Review: Underoath – Define The Great Line

Underoath - Define the Great Line

When Underoath took their brief intermission on their 2016 Rebirth Tour, the banner behind Aaron Gillespie’s drum kit fell to floor, revealing the wind-swept dunes of 2006’s Define The Great Line as 2004’s They’re Only Chasing Safety’s final notes still reverberated around the venue. I stood on the delightfully shaky floors of Atlanta’s The Tabernacle, my favorite venue, and felt all of the memories of the upcoming album wash over me. Five years later, they’re still just as vivid.

The weekend before Define came out, my high school sweetheart and I ended our relationship. I “lost” my best friend, her sister, in the same fell swoop. I handled it all with the maturity of a sixteen year old boy, which is to say, I threw myself headfirst into very loud, very angst-ridden music. “In Regards to Myself”’s refrain of “What are you so afraid of?” became a rallying cry when I could bring myself to stop listening to Emery’s “The Ponytail Parades”… I know my flaws.

Like many of you reading this and reminiscing with me on this album, I’d already heard the leaked version of Define. I knew that something immensely more huge than Safety was coming. By this point in the album rollout, I’m pretty sure MTV had also already premiered the whole album on their website, “Writing on the Walls” played nonstop on Steven’s Untitled Rock Show, and I’d (probably) set streaming records on Underoath’s PureVolume page if things like that were tracked back in the aughts.

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Review: A Story Told – American Made

On the third full-length record from pop-rockers A Story Told, called American Made, they channel all of the best elements of their band and their past work into a refreshing mix of great tunes. The first single released, “I Don’t Mind (To Get A Little Hurt Sometimes)” does a nice job of re-introducing the band to their fans, and brings some new elements into the fold for those just getting to know A Story Told. This record of 12 songs clocking in at just over 36 minutes, are punchy, to the point, and a hell of a lot of fun for this summer season. With so much great momentum going in the band’s favor, it’s no wonder why there is significant buzz surrounding these rockers.

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Review: The Dangerous Summer – War Paint

The Dangerous Summer – War Paint

I’m not sure I have ever needed an album more than I needed War Paint.

Sometimes, as a music fan, you lean on the records you love to help get you through things: breakups; losing loved ones; navigating huge tectonic shifts in your life; global pandemics. As someone whose love for music springs from an extremely emotional place, I have leaned on a lot of different albums over the years, for a lot of different reasons.

But even in that context, War Paint, the sophomore LP from Baltimore-based rock band The Dangerous Summer, was an album I needed. I needed it so badly that I listened to it more times in July and August 2011 than I have ever listened to any other album in a two-month span. It was the rhythm of my days and nights; the heartbeat of my dreams; the soundtrack of my summer. To this day, I can’t think of a single thing that happened that season without also remembering the songs on War Paint. For me, that time in my life and this album will always be inextricably intertwined, as if they were hardwired together.

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Review: The Maine – XOXO: From Love and Anxiety In Real Time

Just when you think that The Maine are hitting a groove in their musical delivery, they decide to take it up just a notch further and better. XOXO: From Love and Anxiety In Real Time is the perfect soundtrack to this summer of getting back to some sense of normalcy after the dumpster fire of this past year and a half. The Maine are able to channel everything that I love about their band into a crowd-pleasing package of ten songs that clock in at just over 30 minutes. With so much great momentum being carried forth from their last two records (Lovely Little Lonely and You Are Ok), the band are able to do the near-impossible of following up those amazing albums with a record worthy of being caught in the same breath of them.

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Review: Taking Back Sunday – Taking Back Sunday

Looking back at the abruptly quick 10 year anniversary of Taking Back Sunday’s self-titled record was an incredibly joyous task. At first, this record got lost in my listening shuffle of so many other great albums that came out in 2011, but I thought it would only be fair to write a retrospective in case others have made the same mistake I did and not come to fully appreciate this album. Taking Back Sunday is the fifth studio album of the band’s career, and having gone through a few lineup re-shuffling over the years, this record found John Nolan and Shaun Cooper returning into the fold after some time away from TBS. The band chemistry is absolutely majestic on these songs that sound even better than they did when I first heard them. With great singles like “Faith (When I Let You Down)” and “This Is All Now,” I’m kicking myself for not revisiting this legendary album sooner.

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Review: Beabadoobee – Our Extended Play

The latest record from the now 21-year old artist known as Beabadoobee, is her fifth overall EP, and follows the massive success she experienced on her debut LP Fake It Flowers. A lot of this record, called Our Extended Play, was co-written with members of The 1975, including front-man Matty Healy and George Daniel. Her collaboration with the veteran hit-makers pays major dividends as she has released four of her most immediately gripping and urgent songs to date.

Our Extended Play opens on the right foot with the brilliantly constructed “Last Day on Earth” that features some faint backing vocals from Healy to bring depth to Beabadoobee’s tender voice. The song is largely constructed around a looped electric guitar riff that doesn’t stray too far from its original composition. She sings passionately on the second verse, “You made it along / You got a problem with Peter, you got a problem with John / You can’t go on / All this follow me shit / I want to get fucked up at home / Be naked alone / And turn up my phone / Because this song I wrote is just so fucking sick, it goes…” The song has a lot of the same vibes of The 1975’s “Me and You Together Song,” but Beabadoobee’s trademark vocal delivery allows the song to really feel fresh.

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Review: Summer Salt – Sequoia Moon

There’s something about summer that changes the way we process things. Could it be the heat signaling to our brains that carefree days are ahead? Or, does it signal the promise of starting anew and discovering ourselves all over again? Summer Salt investigates both of these questions on Sequoia Moon, produced by Phil Ek (Modest Mouse, Fleet Foxes). What the band does well on this record is to channel the carefree days of sitting by the ocean and letting all the other worries melt away. For newcomers to the band, the vibes felt on this album are similar to Vacationer, Two Door Cinema Club, and JR JR. Look no further for the album that could very well be your soundtrack to this summer.

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Review: Quiet Like A Thief – Through The Looking Glass

Quiet Like A Thief - Through The Looking Glass

On the Boston pop-punk band Quiet Like A Thief’s debut EP, Through the Looking Glass, the band has the charm of the golden era of pop-punk, with a few unique twists to modernize their sound for the next generation of this genre’s fans. Led by vocalist Alex Kouvaris, his vocal delivery on this breezy set of songs feels like putting on that favorite t-shirt that you’ve always adored and still brings the same comfort. Quiet Like a Thief is rounded out by bassist Ryan Sweeney, the dual-guitar attack of Nick Lopardo and Mike Marziliano, and drummer Dan Marchelewski. This debut is a nice love letter to the bands who inspired their charming pop-punk sound, while still staying true to what made them the people they are today. The EP was produced by Four Year Strong’s Alan Day, and he’s able to bring out the best in this band that comes shining through the speakers.

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Review: Dark Nights: Death Metal Soundtrack

The concept behind the Dark Nights: Death Metal Soundtrack was fairly unique. The soundtrack was produced by Tyler Bates (Watchmen, Guardians of the Galaxy) and he organized key artist contributors that were already well-versed in the lore of DC Comics cannon. Bates also entrusted several musicians from our scene to lend their voice-over talents to the animated show called “Sonic Metalverse,” which included key parts from Andy Biersack (Black Veil Brides) as Batman, Andy Hull (Manchester Orchestra) as Lex Luthor, just to name a few. Based on this experience, Tyler Bates asked several bands to use this experience to channel their artistic energy into this soundtrack of songs premised on how these characters’ would have interpreted these events through their lens of their bands’ music. The Dark Nights: Death Metal Soundtrack is the perfect love letter to the complex past surrounding the unique character arcs of each of the legendary DC Comics characters, and features brand new songs from Chelsea Wolfe, Manchester Orchestra, Grey Daze, and Soccer Mommy, among many other talented artists.

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Review: AFI – Bodies

The rollout of singles from the eleventh studio album from AFI was interesting, to say the least. With a trio of dual singles releases beginning in January, and the subsequent ones to follow in February and April, there was plenty of new material for fans to dissect before the full-length album would be fully released this month. Davey Havok and Jade Puget had been extremely busy having released their latest Blaqk Audio project’s album in August of 2020, and they would later turn their focus towards the sessions that would make up the record known as Bodies. In a livestream event in April 2020, Jade Puget mentioned this latest album had been fully completed, but like so many other albums, the release date was being pushed back due to the pandemic. The material that comprised Bodies is a mixture of the sound AFI went for on The Missing Man EP, with a slight throwback to some stylistic choices found on Crash Love and the darker-toned Burials. The best part of AFI’s music is their ability to make songs that immediately sound like something they would create, yet sound unique enough to cover plenty of new ground along the way.

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Review: Talk Show Host – Mid-Century Modern

Talk Show Host - Mid-Century Modern

On the debut album from Toronto punk rockers Talk Show Host, they channel all of the best parts of melodic punk rock into a package worthy of taking immediate notice. The three-piece band is comprised of Chris Veinot (vocals/guitar), Fabien Rivenet (bass) and Sean Woolven (drums/backing vocals), and their early band chemistry is undeniable. The punk rockers have put out a few EPs early on to hone in the sound that comes into its truest form on Mid-Century Modern. The record was produced by John Dinsmore (PUP, Single Mothers) and their trust in the hitmaker pays full dividends as he gets the best performance out of every track. With so much early momentum going in Talk Show Host’s favor, its no wonder why some are touting them as the “next big thing” in the melodic punk scene.

The album blasts off on the right foot with the guitar bliss of “You Asshole!” where lead vocalist Chris Veinot snarls over the backing instruments impressively. The comparisons to bands like The Bouncing Souls, Anti-Flag, and Bad Religion get felt early on with the solid slabs of punk rock found on this opener.

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Review: Bon Iver – Bon Iver, Bon Iver

Bon Iver – Bon Iver, Bon Iver

Bon Iver, Bon Iver sounds like a summer storm. A muggy June evening; temperatures that hang suspended in the mid-70s, even after the sun goes down; heat lightning flashing on the horizon; and then, eventually, a torrential downpour, crashes of thunder, strikes of lightning too close for comfort.

Or maybe I just think this album sounds like all those things, because that happened to be the environment in which I first heard it. The night Bon Iver, Bon Iver leaked on the internet, weeks ahead of its June 21, 2011 release date, it was pouring in northern Michigan. When I first heard “Perth,” it felt like someone was taking the weather outside and translating it into music. The far-off guitar notes felt like the first flickers of lightning on the horizon. Vernon’s multi-tracked, harmony-backed voice, when it breaks through the waves about 45 seconds in, evoked the gentle drizzle of the storm’s start. And then, the crescendo: a martial drumbeat, a wash of horns, the guitar sparking louder and louder. The song builds until it sounds like a furious storm—the rain clattering against your windowpane, the thunder rattling the glasses in the cabinets, the lightning flashing so quickly that it seems to illuminate the entire outside world for minutes at a time. Soon, the song subsides, burns itself out. It fades to nothing as quickly as it exploded— just as a summer storm eventually crashes away.

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Review: Rise Against – Nowhere Generation

In times of political turmoil, Rise Against have consistently been a band people can turn to as a guiding light. They were there for the George W. Bush years, the 2008 financial crisis and of course, they went after the Donald Trump presidency when they dropped their last album Wolves in June 2017. After nearly four long years since Wolves was released, Rise Against (singer/guitarist Tim Mcllrath, lead guitarist Zach Blair, bass player Joe Principe and drummer Brandon Barnes) have triumphantly returned with their ninth studio album, Nowhere Generation. This time around, they’re here to take on the ongoing inequality plaguing the country and the illusion of the American Dream. 

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Review: Ethan Gold – Earth City 1: The Longing

Singer-songwriter and extremely talented composer Ethan Gold is back to deliver his sophomore record that will be the first in a trilogy of concept albums. The first, Earth City 1: The Longing, tackles the feelings of longing for acceptance in cities that we visit for the first time, or come back to for repeat visits. Gold described the first in the series as, “the first step of yearning that drives us inward and forward into the most profound experiences of living. Doubt, searching, and loneliness are motivating principles that bring us towards others, and they bring us towards grace.” Ethan Gold continues to find his true path forward on this record that is quite the ride.

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Review: Blink-182 – Take Off Your Pants And Jacket

Blink-182 - Take Off Your Pants and Jacket

Usually you can trace back to moments in time when you know you’ve discovered something special or extraordinary. Sometimes that can be a new love, a new album, or new band that makes you feel like you’re discovering a new part of yourself in the process. Looking back on the 20th anniversary of this pop-punk classic makes me remember the carefree days of school ending and looking towards the promise of an unpredictable summer. Treading into the unknown only furthered my discovery of who I was, and in the process, helped me discover one of my favorite bands of all time. Blink-182 had made quite a name for themselves on their album, Enema of the State, and all eyes were fixed to see how the pop-punk band would follow up their massively successful and now legendary record. Enter Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, the studio album that’s a pun for <ahem> the act of self love. Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Travis Barker couldn’t have been riding any higher coming into this fourth album, and working with veteran hit-maker Jerry Finn (Green Day, Sum 41) wasn’t going to change their trajectory into the stratosphere of popularity. The topics covered on the album tackle young love, fighting back authority figures, and more serious issues like divorce. With a mix of both topical elements, on top of well-crafted pop-punk tunes, Blink-182 must have known they created something special.

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