UNDER ASPECT: The Things You Should Not See: CD

Under Aspect is a loud, punchy post-hardcore melodic band from Montreal, Canada. They’ve been together since 2006 and released their highly anticipated third album. They give us eight heavy tracks in under thirty minutes and it really whets your appetite for more.

The album has a very unified sound, the tracks all flow into each other, but it’s not like one long song, the songs are just well mixed and placed on this album so that the music doesn’t sound like it was haphazardly done, but instead creates its own tight mix. The playing is fantastic, far superior to a lot of the crap that I have heard in this genre, the mix of smooth and growled vocals suit the songs and the hooks, yes the hooks, are amazing. You can hear the emotion in the vocals and the intensity of the playing is on a higher plane. Eight  songs, not one weak song in the bunch, so no one song that stands out, the whole album stands out.

I’ve heard a lot of post hardcore bands, most are too shouty, or get too emo for me, but this is how it’s supposed to be, crunchy, hard and thrilling. This will make you rethink what you thought was post hardcore…get this!

https://www.facebook.com/underaspect

http://underaspect.bandcamp.com/

http://underaspect.net/

https://www.facebook.com/silverwingsstudios

http://www.swstudios.ca/

BRAIDED VEINS: Future/Forever: 12″

 

 

The debut EP from Flint, MI’s BRAIDED VEINS featuring members of EMPTY ORCHESTRA, THE SWELLERS, KID BROTHER COLLECTIVE, THE CONQUEROR WORM and more. Seven tight, blistering songs that grab you by the throat and hammer you into submission with the devastating sound that comes ripping out of your speakers. EPs never last long, but this one seems to be over far too quickly. From the moment you start listening, the energy levels hit the roof without dropping for a second. The pounding drums, the wicked riffs, the pounding bass and the shouted vocals are all working together with the well written songs to create an EP that begs for a whole album to be delivered. “Watch Carefully” and its follow-up “How Did You Imagine the End?” are down-to-business post-hardcore rockers, “The Future Lasts Forever” is a short burst of pure energy, “The Nature of the Cruise Century” has a garage punk feel to it, “Some Fundamental Questions on the Nature of Being” and “On the Limits of Tomorrow” keep the high energy going and “To Whomever Finds This Document:” ends the album on a high note.

Get this one and tell them to get going on a full length album soon.

https://www.facebook.com/BraidedVeins  http://braidedveinsmi.tumblr.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Your-Generation-Records/253003344820954

http://saveyourgenerationrecords.bandcamp.com/album/future-forever

SIGNALS MIDWEST: Light On The Lake: LP

These guys from Cleveland, OH play a mix of punk, pop punk, and post hardcore that blends together very well. We have twelve songs that showcase the emotive vocals and energetic playing of people who really enjoy what they are doing and it shows so well on this album.

The pacing of the album gives you the ragers and the softer moments to give you a break, the sharp hooks come at you one after another, and the high level of musicianship gives this album a head up over other bands who struggle through their own albums. The vocals have a nice range of being smooth to becoming louder and more manic, the bass playing is a highlight, especially on “The Desert To Denver” which is a favorite of mine, the drumming is devastating and the guitar playing really shines as well.

This is an album that will shake up your expectations and worm its way into your head after one listen. This is one terrific album that just gets better the more that you listen to it.

https://www.facebook.com/signalsmidwest  http://signalsmidwest.bandcamp.com/album/light-on-the-lake

https://www.facebook.com/tinyengines  http://tinyengines.bandcamp.com/

http://tinyengines.limitedrun.com/

BRIEF LIVES: Whistleblower: 7″

This quartet from Virginia give us two tracks of post hardcore that gets under your skin and won’t let go. A bit of the old D.C. sound, a bit FUGAZI, JAWBOX and QUICKSAND meets 1.6 BAND all meet in their sound, but not in a way that takes away from the band, but just gives the songs a little bit of texture.

“Whistleblower” has a nice shouted lead vocal, and terrific wall of noise music creating a great sound with thick bass and guitar playing that goes from gentle to ringing without missing a beat. “No Voice” is a bit faster and has that fat bass going through it, more shouted vocals, inspired guitar playing and as in the last song, drumming that gets your head bobbing and your feet tapping.

Two songs, both winners that will grab you and make you sad that there are only two songs on here. These guys really need to get an album out.

https://www.facebook.com/BriefLivesBand  http://brieflives.bandcamp.com/album/whistleblower

THE CAPTAIN HATES THE SEA: As You Will: Download

This five-piece band from Chicago, IL plays post hardcore mixed with electronica and pulls it off. Two genres that have a ton of energy and have layers of sounds on their own mix together to take the anger and energy to another level.

The album has the traditional aggressive sound of both genres and pushes them together to take on a whole new fierce sound that kicks up the energy up a few notches. The songs come at you hard and fast, but the added electronica gives the songs more textures and depth that not only get your head banging, but your feet taping too. It does remind me of the experiments in the late ’90s that bands were trying to do, but this seems to work really well. Tight played songs, great dual vocals, one clean and one screamed that mix together well, powerful drumming, thick bass guitar, and the heavy riffing all added to the well thought out songs really grabs you. The standout tracks were “Catharsis (Feat. Garret Rapp)”, “Broncos In The Basement”, “Branches”, “Segments”, and “The Octothorpe”.

The album was a very cool mixture of two sides of a coin that would normally not be put together, but they managed to pull it off. This is an album that would sound mega-huge in a club played really loud.

https://www.facebook.com/thecaptainhatesthesea  https://www.facebook.com/stayposirecords

http://stayposirecords.bandcamp.com/  http://stayposi.com/

JOWLS: Cursed E.P.: 10″

This band from Grand Rapids, MI takes elements of screamo, punk, and post hardcore and mixes it up on this E.P.

The vocals are close to screamo with their throat shredding howls, but at times it veers out of it and gets a bit more hardcore sounding. The guitars are blistering with the leads jumping out at you, the bass hitting nice and heavy and the pummeling of the drums just add to the devastation that this band produces in just over fifteen minutes. Every song has power, emotion and energy that will captivate your ears and draw you into their world of anger and pain. Add into this the excellent songwriting with the superb playing and you have a mighty fine E.P.

These guys are going to be huge if the get the right breaks if these songs are any indication of their talent. Their drive and ambition alone should have them conquering stages wherever they go.

https://www.facebook.com/jowlsband  http://jowls.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/tinyengines  http://tinyengines.limitedrun.com/

http://tinyengines.bandcamp.com/

RIDGEMONT / TWO HAND FOOLS: Split: 7″

Two bands coming together on a split EP with two songs each. RIDGEMONT from Allston, MA and TWO HAND FOOLS from Cleveland, Ohio.

Up first is RIDGEMONT with their two songs of poppy punk that is hard-hitting and catchy as all get out. Lots of thick bass, gruff vocals and energetic…great stuff! TWO HAND FOOLS give us two songs of post hardcore that have a lot of melody and fantastic guitar playing and although quite a different beast from their partner on this EP, stand on their own quite well.

A great split with two bands that aren’t similar, but that’s the cool thing, getting a different sound and checking out different bands. Very cool!

https://www.facebook.com/twohandfools  http://twohandfools.tumblr.com/

http://twohandfools.bandcamp.com/  https://www.facebook.com/RidgemontMA

http://ridgemont.bandcamp.com/  https://www.facebook.com/mindlessrecords

http://mindlessrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ridgemont-two-hand-fools-split

COLD SUMMER: Self-titled: CD

COLD SUMMER are a self-proclaimed post hardcore band, playing heavy yet
melodic (passionate, but not pretentious) punk/hardcore influenced rock that burns with intensity. The band released their debut EP Transitions in January 2012, and in the middle of 2012, released the five track EP Wake and now have their debut long-player out.

The album opens with “The Fallen” coming in with huge drumming that pounds the senses before a guitar comes in to join the rhythmic presence of the bass and the yelled vocals add punch to this hard-hitting opener. “Waiting” emerges from the sonic wail of the guitar with the bass while the concussive beats of the drums pound the ear. The following pair of songs, “Ships” and “Processed Lives” show the evolving direction of the band’s style. “Ships” is an emotive and intelligently crafted track while the coarse tones of the riffs are edgy and compelling in “Processed Lives”. “Car Crash (In Progress)” has a touch of blues in the playing, but keeps the high power and intensity going, especially with the manically screamed vocals in parts of the song. “Waiting (Alternative Version)” has an emotive and achingly heartfelt sound to it with the piano taking a front seat and comes off as one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard in a long time. “Wake” brings back the yelled vocals and is played at a mid to slow pace. Last song “A Is For Arson” has a sinewy groove that grabs you and makes you want to move, dance, jump around, all of that and more and was one of my favorites on the album.

The band really made a terrific long player and shows the potential to be a massive presence with the talent shown on this release. I’ll be keeping my eye on them, and so should you!

https://www.facebook.com/ColdSummeruk  http://coldsummer.bandcamp.com/

http://coldsummermusic.bigcartel.com/

ANGRY: Wild Ox Shangri-La: CD

Formed in 2012 in the wake of two of Vancouver, BC’s aggressive music juggernauts, JAKARTAH and LAST PLAGUE, ANGRY’s debut album is nine tracks of angry music. Guitarist Richard Fudalewski, drummer Kyle Ledingham, vocalist Heath Fenton and bassist Wes Cook are the guys who created this group of songs that shoot for the jugular.

“Right Loose” is the hard as nails opener where vocalist Fenton seems to be shredding his throat as you listen to him, especially with his screams of “Right Fucking Loose”, the band seems to be trying to destroy their instruments by bashing them as hard as they can and it all ends up as a glorious mess of a track, “Bad Day” comes crashing in like a typhoon and wipes out everything in its wake, more of the insane screaming and heavy bass, speedy guitar playing and incessant drumming, “Colony Of Murder” has great stop / starts that put it into more of a sludge type groove, and “Shoot The Messenger” has fantastic drumming and great over the top screaming. The band has a lot of talent and even with all of the craziness going on, you can hear the little nuances that they throw into the songs, like the keyboards on “Shoot The Messenger”. The rolling bass playing from Cook and the strong drumming from Ledingham really complements one another, guitarist Fudalewski plays fast and hard, but throws in some sweet licks every once in a while that you nod your head along to and Fenton’s screaming shows how pissed off he is at pretty much everything. Some of the songs that stood out to me were, “Umbrella Fight”, and “Humanical”.

This is an intense album to listen to, with Fenton screaming venom and bile at you for the course of the entire album and no let up. You could hear the emotion coming at you from the band with the tight and concise playing and it shows that even though a lot of people think Canadians are quiet and reserved, we all know that we bottle up our anger and scream obscenities when we get the chance…at least Fenton and I do.

https://www.facebook.com/Angryyyyyy  http://angryfucks.bandcamp.com/music  https://www.facebook.com/DefiledUnderMusic  http://defiledundermusic.com/

KID BROTHER COLLECTIVE: Highway Miles: CD

KID BROTHER COLLECTIVE were a band from 1997-2003 from Flint, Michigan that put out two albums and a couple of splits/EPs/Comps before they broke up, and this is a reissue of their last album they did on vinyl for the first time.

This post hardcore band has a lot of quiet parts on this album that turn into heavier, chunkier parts during songs with some relaxed singing to strained vocals on the songs. The album starts off with the slow-paced “Our Last Night”, a calm song that introduces the release by lulling the listener into the album, “Light Sleeper” starts off slowly before the emotive instrumental finish, and “Too Many Tomorrows (A Fair Warning)” has a pop punk feel and its subtle catchiness makes the song. The band is pretty good, they play well, and I wouldn’t say that they are the most proficient or tightest of players, but they get the emotion and angst across fairly well. This is one of those albums that you will put on every once in a while and it will make you think, yeah, this is cool.

They deserve to get heard, and it’s a good, but not a great album, but I’m glad that it’s got another chance to be heard because when it clicks, it really works well.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kid-Brother-Collective/140948912599756   https://www.facebook.com/countyourluckystars  http://www.cylsrecords.com/