Category Archives: Album Review

Hawk Eyes – Ideas

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Formerly Chickenhawk, Hawk Eyes first came to my attention in 2009 supporting then label mates Kong at The Mad Ferret in Preston and blew me away with riff after riff whilst being stupidly tight and keeping you on edge with a demented performance, not quite knowing what to expect next. After this show, I managed to get their self titled debut album and decided that I had to keep a look out for them. Whenever they were playing and whoever they were playing with, I had to go. They’ve since played with their old label mates Castrovalva, These Monsters and Humanfly as well as Retox, Ginger Wildheart, Exit_International, Alexisonfire, The James Cleaver Quintet, The Computers and Pulled Apart By Horses, who have admitted that they were worried to take Hawk Eyes out on tour as they didn’t want to be blown off the stage each night, but decided that they are too good not to play with.

Official debut ‘Modern Bodies’ was released on Brew Records, and featured a lot of songs on previous releases which were no longer available. It still sounded urgent, fresh, angry and was unrelenting in beating you over the head, mainly with riffs. They released their final Brew release, the ‘Mindhammers’ EP in December which hinted at a change of direction. Instead of being full on, 100 MPH in your face, the new material hinted at a change of tactics; this time they are more sadistic in their assault on your senses.

Now with Fierce Panda, they open with the brilliant Witchhunt, you immediately notice that Paul Astick has toned down the screams due to the “unspeakable damage” that he was doing to his throat. This has changed the band to become more creative, and explore many more influences whilst maintaining what the band do best; mesmerising you with the music. Lead single Skyspinners is next up which features possibly the first true sing-along moment that Hawk Eyes have produced, without actually sacrificing any riff or alienating long term fans.

Yes Have Some is a demented pop song played at breakneck speed which will have you singing the “Bring it right back, take it right back” refrain in no time and have you begging for more. Headstrung follows on perfectly, being a very different song which has a more classic feel throughout the chorus, yet an experimental side throughout the verses. You Deserve A Medal is a full blown assault before slowing down to a perfect chorus of just Matt Reid’s drums and Paul Astick’s vocals before it’s over all too soon.

Hollywood Sweatshop is gloriously experimental, switching from math rock to grunge to pop-rock back to math rock with Astick displaying some of his best vocal work to date, both soothing and blood curdling in the blink of an eye. The Meeting, whilst not as experimental, still continues the stupidly high standard of the album. Milk Hog is one of the highlights, taking it’s influences from the likes of Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan whilst vocally it is more reminiscent of older Hawk Eye tracks.

Kiss This is a loud affair, which sounds like Astick has finally lost his mind with breathtaking effect. Bears By The Head is a slow burner before exploding into life towards the last minute of the track, taking you unawares and smashing your senses to pieces. Bees is the final track on the album, and starts again in typical unrelenting fashion before the whole thing breaks down the cries of “Can’t you see we’re dying, it’s no use crying” make you want to scream your lungs out with the band whilst collectively losing your shit to a super guitar chugg before starting up again. The song clocks in at just a fraction under 7 minutes yet it holds your attention throughout, with beautiful instrumentation with a deranged spoken word text over it. The atmosphere of the song is haunting, beautiful, angry, sad and glorious all at the same time. It also begs you to play the album again, just so you can understand the beauty of everything that you’ve just taken in.

This is one of the best releases I’ve heard in a long time, and will be a serious contender for album of the year. If there is any justice in the world, should catapult these four lads from Leeds to the top of the British rock music scene.

9.5/10

For Fans Of: Melvins, QOTSA, Dillinger Escape Plan, riffs.
Download: Yes Have Some, Bees, Milk Hog, Hollywood Sweatshop

Get the album from: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/hawkeyes
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Next Stop Atlanta – The Things You Do Best

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NSA - The Things You Do Best

Next Stop Atlanta
The Things You Do Best

Next Stop Atlanta release their second EP, The Things You Do Best, digitally on the 14th February 2012, with a physical release to be expected in the not too distant future. Their self titled debut EP served as a great introduction to the band, and now you can see how far the band have progressed on The Things You Do Best.

Opening with ’0:30′, a short sample track which could have been recorded anywhere in their hometown of Preston with the sirens and creepy children’s toy, the EP explodes into life with a slice of pop-punk perfection with ‘Always With The Drama’. The first thing that hits you is how well Nik, Blake and Ant play together, and how Georgia’s vocals compliment the music. The second thing that hits you is how catchy this song actually is.

‘I’m Not Morrissey’ is the highlight of the EP with its awkward guitar opening with Georgia before the rhythm section joins in and takes the song away, showcasing some fantastic songwriting; the music becoming more and more frantic, becoming a whirlwind of brilliance whilst Georgia exclaims that she is “playing with your head tonight”.

‘Get In The Van’ is Set Your Goals-esque with how you can make a pop-punk song quick in tempo, yet have the potential to be an anthem with how damn infectious it is and easy to sing along with.

A full band version of ‘Perfection’ is next, which will be familiar to those who had the previous EP as that was the acoustic closer. A full band version does the song justice and really is an excellent version which is actually better than the acoustic version.

‘Light The Beacons’ is probably the weakest song on the EP, though that is not to say that it is a poor song at all. Quite the contrary in fact, it is a good song, though the standard had been set stupidly high with the previous tracks, though I can imagine this being a live favourite.

This EP should gain Next Stop Atlanta a lot more recognition for all their hard work and brilliant songs. 2012 is shaping up to be a good year for these guys.

8/10

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Chaotix – Black Blood

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Chaotix
Black Blood

Preston four-piece Chaotix released their four song EP, Black Blood, earlier on this month with their only marketing tactic being word of mouth. Currently one of the most exciting live bands in Lancashire, they’ve transfered some of their live energy well onto Black Blood. 

Holding no punches by opening with Sons Are Bitches, this is a brilliant introduction to what Chaotix do; riffs, a rhythm section that makes you want to move, lush layers, hooks and blood curdling screams. Sons Are Bitches shows off technical songwriting abilities that bands that have been together much longer cannot cope with, without ever losing the attention of the listener. This is a common trait of Chaotix.

Plight of the Navigator is next and, whilst unmistakably being the same band, features more singing instead of screaming which gives the song a haunted feel, especially with the backing vocals being screamed a little quieter than the moody singing. The song is a little bit less intense in comparison to the previous track yet still has you on edge. One thing that is noticeable is how well the EP has been mixed, with no instrument getting lost, and the bass cutting through beautifully.

Title track Black Blood is next and it feels more familiar to the previous track rather than the opener whilst not sounding alike. The instrumental 2 and a half minutes in is a highlight of the EP, and explodes into life perfectly with desperate screams adding an extra dimension to a superb track.

The EP ends with Sicko, a little bit more poppy compared to the previous tracks in a way that Dillinger Escape Plans Ire Works was more poppy compared to earlier works. It’s still technical and you can’t really sing along with it, but it has the hooks, riffs and melody that can get stuck in your head. A marvellous end to a fantastic EP.

You can name your price for the EP over at their Bandcamp page. This is a band that really needs to break out of Lancashire and onto the wider UK scene. There are plenty of bands that are producing middle of the road, bland music that are getting too much attention when bands like Chaotix actually deserve the attention.

8/10

Top 10 Albums of 2011

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Another year has come and gone, and again it has been a brilliant year for music, though it has had it’s downsides, such as the announcements of Thirce and Thursday going on hiatus. I’ve thought long and hard about this list, and I am pretty settled that these are the best ten releases of the last 12 months, and that I have also got them in the right order. So, here we go…

10. Fucked Up – David Comes To Life

A Canadian punk band with a reputation of not making things easy for the listener doing an 18 song, 78 minute, 4 act punk concept album set in 1970’s England that is essentially a love story was never going to be the easiest thing to pull off, but Fucked Up managed it with their remarkable third album, David Comes To Life. They start of the album in typical, let’s not make it easy fashion with Let Her Rest, though the 17 songs after that are incredible. A story that is brilliantly told with some superb music.  It’s going to be hard for Fucked Up to top this album.

Download: Queen of Hearts, The Other Shoe.

9. Rival Schools – Pedals

One of the best bands of the early part of this century, Rival Schools might have only produced two albums, but they’ve been two albums of the highest quality. Pedals was released nearly 12 months later than planned, but when it landed, it was well worth the stupidly long 10 year wait between albums. Clearly evolving from their ‘United by Fate’ debut, this album builds on everything that hardcore hero Walter Schrefiels and co. did first time round. Ten consistently brilliant songs on one album, here’s hoping that the will be less than 10 years for album number three.

Download: Shot After Shot, Wring It Out

 8. Thrice – Major/Minor

Thrice are a band that can rarely do no wrong (apart from going on hiatus), and they again prove that with their eighth album Major/Minor, which again shows Thrice as a band who are eager to challenge themselves by taking themselves out of their comfort zone and show why they are one of the most influential and important bands of the alternative rock scene in the last 10 years. Heavier and more technical than recent previous efforts, it is a superb album that deserves attention.

Download: Yellow Belly, Call It In The Air

7. Maybeshewill – I Was Here For A Moment, Then I Was Gone

A truly unbelievable live band that has managed to capture some of the energy from their live shows into a truly beautiful third album which features everything that you’d come to expect from the best band to come out of Leicester (fuck off Kasabian); epic pianos, buzzing guitars, pounding drums and some brilliantly placed samples. Completely DIY (real DIY, not Enter Shikari style DIY), it is an incredible testament to creativity that is not held back by labels or music industry politics. A remarkably beautiful album by a remarkable band.

Download: Red Paper Lanterns, Take This To Heart

6. La Dispute – Wildlife

When post-hardcore is done properly, it is mind-blowing, and La Dispute fall into the mind-blowing category. This is especially true with their second full length album Wildlife. There are certain attributes that set La Dispute apart from their peers, and a large part of that has to go to Jordan Dreyer’s vocals and lyrics. His vocals are a bit like Marmite, you’ll either love them or hate them; his lyrics are thought-provoking and uncomfortable. Commanding your attention from the opening track through to the bitter end, this is 60 minutes of post-hardcore beauty; if beauty is bearing your scars and pain in the most open of ways. Expect your heart to be in your mouth.

Download: I See Everything, St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church.

5. Spy Catcher – Honesty

Spy Catcher were one of the bands of the weekend at the best festival I’ve been to, Hevy Fest 2011, and with the songs that they have in their armoury, it’s hardly surprising. It has got a bit of something for everyone, and is packed full of hooks and anthems; from the organ driven Tabs, to the sing-a-long-tastic Don’t Like People (which features probably the best video of the year, see below) and lead single Remember Where You Were When Michael Jackson Died. These are also the first three songs on the album, but the quality doesn’t drop, and has class in abundance with the atmospheric Reason to Breath In and the pure rock n roll swagger of Livewire. Honesty is a truly brilliant album by one of Britain’s great bands.

Download: Don’t Like People, Remember Where You Were When Michael Jackson Died.

4. Retox – Ugly Animals

The latest band (note I’m not calling this a side-project, that is not fair) of Justin Pearson, Retox is a typical Justin Pearson album. It’s loud, it’s fast, it’s noisy and it sounds like it’ll rip your head off. It takes the grand total of 13 minutes from starting the onslaught with The World Is Ending and its About Time until you’re catching your breath back and hoping that your ear drums are still intact at the end of Piss Elegant. This is not just noise for noise sake, the songs are constructed brilliant and show off some excellent musicians. I am just hoping that this project lasts for a long time to come.

Download: Piss Elegant, Boredom Is Counter-Revolutionary

3. Exit_International – Black Junk

Three Welsh men, 2 bass guitars and a drum kit and you’ve got Exit_International, a band flowing with originality and someone surprisingly melody given their set up. This has been an album that has not left my car since I got it back in September.  This is an album that is as mental as it is brilliant, which adds to it’s charm. Pure rock and roll filth that comes with none of the excess fat that comes with so many bands who try to be fancy. These guys should be a lot bigger than they currently are and are certainly a band to keep your eye on.

Download: Sex W/ Strangers, My Mouth Is Your Mouth.

2. Defeater – Empty Days & Sleepless Nights

In my opinion, Defeater are the best (melodic) hardcore band in the world who have been going from strength to strength and are not scared to experiment when they see fit. This album sees the band take their 1940’s story from their first album and tell it from the side of the elder brother with majestic results. Split into two, you’ve got the traditional Empty Days, which is 10 glorious hardcore tracks and then you’ve got the 4 track bluesy acoustic goodness of Sleepless Nights, which demonstrate the superb talents of vocalist Derek Archambault. There is not one bad song or one bad idea on this album, and is an album that belongs in every music lovers collection.

Download: Dear Father [Empty Days], White Oak Doors [Empty Days], But Breathing [Sleepless Nights], I Don’t Mind [Sleepless Nights]

1. Brontide – Sans Souci

A 52 minute masterpiece that crams more ideas into it than a lot of bands manage in a lifetime, Sans Souci is an album that has absolutely no filler, and once you’ve started listening to it, opening with the brilliant Matador and closing with the epic title track, you can’t stop. Showing so much promise at their live shows got me stupidly excited for this album, and they did not disappoint on any level. Post-rock with metal riffs, beautiful dreamy guitar and synth when the time is right, a dancey or thunderous bass when Brontide see fit all tied together with superb drum work. This album has something for everyone and is best served listening from beginning to end; a musical journey were Brontide take you from whatever mood you are in to utter euphoria without ever singing a single word. A special album by a fantastic band.

Download: Download the whole thing, and here is why:

Exit_International – Black Junk

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Black Junk
Exit_International
Black Junk

This is an album that I’ve been waiting for what seems like forever, when in reality it has been 15 months since I got the excellent Sex w/ Strangers EP, which came with an apology for the delay in sending it out (might have been a week) and, for reasons why I am still trying to figure out, a single sachet of Lemsip. On paper, they might not be a band that people are instantly going to love; the band contains two bassists and a drummer and not a single guitar in sight. I’ll be honest, that is what drew me in, I really wanted to know what the hell three Welsh blokes could deliver just using these two instruments.

Starting off with Glory Horn, the best description of this song I feel has already been written at the review of the album over at the brilliant This Is Fake DIY, where it “stumbles out of your speakers like a drunk falling down the stairs only to launch into a fight with the entire bar.” They aren’t wrong, it sums the song up, and indeed the band up perfectly. And underneath the rumbles of the bass, there is actually melody, and the is melody throughout the album. As soon as it finishes, a re-recorded version of the excellent blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Sex w/ Strangers and again, it doesn’t fuck about. With catchy moments galore, which isn’t just limited to this song – the album is full of catchy moments. Before you know it, you’ll have the “holding me down, down by the face, fucking love it” refrain stuck in your head for days. 

Voices continues in a similar vein of utter brilliance with the chorus again having the ability to get inside your head long after the song has finished. The utterly flithy Shake Your Bad Ass, whilst still being a great song, isn’t as great as the previous songs before it. Nor is it as good as Bowies Ghost, which is deranged pop at it’s darkest and it groves all the way until it explodes. Body Joyrider and Sherman Fang, whilst being pretty good songs and still have a load of ideas between them, neither live up to the first 5 songs. This all changes with the superb Chainsaw Song, which is both brilliant and mind-boggling insane.

My Mouth Is Your Mouth is probably the best song that is on the album to open a live show. It is immediate, catchy and urgent. It is also, again flithy, and opens with the lyric “I’ve got your DNA trapped under my fingers/You’ve got my DNA all over your face”, a lyric that most reviews of this album seems to pick up on, something that has the potential to shock people. Lights Out is the third track that is taken from the aforementioned four track EP Sex w/ Strangers, and again has been recorded so is not as raw as the EP, though still maintains it’s power and clap-a-long moments, and is honestly better for the time they’ve had to make minor tweaks to the song.

King of the Junkies threatens to slow the album down to be a ballad, and is the longest song on the album, though Exit_International don’t do ballads, they do rock and roll which is loud and in your face, which is what the song is, though a little more held back than other songs on the album, although it is arguably more intimidating than other songs on the album. Blindfolds is a punk blast which could belong on any record released by One-Three-G. Speaking of One-Three-G, it has been rumoured that Justin Pearson has remixed some Exit_International tracks. The album finishes on a high with Hey Disciple, which finishes of the album nicely.

 The best thing about the album is that the is a load of ideas here, and they do not have the limitation of not having anything other than bass guitars or drums get in the way of some quite frankly amazingly dirty rock and roll. These have been compared to so many awesome bands including The Blood Brothers, Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age, Frank Zappa (!) and The Eighties Matchbox B-line Disaster, though Exit_International are awesome in their own right. If you like your music original, scuzzy, fun and catchy, look no further.

Rating: 9/10

Download: Sex w/ Strangers, Voices.