Spectra by Chipzel - Album Review

If there was any genre of music that would be described as a "niche" genre, chiptunes would be that genre. This type of music derived from a limitation when producing video game soundtracks back in the 1980s but when video games were able to overcome those limitations musical artists chose to limit themselves to the hardware of these old video game consoles and make some really catchy tunes. Unfortunately, the sound just didn't catch on with mainstream audiences, even though some of the most sophisticated and musical works can be found here.

Chipzel is perhaps most well-known for providing the soundtrack to a hit little mobile game called "Super Hexagon" however her work outside of that soundtrack is far more impressive and interesting. While in "Super Hexagon" the soundtrack was intentionally more reserved to complement the addictive gameplay, in an album like Spectra Chipzel has the ability to pull out all the stops and really deliver.

***

Album: Spectra

Artist: Chipzel

Year of Release: 2014

Genre: Chiptune

***

Chipzel's music has a very distinct rave feel to it in the way it is generally designed. Rave music is known for not only having heavy loud beats but also for its use of short, repeated melodies - known in music theory as ostinati - stacked on top of one another. Each melody is important, but right when one starts to get boring, a new one enters. Rave music isn't exactly something that could be sung along to but it manages to still be unmistakably catchy and fun to listen to. People dance like crazy when listening to rave music, and the catchiness is the reason why.

The title track, Spectra, follows this exact design philosophy, and it works really well to start the album off. First a very basic 4-note ostinato begins the piece, then a new part is added alternating between a lower and higher register. The first melody then gets more complicated right before the music drops the first heavy beat. It's brilliant design and it opens the album flawlessly. The song stays pretty simple, but when it starts to wear out its welcome, Chipzel changes it. As with all of her work, there are some brilliant harmonies in certain areas of the track, and even the tracks that sit in the background are interesting to listen to on their own. It's a great listen throughout.

Tokyo Skies follows a similar philosophy, although the melodies and ostinati are less interesting in this song than in the title track. It still is a catchy song, but it just doesn't work quite as well. The most memorable parts are when a melodic part takes over the upper register, but it doesn't happen often enough, and the background doesn't carry the song very well on its own.

The third track, Forged in Stars, moves a bit faster than the first two tracks, changing things up right when the older tempo would have gotten a bit old. There are more melodic elements in this song, and those melodic elements also cleverly come back in the background of later parts of the song. The song also changes its entire makeup about halfway through but still manages to sound like the same song - a very impressive feat.

Formed in the Clouds is a softer, more lyrical song, which is a good interlude to break up the more rave-y songs. This track is simply beautiful, and paints a lovely 8-bit image in listeners' heads of a distant landscape or something of the sort. It works really well here.

Only Human takes a slower tempo while bringing back some of the rave elements. The melodic part in this song stands out more than in other songs, but it works nicely and is a nice change. This album would not have been nearly as good as it is if all of the songs had a generic rave feel to them, and this song is one of the more memorable songs because it stands out.

The next track, Aurora Borealis, starts with an intro that probably could have been a bit shorter. This song also decides to take the slower tempo at first but still has a rave feel, picking up towards the middle. The track manages to keep one basic melody interesting throughout the entire song, which is quite a feat. It's one of the weaker tracks, but it still works well and is just as catchy as the other songs.

Evolution finally returns to the full-on rave that listeners may have thought Chipzel forgot about. It doesn't drop the heavy beats as much as the early tracks, but it's still a really catchy track. That percussive beat in the background keeps the song glued together as the ostinati keep changing. It's the longest track on the album at 5:35, but changes things up enough to justify the length.

At first, Beyond the Cosmos sounds like another lyrical track, and it sounds really nice, but then Chipzel adds the percussive background and the track picks up. It's not very rave-y but it's one of the best tracks on the album. It's catchy and it's interesting. While Chipzel's mostly non-melodic music is always fantastic, this melody gets into listeners' heads and stays there.

The intro to Veteran is a strange one, but after around 15 seconds the rave begins and it all locks into place. Going back to the design philosophy of the first two tracks, the rave part begins only with the heavy beats and one ostinato. Then more and more parts get added as each preceding part gets less interesting. Once all of the parts have been added, Chipzel then changes everything into something completely different, incidentally showing off how she is a talented veteran of making chiptunes.

Sonnet is another great track. The song constantly changes things up while keeping the same background. It doesn't stand out quite as much as the other tracks, but it still is a fun listen.

The album stumbles a bit with Sunday, a track that starts out with incredibly out-of-place vocals accompanied by chiptune ostinati until the chiptune aspect eventually takes over. When it does, it's a decent listen, but the upper register ostinati can get obnoxious over time. A piano also enters into the song a bit later on, which fits better than the vocals, but it takes away from the clean 8-bit-ness of the rest of the album. The song just doesn't fit well here. It was a decent experiment, but when the other 12 songs are all chiptune-based, throwing in other elements just feels odd.

The penultimate track, The Art of War, is a somber, more atmospheric, and just beautiful track. Chipzel also has a drum-like track in the background to keep some minor rave elements while not overpowering the atmosphere. It's a great song to have near the end of the album as it winds down the excitement while not fully abandoning the core of the album.

The final track, aptly named Final Credits, pulls a 180 and closes out the album with a bang, following the same philosophy as the title track while also throwing in some melodic elements as a callback to "Only Human" and "The Art of War", perfectly bringing everything great about the album together in a nice package. It's of the best songs on the album and is a fantastic finish.

Other than "Sunday", the only real problem with this album is that it drew its trump card way too early. The best track is definitely the title track and while it is an excellent opener, it sets a precedence that wasn't fully met with the rest of the album. The rest of the album is still great, but it isn't quite as memorable. Regardless, the album is definitely worth listening to over and over again for its sheer catchiness alone.

***

Music Video Sample:

<to come at a later date>

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/spectra/id701047872

Website: http://chipzel.co.uk/album/spectra

Blood for Blood by Hellyeah - Album Review

Sometimes music isn't technical or complicated. Sometimes music isn't lyrical or beautiful. Sometimes music only needs one thing to be liked: to be catchy. That's essentially the entire philosophy behind groove metal, a genre of music that continues to be unoriginal, but also continues to sell. If a song is fun to listen to, then it has to be doing something right.

Hellyeah probably follows that trope best: they're a group that don't do anything to push the industry forward, but no one really cares. They're just catchy, and that's it.

But when that's all that's expected of a group, and their latest album Blood for Blood claims to be their catchiest yet? Well, there's no complaints... right?

***

Album: Blood for Blood

Band: Hellyeah

Year of Release: 2014

Genre: Groove Metal

***

Hellyeah is the band with the most accurate name out there. Why? Because their music makes listeners want to scream "Hellyeah!" while listening to it. It's catchy, it's obnoxious, and it's fun. But is there enough different to make this album entertaining throughout?

This album just starts. No build up, no fade in, nothing. It just starts with a loud, catchy guitar riff and drum beats alternating with a voice repeating the title of the song over and over, Sangre pour Sangre, Blood for Blood. The two phrases mean the exact same thing, and it's almost a certainty that Hellyeah doesn't even know what language "Sangre pour Sangre" is, but it wouldn't matter either way because it sounds good.

That mentality pretty much defines this entire album. It doesn't matter because it sounds good.

Regardless, the verses aren't sung or growled, but instead spoken. The lyrics here aren't memorable at all, but the spoken aspect, despite being done before by many other bands, is pretty neat. It's not until the chorus kicks in that it really gets into a "Hellyeah!" kind of mood. There really isn't any distinct instruments that stand out, the band just grooves together and the whole song just works. The electronic parts in the bridge are a bit out-of-place, but besides that, the whole song is a great start to the album.

Off of the heels of that catchy tune comes another catchy tune, Demons in the Dirt. Not surprisingly sounding similar to the first song but still sounding like a different song, it works in the same exact way as the first song does. The chorus isn't as good as the first, but the verses are more interesting to compensate. The lyrics are still forgettable, though. But that doesn't matter because it sounds good, right?

Soul Killer sounds different from the first two songs at first, but it still seems to follow a similar backing rhythm to the first two. The guitars have more of an emphasis on this song, and they definitely prove that these guys have talent, despite being a groove metal band. The solo section on this one's also a lot better than in the first two songs as it stands out more. But when it all comes down to it, it's just another catchy song. It's not very memorable overall, despite having some good parts. Memorability doesn't matter, however, because it still sounds good... right?

Anyone who knows even the smallest thing about groove metal would go into this album expecting nothing really different. Most groove metal bands have the same exact sound in all of their songs. But Hellyeah is the epitome of that - they play songs that sound as if they were part of the same tune, but refuse to expand on that concept any further. Is there a song on this album that sounds different in any way?

The answer to that question comes with Moth, a soft song that doesn't groove at all. It alternates between a soft section with just electric guitar and forgettable lyrics and a heavier section without the catchiness of the prior songs. It stands out, sure, but in this instance it doesn't sound very good. While Hellyeah would benefit from playing something different, this is not the way to do it. While it's good to try new things, the key to experimentation is to still stay close to familiar territory. If not, the result will be songs like this. This one is worth skipping.

Luckily, Cross to Bier (Cradle of Bones) is the best song on the album, so it partially makes up for the song before it. This song starts with a guitar riff that, after a few beats, gets joined by the rhythm guitar followed by the bass, the drums, and finally a nice metal scream. The band then plays the backing of the song once that continues to play through the entire song which could pretty much carry anything all on its own. But then there's the vocals which are really impressive, despite singing forgettable lyrics (as with all of the songs on this album). It just adds a new layer of texture that pushes the song forward. It's not anything that even a metal enthusiast would sing (or rather, growl) along to, but it's so catchy that it actually doesn't matter because, well, it sounds good!

The next song, DMF, is the most important song on this album, despite not being as catchy as the previous song. It actually differs from the other groove metal songs on this album enough to stand out on its own, which is something that the first five songs (excluding "Moth") can't really do. The only reason "Cross to Beir" stands out is because it's the best of the songs that sound exactly like. The whole song is an expansion on one short guitar riff, but it works, it grooves, and it sounds good. The lyrics are still as forgettable and unimportant as always, and the vocals aren't very impressive, but everything else works together rather nicely.

Gift goes back to the old style, however, sounding very similar to "Soul Killer". The high-pitched guitar can get annoying when it comes in, and the vocals sound extremely redneck to the point that they distract from the rest of the song. This wasn't an issue in the previous tracks, so the accent has to be a deliberate choice, and it's not a good one. In the end, it's still a catchy song, so, to follow Hellyeah's code of conduct, none of that matters.

"Moth" was already too much, but apparently Hellyeah disagreed because Hush is another not-so-good song. This one has a little bit of groove to it, but it just doesn't work out. The only groove metal band that can do the softer songs well seems to be Ektomorf, because this song is a clear attempt to copy that style. This song isn't as bad as "Moth" by any means, but it just doesn't work that well. Towards the end the track gets a bit better, but it just isn't catchy, and when a band establishes itself as a group that makes catchy music, anything that isn't falls by the wayside.

Say When starts with just fast drums, and while fast drums can be entertaining, this drum bit just sounds repetitive and, as a result, not very impressive. The guitars come in too, playing something similar and not sounding very good doing it. Then, after thirty seconds or so, the song starts to actually sound like a typical, but good Hellyeah song, but before it really can get going, it dies off and then plays that intro part again. It goes through the process again and then transitions to a slower, dissonant part that sounds okay, but not very impressive. It seems like Hellyeah wanted to experiment, but once again it fails here. This one is another one worth skipping, but if not, it only goes on for just under three minutes, so it isn't too torturous.

Black December is a less heavy version of every other good song on this album, and it works out pretty well. It's not a really good or memorable song, but Hellyeah has to be praised for doing something a little different and actually succeeding. Beyond that, there isn't much else to this song.

Feast or Famine is another typical Hellyeah song, this one sounding a lot like the first track. This song's intro, instead of alternating between guitar riff and vocals, alternates between heavy drums and four cymbal clicks, which definitely is off-putting, but in a good way. The vocals take a bit of a redneck turn, but they aren't as distracting as in "Gift". The lyrics are forgettable, and the chorus isn't nearly as good as in "Sangre pour Sangre", but the song still works because, well, it sounds good.

Hellyeah really wanted to sell their ability to rip off of Ektomorf because the album ends with an acoustic version of Hush, which actually sounds pretty good. Clean vocals would have been a better choice for this song, but it still sounds better than the original version and it works really well as a closer. Listening to this version also gives me a chance to listen to the lyrics which actually are well-written:

Hell’s where I was born! Hell’s where I was raised,

This hell is where I'm from and this gel is where I'll stay.

The hush is all I need to hush the misery,

The hush belongs to me like the hush inside of dreams.

Most of the lyrics in the songs on this album make less sense than this does, but there actually are some metaphors and imagery here that should be praised. Hellyeah definitely doesn't have the best lyrics in their songs, but this song has the best of the album by far. Besides that, the acoustic version of this song is definitely a nice surprise considering how bad the original version and "Moth" are.

This album could easily be split into two halves, with more of the same on one half and new experimentation on the other. While experimentation is good, it mostly fails, and as a result, the "more of the same" half is the more desirable part of this album. Hellyeah made many mistakes in this album but got away with them because it still sounded good. In order for them to really progress, they should nitpick more and focus a bit less on the overall sound. They definitely need to try new things, too, and with some of the experimental songs on this album they proved that it can be done. Hopefully the next Hellyeah album will rock and groove hard, try new things, but still be catchy throughout. After all, if it's catchy, then it sounds good, and that's what matters most.

***

Music Video Sample:

<to come at a later date>

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/blood-for-blood/id857887251

Website*: http://www.hellyeahband.com/index.html

*Their website is outdated at the time of this review, still claiming that the album can be pre-ordered when it has been released for a while now.

Paper Bird by iamsleepless - Album Review

So about a week ago I reviewed an electronic/acoustic album by iamsleepless called "Hollow Man". The man behind the music read my review and really appreciated what I had to say, offering to give me a free copy of his new EP, entitled Paper Bird. I rejected the free copy, but told him I would get to the review as soon as I could. My reviews are primarily intended to help recommend music to buyers, but for the artist himself to read it and take it as quality feedback - I never would have expected that kind of thing to come so soon. Thanks for the support Dylan, and I hope this review helps you out with making your next album!

To read my review of Hollow Man, click here.

***

It's very infrequent for an artist to have multiple releases within a year. Usually, it takes years for a new album by an artist to come out, and even an EP usually takes about a year, but there are exceptions. Back in the 1970s, Electric Light Orchestra were able to crank out an album almost annually with an average of 12 songs each. Even nowadays some bands can release above-decent albums on a very frequent basis.

After iamsleepless hadn't released anything for three years after "Holding Up The Sky", to see not only a full album but then Paper Bird later on in the year was quite the surprise. But it a pleasant one, or was this EP rushed?

***

Album: Paper Bird

Artist: iamsleepless

Year of Release: 2014

Genre: Acoustic Guitar

***

"Hollow Man", to some, was an album with an identity crisis of sorts. While both the electronic music and acoustic songs blended together really well, it could definitely throw some listeners off. This EP decides to limit itself to just acoustic guitar as to not vary too much between the three tracks. Some may miss the electronic music, but for something this small, the two styles could have easily conveyed mixed messages. In a full album, he has more time to make the two styles work together.

But the acoustic guitar - it's such a basic instrument. Can it really carry a whole EP all on its own?

Dylan completely dispels any doubt with the first song, entitled 1400 Miles. It's a really simple piece, but a really interesting one. The guitar is not only used as a means of conveying melody, but also bass, rhythm, and percussion. The entire piece is an ostinato at its core, meaning that it plays the same basic line over and over again, but it's what is added and subtracted that prevents it from being boring. There's no singing or lyrics, just pure atmosphere. Some might say it overstates its welcome by a little bit, but for an album that is essentially intended to keep listeners relaxed, it certainly will do just that - but at the same time, it's interesting enough to not put them to sleep.

Shallow Seas doesn't take any time to build up, as within ten seconds the soothing vocals kick in. The song's pretty basic, and the lyrics aren't really that memorable, but it still works. The most stand-out thing about this track is the echo effect on the vocals. It sounds almost as if the song was sung on a boat out in the middle of a lake and could be heard from any part of the surrounding land. Perhaps that was the intention, perhaps it wasn't, but either way it sounds really neat. The singing isn't the most impressive, but it doesn't have to be. There are some things that simply can't be done outside of post-production, and given iamsleepless' electronic roots, it's clear that post-production is a huge part of his music-making process. The guitar doesn't really do much in this song, but it provides a nice backdrop. Turns out the guitar didn't have to carry the whole EP after all!

The title track, Paper Bird, is another guitar-only song, but it's completely different from the first song. While the first song was more technical but repetitive, this song is melodic and lyrical in nature. Because it's the acoustic guitar, there's some repeating elements, sure, but the focus is almost entirely on the melody. There really isn't too much to the song, as with the other songs on this album, but it's certainly a relaxing experience at the very least. "Shallow Seas" is the more memorable song, but this is still a nice closer.

This is a really short release even for an EP, only clocking in at around 10 minutes, but it was just the length it needed to be. While Dylan certainly proved that the acoustic guitar is a very capable instrument, it certainly can get dull after a while, and while "Hollow Man" is by far the better listening experience, this EP is more than worth the small asking price. And since it is only 10 minutes, the fact that it took five months to make this EP proves that it absolutely could not have been rushed. It's not the most memorable, it's not the most interesting, but for what it is, it does a great job at doing it.

***

Music Video Sample:

<to come at a later date>

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/paper-bird-single/id910615433

Bandcamp: http://iamsleepless.bandcamp.com/album/paper-bird-ep

The Hands that Thieve by Streetlight Manifesto - Album Review

One of the most important musicians of the new millennium is Thomas Kalnoky. Kalnoky is an extremely talented guitarist and singer who sang in three different bands and also released some solo acoustic albums under the stage name "Toh Kay". While the best, most innovative work from Kalnoky comes from a wonderful little EP released back in 2001, he is without a shadow of a doubt most famous for his current band, Streetlight Manifesto.

This ska punk band formed as a result of a lineup change in his former band, Catch 22, and has not only guitar, drums, and bass, but also a trumpeter, a trombonist, and two saxophonists. Few ska punk groups have a lineup quite like this, and Streetlight benefits from this unique sound.

Streetlight's most popular album, Somewhere in the Between, released back in 2007, and while the first volume of a cover project entitled 99 Songs of Revolution was a nice treat in 2011, fans of the band really were waiting for the next big release. Finally, after a major record label dispute and the cancellation of a companion album by Toh Kay, The Hands that Thieve finally released in April 2013.

***

Album: The Hands that Thieve

Band: Streetlight Manifesto

Year of Release: 2013

Genre: Ska Punk

***

At its core, this album is another Streetlight album. That may sound a bit obvious, but there really is no better way to describe it. It does a lot of the same great things that Streetlight has done in the past, but it doesn't seem to push the band's sound forward in the same way that Somewhere in the Between did six years prior. Does that make it a bad album?

The album doesn't take any time to open up. The Three of Us starts with Kalnoky on guitar and vocals for a good twenty seconds and then the entire band just joins in and has a good time. Streetlight always has had some of the best instrumental fills, but this first one really sounds weak. The trumpet player must have had a bad day in the studio because there's no full sound when he plays in the higher register, which can be a bit distracting at times. The singing's pretty decent, but the lyrics aren't that memorable. Kalnoky is still a great lyricist, so there are some neat nods to other bands in this song like "The Long and Winding Road" but it's nothing too significant. The song also overstates its welcome a bit at just over 5 minutes. It's still a good listen, but it's a pretty weak opener.

Ungrateful, coincidently enough, takes a little while to start up, and the opening is pretty neat. The trumpet player sounds a lot better in this song, and when the whole band kicks in, it sounds full of life. When the intro ends, the song kicks into high gear and sounds more like a modern punk song. The lyrics are much better than the opener - listeners will want to sing along with this one. Kalnoky is still a great singer so it will sound pretty good regardless of what he's singing. This song is a lot more catchy than the song before it. It makes sense why this is not the opener, but at the same time I think this is a better opener than "The Three of Us". Either way, really good song. The shout chorus part towards the end is a nice touch too.

The Littlest Things dives right in to a comfortable tempo that's slower than "Ungrateful" but still pushes forward. The drummer really stands out in this song as being especially talented, but the wind players all sound great as well. The weakest part of this song is Kalnoky, actually, as his guitar work is barely shown off, the lyrics are forgettable, and the vocal backers do a better job than Kalnoky does in this song. That doesn't make it a bad song, but the band sounds a lot less complete without Kalnoky doing anything significant until the end of the song.

The title track, The Hands that Thieve, should have been the opener. It builds up a lot better than the other songs, and when it starts up it's a lot better than "The Three of Us". The lyrics are also better, and Kalnoky does a lot better in this song. The other instrumentalists are really great as well: the sax players really jam in this song in certain parts, the trombonist sounds incredible, and the trumpet sounds a lot stronger than he did in the actual opener. It's not as catchy as past Streetlight songs, but it still works well. The slow bit near the end works really well, surprisingly not sounding too out of place. It's a pretty decent song.

With Any Sort of Certainty reminded me that this was Streetlight Manifesto's album with its more heavy feel. The previous songs sounded a bit reserved and tame in comparison to this song and the songs on prior albums. The lyrics are great, the brass and saxes fit right in, and it's just a killer track. This album would have been so much better if all of the songs were like this instead of having the aforementioned weaker tracks, with the exception of "Ungrateful". This song clocks in over six minutes, but it never gets boring because they keep changing things up, which, for a band with some punk influence, is a bit weird to say, but that's what Streetlight is. If there was any sign that Streetlight was progressing even a little, this song is that evidence. One other track, which comes later in the album, has some evidence of Streetlight changing their sound.

If Only for Memories is the only song on the album to call back to some of the band's Latin influence found in some of their earlier albums. It's a nice change of pace, but beyond that, there's not too much to this track. Like a lot of Latin songs, the trumpeter really shines in some parts, which redeems his weak sound in the opener, but there was so much more room for the trumpet to do a lot more. The song's really catchy, but it doesn't sound very fresh. When comparing this song to something like "It's a Wonderful Life" from one of Kalnoky's older projects, this song really won't stand out. It also doesn't do enough different things to warrant a five-minute run time.

They Broke Him Down, meanwhile, does sound pretty different, being that other track that does something different. The song alternates from a hardcore punk feel to a light ska/rock feel, jumping back and forth and sounding great throughout the entire track. Once again, it's surprising that these two different sounds fit together as nicely as they do. Towards the end of the track these two styles blend together to make a third, more full sound that brings the song to a close. Another great track.

Toe to Toe takes a comfortable mid-tempo and rolls with it the whole song. The focus of this song is really on the vocals, and the lyrics are the best on the album so far, so it really is good. The instrumental fill in the middle is a nice break, and the sax and trumpet solos are really impressive, if a bit underplayed. Unlike the other songs on this album, which tend to overstate their welcome, this song seems to cut it a bit short when it could have benefitted from another short instrumental break and chorus repetition.

Oh Me, Oh My is the best song on the album. The lyrics are even better than that of "Toe to Toe" and the tune just works as a song that anyone would sing along to, especially the chorus. The only concern with that is that this by far the least "punk" song on the album. While the rest of this album sounds like "just another Streetlight album" for the most part, the song that stands out the most is the song that really strays from the band's roots. This could either mean that Streetlight is running out of ideas or that this song is a sign of what is to come. If it is the latter, then the future of Streetlight seems to be a more mature, less heavy rock band with ska punk elements.

The opener of this album was incredibly weak, but the closer, Your Day Will Come, is a great closer. It's loud, it's exciting, and it wraps everything up nicely. When taken out of the context of the album, however, it's not that interesting and doesn't do anything that "The Littlest Things" or "With Any Sort of Certainty" or "The Three of Us" didn't already do. It's as if they cloned those songs, but some really fantastic lyrics over it, and made it their closer. But the lyrics are so good that it really makes no difference. If there weren't three other songs that sounded like this one on this album and a whole other album full of similar songs, this song would stand out a lot more.

But that's the main issue here. If some new ska punk band released this album, it would probably stand out a lot more, but this is Streetlight Manifesto. This band has been around for over 10 years and if there are only two or three songs that stand out on a ten-track album, then clearly something needs to change. An album that had all songs like "With Any Sort of Certainty" and "Oh Me, Oh My" on it would be much more welcomed than an album that has mostly songs that people have already heard, even if people prefer their earlier work. It's not by any means a bad album, but a lot of it is pretty unmemorable. This album still has some really good parts hidden within the familiar sound. In the end, it is still Streetlight Manifesto, and it's hard not to like this album for that reason.

***

Music Sample Video:

<to be released at a later date>

Amazon*: http://www.amazon.com/Hands-That-Thieve-Streetlight-Manifesto/dp/B0096N639O

Streetlight's website**: http://streetlightmanifesto.com

*I am not providing an iTunes link for this album as purchasing the album through iTunes supports Victory Records and NOT Streetlight Manifesto.

**As a result of Streetlight's conflict with Victory Records, there is no way to purchase this album through their website as of the writing of this review.

Lights Out by Graveyard - Album Review

The hard rock scene really did not expect anything like Graveyard back when they debuted in 2007. It's very uncommon for anything but metal to come from Sweden or Norway and be successful in the States. Graveyard also has a fairly unique sound to their name, with some clear blues and folk influences creeping into most of their songs. Granted, Graveyard is certainly not the most well-known hard rock band, but they're nothing to sneeze at.

Graveyard's self-titled debut was decent, but it really wasn't until Hisingen Blues that defined a sound for themselves. But Lights Out?

...well, that's in a completely different league.

***

Album: Lights Out

Band: Graveyard

Year Released: 2012

Genre: Hard Rock

***

The most important thing for any band to have is togetherness. If the parts don't align, the song sounds bad - it's just that simple. In classical ensembles the way this is done is to look at the director, but what happens when there is no director? When jazz groups began to form, the term "get into a groove" began to emerge as a means of teaching people how to listen to the musicians around them and feel the beat internally.

To say Graveyard gets in a groove is a harsh understatement. When listening to their music, the precision can almost be felt by listeners. Obviously every good band has to have their members play together, but not too many are better at it than these guys. If there were one word to describe every song on this album, it would be precise.

The album opens up with The Industry Of Murder, a song that starts with a siren resembling an ambulance siren, but slowed down. On top of that the song begins to build, adding a basic guitar riff, some drums, and a few other nice features until the first verse begins. The second that verse begins, the band locks into place and just keeps on moving. It is nearly impossible to not tap a foot to this song when it really rocks.

After listening to this album over and over, the first song has an interesting quirk: the tempo of the first verse is slightly faster than the opening. It's strange and it's likely a mistake on the drummer's part, but the band makes it sound intentional. It could have been fixed in post-production, however it's really not that important and doesn't really hurt the song.

The second song, Slow Motion Countdown, locks in really nicely at a slower tempo. It's simpler than the other songs on the album, but it still works. It is a bit hard to appreciate this one, when the Swedish accent makes the lyrics a bit hard to decipher. This song is one only two times in the album where the lyrics are really hard to make out at times, which is impressive for a foreign band. It also is placed oddly, as a slower song would normally be more towards the middle of the album. It's still a good song, but not too memorable.

Seven Seven suddenly picks up the pace again and doesn't lets the tempo or dynamic fall even a little. It just goes, and it's great for it! It never feels boring, it never overstates its welcome, and it is a great song. The lyrics are pretty good too. This would be a much better second song than what they went with. In fact, if this and "Slow Motion Countdown" were swapped, it would work out much better.

The album started out decently well, but it doesn't get really good until The Suits, The Law, and the Uniforms. It sits at a nice mid-tempo, and while the song has more focus on singing, the instruments back up the singers very well, and the lyrics are fantastic.

The suits, the law, and the uniforms,

Bringing grieve on the sand patrol,

You know that life was meant for so much more than this,

More than wages, profit, and control.

The song is one of the best on the album. It's just a shame that the best songs aren't being shown off earlier in the album. While "Slow Motion Countdown" was just badly placed, this song is clearly more impressive than "Seven Seven". It's not to say that an album should always have the best songs first, but a listener needs something to keep them listening, and while "Slow Motion Countdown" and "Seven Seven" are both great songs, they just aren't as good as this one.

The best song on the album is Endless Night. Graveyard shows off their ability to stay in a groove best here, and no other song is quite as technical and impressive as this one. The song pushes forward at a faster tempo, and it benefits from it. This song also features a great bridge where the song quiets down and features only the bass playing a simple melody with the lyrics being sung overtop. That part of the song gives the illusion that the band is slowing down, but instead they continue to drive forward, adding more instruments and building up to a great climactic final chorus. The lyrics are really good as well, though admittedly inferior to the preceding track.

I was born to endless night,

All my trying is in vain,

Some people think that I am mad

Because I've thrown away all that I had.

Hard Times Lovin' is another slower track, which was placed well after the fastest, most exciting track. The song still has a hard rock feel, and Graveyard performs it really precisely as always. The lyrics aren't the best, but it still works well. It also picks up in volume towards the end, which makes the song more interesting. A listener would not expect the song to build up as much as it does when the song first starts. It's a good track.

Goliath is where the album starts to pick up again. It plays at a comfortable tempo and rocks pretty hard throughout. When someone says that Graveyard gets into the groove, the best example of that is in this song. The drums, while not overly complicated, are one of the more impressive parts of this song just for the fact that it holds the song together so well. Graveyard's drummer is the epitome of precision. The other parts cannot be ignored, however as the guitar parts are very impressive and, while the lyrics aren't the best, the execution is spot-on. This song just works. Period.

Fool in the End takes the mid-tempo route again. Everything works well in this song except the singing, which occasionally feels a bit out of place. The more clean singing just does not fit with the band as well in this song as it did in the slower songs. The lyrics are also hard to understand in this one, which makes this song a bit hard to really like. This song is the album's weakest.

The closer, 20/20 (Tunnel Vision), takes the slow tempo for a third time, but this time it works really well. "Slow Motion Countdown" and "Hard Times Lovin'" were good tracks, but this song is by far the most memorable of the three. The two singers harmonize really well together in this track, and the  guitar call-and-response effect works really well in the background.  Like in Goliath, the drums really hold this track together moreso than in some of the other songs. While it doesn't close the album quite as nicely as "The Industry of Murder" opens it up, it still works well as a closer and it's a great slow song on its own. 

While not a revolutionary album by any means, Lights Out manages to still be a really good album, despite some odd ordering choices and some weaker tracks. The album has no bad songs, but there are certainly a few that stand above the rest. It's Graveyard's best album by far, and it's one of the best hard rock albums of 2012. It's unlikely that this album will be talked about for years and years to come, however. It would be safe to assume, however, that Graveyard, with their evident precision and talent, will be able to release that revolutionary album in the future.

***

Music Sample Video:

<to be added at a later date>

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lights-out/id566459024

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/graveyardofficial

Hollow Man by iamsleepless - Album Review

Music is more than just a form of entertainment. It is a way of life, an art form, an expression of feelings and emotion. If a song is catchy and nothing else, it's generally not a good song, but if a song makes listeners happy or angry or sad... that's what people remember.

So how does all of this in-depth analysis on what music is relate to this artist that no one knows about?

iamsleepless is a solo musical project by someone with quite a history. He has been entertaining for years on his YouTube channels (Bananapielord and Hewbz), but gradually began to focus more and more on music-making, especially after a hand injury that prevented him from being on his computer all day. One of the videos he made on the Bananapielord channel discussed his rather depressing past, and his music very clearly calls back to that past while talking about how he feels in the present day. It's clear that Hollow Man is a passion project and it pays off.

***

Album: Hollow Man

Artist: iamsleepless

Year Released: 2014

Genre: Electronic / Acoustic

***

This album is a unique combination of both electronic music and acoustic guitar. It's not a very common combination, but somehow the songs manage to all fit together, with a soft, relaxing feel throughout. It's a good album to wind down to after a long day.

The first song, Distant Admiration, is an electronic song, and a very catchy one at that. Catchy doesn't make a good song, however, and while it is a good opener, it's one of my least favorite songs on the album. It definitely fits with the album, but it lacks the heart and soul of the songs that follow.

From a composition standpoint, it still is quite impressive. Its main melody is heard throughout nearly the entire song while the surrounding tracks start to do different things. Around the three-minute mark the song starts to slow down, but it also gets a bit less interesting. Luckily it speeds back up about a minute later to a mid-tempo pace. The song closes after some repetitions of similar melodies, when it probably should have ended about two minutes earlier. After the opener comes the acoustic songs, which are easily the highlight of the album.

A World Apart is a pretty simple in terms of the guitar work, but it is so calming and soothing that it is hard not to like. The singing is impressive, and the lyrics being sung are poetic in nature:

A world apart,

An ocean between our hearts,

This is who we are,

They can't keep us apart.

Those words - that's something that could be turned into a poster or be put in a frame. That's something a husband tells his wife on their wedding day. That's something a young man tells his family before going out to war.

It would be completely inaccurate to call this song a musical masterpiece, but it has passion behind it and that's what sells the song.

The title track, Hollow Man, features some decently impressive acoustic guitar work. Once again, the lyrics are fantastic:

I'm just a hollow man,

Someone that I can't stand,

My hands are killing me,

Who I am, is it who I see?

The man behind iamsleepless had a hand injury that crippled his ability to make frequent YouTube videos, something that had been his way of expressing himself for over five years. This song is a clear response to that incident - he claims to be "hollow" because he was unsure of who he really was. These lyrics once again make the song, although the music itself is still rather impressive on its own.

But isn't this lyrical prowess something non-exclusive to iamsleepless? Don't all lyricists get their inspiration from somewhere? Why would these lyrics be greater than that of "Stairway to Heaven" or "Elanor Rigby"? The answer is they're not.

When you take away the lyrics from this album, you have some good electronic music and decent acoustic guitar, but not much else. From a pure musical standpoint, this album really does not stand out. But for some reason the lyrics and the guitar really make these songs work, and the electronic songs somehow manage to complete the package, despite the fact that songs like "Distant Admiration" would not normally be paired with the likes of "A World Apart". What makes this album so special?

As an interlude, another electronic piece, entitled Suspended in Time, is played. It sounds like an interlude song when you listen to it, which is good for the album but not so good for the song itself. While it's not really impressive for that reason, the album also would not feel complete without it. After all, the lack of an electronic piece in the middle would make the first track really stand out in a bad way. It's a song that you would never deliberately choose to listen to, but it is a good interlude for the album. It also ends with an acoustic bit, which helps transition back into the acoustic guitar songs to follow.

Lonely Girl is the most complicated guitar song on the album, musically, but it doesn't have the same technical guitar bits that "Hollow Man" had, making it less impressive instrumentally. Once again, however, the lyrics do help - not as memorable as the prior two acoustic songs, but still good. There's also still the fact that the song is so calming and soothing that it's hard to hate.

Fly Away With Me is also pretty good, thanks to the addition of the girl accompaniment. There were certainly some missed opportunities for harmonization, as the girl only sings the same pitches as iamsleepless instead of making chords with him. The lyrics are just as great as the previous songs. It's still a good song, but it definitely could have been better.

In My Arms is the most forgettable song on the album. It sounds just like "Fly Away With Me" and doesn't do too much different. The lyrics are pretty forgettable too, which is sad considering the rest of the album's great lyrical work. There's a decent guitar feature in the middle, but it isn't anything to write home about. Just like the other songs, however, the relaxing nature of the song does prevent people from just skipping past it. This song, at its best, is just another part of the near-zen-like experience that comes with listening to this album or albums like it.

The album closes in the same way it opened, with an electronic piece, except Transcending Time is a lot slower and more atmospheric, making it a really good closer. Unfortunately, like the interlude, it doesn't do too much other than close out the album. It's the weakest song on the album by far, but it serves its purpose, so it's hard to complain.

So without the lyrics this album is nothing, but the lyrics themselves, while sometimes really good, never really reach the levels of the more iconic songs. If that's the case, then this should be a bad album - especially with the odd combination of electronic and acoustic music - but for some reason it's not.

Art is a strange beast. It can be interpreted in different ways, and it can be liked or hated, depending on who is observing it. No one could ever give a completely right answer on what makes good art, and no one ever will. To some, the most impressive works of art are the most complicated. If a painting has an incredible attention to detail, and viewers can make out the face of a person who is far into the background, some would consider that true artistic talent. But to others, the most impressive works of art are simpler. These people appreciate not the painting itself, but what the painting intends to communicate. A painting of a bowl of fruit may not be that complicated, but the arrangement of that fruit, why each object is in a certain location and what that means.

So what makes this album so special?

Hollow Man is a bowl of fruit in the music industry. It's not the best, it's not the most complicated, and it's not the most impressive, but every note and word is deliberate and intentional, and that is what makes this album so good.

***

Music Sample Video: <to be added at a later date>

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hollow-man/id853817218

iamsleepless' Bandcamp: http://iamsleepless.bandcamp.com/album/hollow-man

_wE, Invaders by UneXpect - Album Review

Heavy metal has a stigma attached to it. Whether it be the classic thrash of Metallica or the modern symphonic black metal from Dimmu Borgir, the general public tends to generalize all metal as unappealing noise with very little musical value. Most would never choose a metal band as being the most musical or most lyrical because of that stigma. How could this "white noise" and "ear-piercing screaming" ever be considered musical?

Well, UneXpect is one of the most musical and lyrical bands out there. Period. That's a fact. Their EP, entitled _wE, Invaders, proves it.

If it wasn't obvious enough by the EP's title and the band's name, UneXpect prides themselves on being different in any way possible. The bassist for the band, whose stage name is ChaotH, started using a 9-stringed bass shortly after this album released for little noticeable reason other than to be different. The band also has a violin as a feature instrument, something very uncommon from anything that isn't symphonic black metal. The band even occasionally dabbles in using music samples, which is pretty much unheard of in the traditional metal scene.

So UneXpect is different, but different doesn't necessarily mean good. Some metal bands are simply too progressive for their own good. After all, the end goal of making music is to entertain people, and if the music isn't entertaining, the musicians essentially failed at being musicians. A good example of this is Tool, a band that people respect for being innovative but not one that not even a metal enthusiast would play in their car while driving to work every day. Is UneXpect's sophomoric EP so different that it loses its entertainment value?

No. In fact, it's one of the best metal albums out there and will continue to impress with every listen.

***

Album: _wE, Invaders

Band: UneXpect

Year Released: 2003

Genre: Avant-Garde Metal

***

This EP contains 4 songs, but each song is of a decent length for a metal song, averaging around six minutes, and none of the songs ever get dull like a lot of rock and metal songs tend to do when they cross the 5 minute mark.

The album starts out with simple audio effects and drums, setting the dark tone and mood of the first track, Novae. Tension continues to build up through the first minute of the first song until an organ solo kicks in. With the solo soon comes one instrument after another, finally reaching a climax.

When the song really begins, a typical non-metal enthusiast would hate it at first. But if that listener took another few seconds to really dig into the song, they would begin to hear the real musicality behind this song. The drums, which are the reason behind the "white noise" categorization of heavy metal songs, can more easily be overlooked to focus on the impressive guitar work, the brilliant harmony between the two female vocal lines, and the surprisingly fitting violin.

People that cannot respect metal are people who cannot listen beyond the growling and drums, features which only serve to make the music sound more aggressive. It never was intended to be the highlight of the songs they are in. UneXpect clearly demonstrates real talent, but like a lot of metal, it just takes a little bit of time to recognize.

What's even more interesting is that only about a minute of the song has the really aggressive drums and growling. The rest of the song is pure musical talent, and I love it for that, despite this song being my least favorite on the album.

The second song, Rooted Shadows, starts with a beautiful female vocal line with some electronic samples and keyboard thrown in the background to set the mood. The intro definitely has some surprises, but for this band, pardon the pun, you have to expect the UneXpected. This song's chorus definitely is a bit heavier than Novae, but it has a more defined melody and focuses a lot more on the vocals, which have to be respected.

UneXpect tends to follow a similar pattern with most of their songs. There's an intro followed by a refrain that tends to be heavy and aggressive. After that comes the middle section, which tends to regress the song into something simpler, but completely different from the refrain. The rest of the song then takes that different melody and builds it back up until the refrain is revisited. In some of the songs on their full-length albums they do this twice in one song, but on this EP they stick to this formula pretty closely.

What usually defines UneXpect songs are not the refrain, but rather the middle section, especially in the case of Rooted Shadows. It's a fantastic song, but it is not my favorite on the album.

The longest, and perhaps most memorable, track on the EP is In Velvet Coffins We Slept, a rerecording of a song from their 1999 album "Utopia". This version is by far the superior version, giving much more focus to the violin. The violin in this song is some of the best violin work I have ever heard. It's not the most technical or most difficult, but it just fits so well.

This is also the only song on the album where I can say that the refrain is just as memorable as the middle part, making this entire song a really great listen. A lot of metal enthusiasts would recommend Iron Maiden or Metallica as a good entry point to metal, but this song would not be too bad of an entry point for a classically-trained musician.

The other interesting aspect of this song is that the refrain is only about 90 seconds long. The remainder of this eight-minute track is all build-up, and very entertaining build-up at that. Most songs that try this approach would get dull within 2 minutes, but this song manages to continue to keep the listener's  attention for 5 minutes before the second chorus hits.

The most unique track on this album is its last, Chromatic Chimera. Following the core belief of UneXpect, the last thing anyone would expect on a metal album is a classical piano piece, and sure enough that is exactly what they did. This song is so unique and different that it blows all expectation away. No other classical-style piece is anything like this.

This song, despite not being anything like the prior three songs in terms of sound, still manages to sound just like an UneXpect song. The beginning part is an intro to a refrain, which degrades into something simpler and more playful, slowly building up to the refrain again. It's engaging, it's unique, and it's the best song on the album.

This song also features a really unique ending, to say the least. The piano suddenly cuts in and out of static before regressing to a simple melody played by a music box. It's a perfect way to end this song and this album. When this song is listened to on its own, the ending will seem very out of place, but when closing out the full album, it wraps it up in a similar manner to how the album began, as if the album was being played from an old set of speakers, but the music brought listeners to a different reality of chaos and insanity before bringing them back to reality and lullabying them to the album's close.

UneXpect liked this song so much that they decided to adapt it into a metal song as the first track of their following album, "In a Flesh Aquarium". That album, while still decent, is occasionally a bit too progressive for its own good, and while Chromatic Chimera is still a good song on that album, the classical adaption here is by far the superior version.

This album, simply put, is fantastic. It unilaterally proves that metal is a lot more than just drums and growling, and it manages to do more interesting things than even some of the most praised artists have ever done.

***

I will not be giving albums a numerical score as music is a very subjective topic. What may be 5 stars for some may be 1 star for others. All I can give is my pure opinion. I hope you enjoyed the first review - at the conclusion of all of these posts will be a short sample of each song compiled in a YouTube video,  and a link to buy the album from both iTunes and the band directly (if you want a physical copy).

***

Music Sample Video: <to be added at a later date>

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/we-invaders-ep/id434848298

UneXpect's site: http://unexpect.com/unxpct/index.php/music-2/

Introduction

Greetings! My name's Matt, and I've been across the internet for years now doing all sorts of different things, but in reality I only have two real passions: writing and music.

This blog is an outlet for me to review albums of any sort, whether it be hard rock, heavy metal, or modern pop. I generally will stray away from reviewing things I don't like, because like all art, music is subjective. There are very few artists who are universally considered bad. My favorite band is heavy metal band Kyng, but someone else may think that they aren't very talented, preferring a band like Green Day. Then some older gentlemen who is in his late 70s or 80s claims that all modern music is nothing like some classic Duke Ellington swing.

That's the real beauty of music, isn't it? The ability to take away different things from the same song. Some will appreciate the instrumental prowess while others will just care about the lyrics and nothing else. With that in mind, I have to continue to stress that what I write here is my opinion. I will aim to take an unbiased approach, but even critics choose favorites. Please, if you read something and disagree, comment about it!

I also am on the social media. At the moment, I only am using Twitter @mml_129, however I will soon get some other pages up and running. If you're interested in anything else I do online (such as my "Let's Play" video game walkthroughs) then you can also learn more through my Twitter.

For now I just plan to review my personal favorite albums, but as new releases come out I will try to get to them in a timely manner. Obviously I won't be able to review everything, but whatever I purchase, listen to, and enjoy, I will review.

Thanks a lot for reading. My first review will be of an obscure metal EP called "We, Invaders" by a band named UneXpect. Never heard of them? Well, I can assure you that you're in for a treat even if you aren't into the metal scene.

Have a good one!