yokan

Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Drew Beringer

I was 14 when I bought White Pony, the third album from Sacramento metal legends Deftones. Little did I know that this purchase on a June day would eventually change my life. I didn’t realize music could be so intricate, emotional, and devastating all in one swoop. White Pony consumed me and turned my interest in music from casual encounters to a passionate love affair. Honestly, that album is the reason I have this very job.

So why is my story relevant? It’s because I feel the same emotions I did 12 years ago when listening to Koi No Yokan, the seventh full-length from Deftones.

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Review: Bayside – Covers, Vol. I

Bayside - Covers, Vol. I
AbsolutePunk

Bayside has a wealth of early material to boast about, but the band has continued to improve and impress as it has aged. The group’s most recent LP, Killing Time, proved to be one of its strongest records, as Bayside executed with excruciatingly enjoyable precision the formula we’ve grown to love it by. While fans wait patiently for another full batch of Bayside tunes, the New York natives offer up the Covers, Vol. I EP, a collection of five cover songs designed to hold fans over until new music arrives.

The one thing that Bayside does very well on this covers EP – and the EP’s strongest characteristic, in fact – is that the band does a helluva job making these songs sound like Bayside songs. Anthony Raneri’s nasally vocals and Jack O’Shea’s persistent shredding on the guitar are accounted for and produced brilliantly – just because these aren’t original tunes doesn’t mean Bayside took the easy road on this release.

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Review: Taylor Swift – Red

Taylor Swift - Red
Ryan Gardner

The color red symbolizes a variety of emotions. The color represents courage and bravery yet also embodies passion, sensuality, and love. Still, notably, red marks anger and rage, even danger, warranting caution. In conjunction with all of these various symbols, it makes sense that Red is the title of Taylor Swift’s most ambitious, dynamic record yet.

Riding on the heels of three incredibly successful records, Miss Swift knows she has nothing to lose here. As a result, she doesn’t hold back anything throughout Red’s 16 tracks. Her fourth record flirts with pop sensibilities, redefines her inner-country roots, and delivers tender ballads – it has a little bit of everything. Simply put, she could not care less what anyone wants to hear; she’s bridging the “genre gap” more so than ever before and is not about to back down for a second.

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Review: All Time Low – Don’t Panic

All Time Low - Don't Panic
AbsolutePunk

There’s a fine line between imitation and innovation. All Time Low had two options: try to be the next Fall Out Boy or try to be All Time Low. They chose the latter and for that, myself along with many others worldwide are eternally happy with this decision. After the band’s breakthrough album, So Wrong It’s Right, pressure mounted on the four young men from Baltimore, Maryland to be the next big crossover act from the scene. What followed were Nothing Personal and Dirty Work, two albums that saw the band go from simply a pop-punk act to spreading its wings and diversifying its sound. Unfortunately, the attempt to write the next big radio hit was not a successful venture and All Time Low had to return to the drawing board. Although not critically as well-received as its predecessors, it showed the band had chops to transition from the Warped Tour crowd to a potentially bigger atmosphere. It was just the early stages of what sets up Don’t Panic, the band’s fifth full-length album to date.

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Bad Books – “It Never Stops” (Song Premiere)

Bad Books
AbsolutePunk

Kevin Devine and Andy Hull didn’t want Bad Books to be a one time thing, and with Bad Books II, they’re also showing it’s not a one trick pony. Today we’re bringing you the premiere of “It Never Stops,” which can be heard in the replies. The song carries like an angsty Wilco cut found on a Ryan Adams record. Let us know what you think in the replies. Pre-orders for the album can be found here.

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Review: Basement – colourmeinkindness

Basement - colourmeinkindness
AbsolutePunk

There is a long running joke/discussion among my best friends about how close Mineral’s guitar licks and tone don’t stray far from that of Temple of the Dog. It’s a stretch, but it brings up the point that we often try to dice apart whole genres so much, and I often wonder why. Is it because there is a distinct sound to the music at hand? Or is it really to separate something you love from something you hate, but secretly love due to popular opinion? Is everything that’s played on the radio awful? No. Given better timing and marketing, some of underground’s most notable acts could have been bigger than they turned out to be.

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Review: Propagandhi – Failed States

Propagandhi - Failed States
AbsolutePunk

Propagandhi never deluded itself into thinking that it was a serious name. The part 1984-esque, part Indian icon portmanteau was merely an off-the-cuff invention from a group of sixteen year olds. Starting with How to Clean Everything and Less Talk, More Rock, the theme of child’s play ran the lyrical gamut from bare ferocity to side-splitters; Chris Hannah commanded the pulpit, telling patriotic blockheads to shove flags up their asses while inviting bomb-vested rendezvous to G7 “picnics”. Those wit coated antics tapered off eventually, and a relatively more stoic behemoth kicked in by way of Death and Voivod. 

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Review: Circa Survive – Violent Waves

Circa Survive - Violent Waves
Drew Beringer

We’ve seen this movie before. Band reaches moderate success on indie label, signs to major, releases major label debut, album gets little to no push, band and major separate mutually. It’s the most predictable cycle of events since every Katherine Heigl movie ever. But the cycle’s most recent addition, Circa Survive, isn’t your typical band. Their major label debut Blue Sky Noise was a killer album – a staggering cornucopia of everything you loved from their first two albums. But let’s be real, Circa Survive is too zealous of a group to be constrained by the limitations of a major (or any) label (but it was admirable that they kicked the tires with the ol’ major try. You know, YOLO and all that garbage). So it made absolute sense when the band announced that they were going to go the DIY route with their fourth album Violent Waves.

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Review: Yellowcard – Southern Air

Yellowcard - Southern Air
Thomas Nassiff

For a band as established and celebrated as Yellowcard, the decision to return from a hiatus is a weighty one. It’s not as simple as waking up, getting back into the studio, putting out a record and playing a few shows. There is a lot at stake, and the band’s legacy is part of those stakes. Putting out a bad or even a mediocre record can tarnish an otherwise sterling career, and this is something the fans consider, too. Certainly, some reunion records we could have done without – even some reunion records that have come out fairly recently. Many would rather not have their outlook on their favorite band be affected by a hasty and ill-advised reunion album – in some cases, the allure of “what could have been” might have been more satisfying than the product of the reunion.

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Review: Anchor & Braille – The Quiet Life

Anchor & Braille - The Quiet Life
Drew Beringer

It’s kind of funny that Anchor & Braille’s second album is titled The Quiet Life, since it’s anything but. While this collection of songs isn’t as in your face as Stephen Christian’s other band Anberlin, his latest effort with his side project is incredibly vibrant and varied. After proving that this project wasn’t just a retread of slower Anberlin-esque songs with his 2009 debut Felt, Christian’s eclectic musical interests is all over The Quiet Life. Reuniting with his other band’s former label Tooth & Nail, The Quiet Life takes what worked on Felt, refined it, and added in some new twists and turns to create one of the best releases Christian has ever been a part of.

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