New and Notes (1-11-08)

Protest the Hero - For those living under rocks, progressive metal outfit Protest the Hero will be releasing the follow up to their incredible full-length debut Kezia next month, called Fortress.
If you want a preview, you can go to their MySpace to listen to the song "Bloodmeat" in which they also have a video for.

Those in America can by a preview E.P. for a little over a buck on iTunes. It includes a new song, and two instrumentals of the latter, and of "Bloodmeat."

Cloverfield (movie)- Probably one of my most anticipated movies is coming out next week. "Cloverfield" the opus of LOST producer J.J. Abrams, has been shrouded in secracy since the release of last summers blockbuster "Transformers."

I will have a review for this next week, but until then, everyone should check out alot of some of the stuff on the internet about it to get a backstory on the film, because none will be given.

That's all for now.
Stay tuned for more news and updates.

Gwen Stacy- The Life I Know

Gwen Stacy and I met a long time ago, sometime in 2005, maybe early 06, they randomly played my small hometown of Versailles KY, in a small coffee shop to about 25 people. Upon hearing them I fell in love. Their debut E.P. comprised alot of what I love about heavy music, spuratic party rock, with very fun compositions of upbeat breakdowns, and just head bobbing metalcore, quite the exception from the tediousness of alot of their peers of the time. I immediately purchased the E.P. and carefully watched them into their rise to glory, and up front, I know them personally, they are great guys, and one of the hardest working bands in the game right now.
Their debut full length The Life in Know on Ferret has also garnered quite high expectation because of the stature of the label. Ferret has always been the standard for their genre, and rarely ever gets bands that do less than that.
The record's opener sets the tone for the entire thing. If you have heard this song, you have essentially heard most of the CD. From song to song, they seem to run together, due to the fact that the tempo stays near, if not exactly consistant. This causes the album to seem quite tedious, as the song structures also come off as a sort of recipe; it's as if the songs include these ingredients...

Big break down - filler time between breakdown/singing chourus - repeat - bridge - chorus

I guess the best part about this album is that it's production is superb, however sometimes the clean vocals fall under the mix, but for the most part, everything else is on point. Unfortunatly it just cant save the musical composition, as written all over are the words simplicity, and monotanous but mostly, and unfortunately has the record filed under mediocre.

FINAL GRADE: D+

News and Notes (1/3/08)

New Spitfire Track (from lambgoat.com)

Spitfire has posted a track, and the album art from their record available March 25th. The song called "Crossed" can be heard on their myspace.

jayeMOSH: The song is intense, so far, seems to be quite the progression from previous material. Faster, and much more technical. Still very noisy, and anger driven. I am EXTREMELY excited about this record. Most anticipated of 08.

Tom Delonge (Angels and Airwaves/Blink 182)

jayeMOSH: Former Blink 182 frontman Tom Delonge is simply being ripped these days. Buzzgrinder recently posted an article featuring a video where he just sounded horrific. Also, the former guitar player of Life in Your Way, and current Play Radio Play guitar player rated his top 5 worst live performances, all consisting of Angels and Airwaves. I honestly can't say I don't agree.

COMING REVIEWS
Radiohead- In Rainbows (hard-copy)

Back From Hiatus/Updates

Hey friends,
Sorry for the long vacation from the blog. My excuse is honestly because there weren't a SUPER whole lot of great reviews, however, I will have a few coming up soon.

Also, im going to be changing up the format a little bit, not only am I going to review music, but a whole SLEW of other things, including movies, books, games, and even news which I will be doing frequently.

Hope to get some guest reviews on this thing as well.
Anyways, hope everyone had a good holiday. We're FINALLY getting some snow here in Lex.

Love
-jayeMOSH

Chiodos- Bone Palace Ballet

Chiodos was kind of the cinderella story of two years ago. The post-hardcore outfit from Michigan didn't do too much new, they did something before ALOT of bands, but nothing new. If anything they switched the singing screaming ratio from 60:40 screaming, to 60:40 singing, and put the ever so inviting "brootal" breakdowns, the band's follow up was highly anticipated.
Recorded close to my home in Lexington KY, Bone Palace Ballet upon first listen was anything but stellar. The production was sub par, the progression seemed forced (along with the songs) and ultimatly, due to the amount of bands that have carbon copied them, the band all around just seems distasteful.
The saddest part of this album was the fact that the song named after the town in which it was recorded in, is maybe the worst. Dancy rhythyms reminding me of My Chemical Romance just sent chills down my spine. Chills of frustration.
The songs do seem like a progression from the old material, however it just doesn't seem honest. You see, when bands genre's have been saturated in the fat of mediocrity, some bands, instead of embracing what they have created, instead; will try and adjust or change (which is different form progressing).
Bottom line is this is the defintion of the sophomore slump (even though technically I gues it's their third record) and is probably one of the worst releases of the year.

FINAL GRADE: D-

Between the Buried and Me- Colors

Cinematic is a word I frequently associate with BTBAM. One of the most intriuging bands of our generation in metal, the band has def. lived up to their promises of a "progresseive death metal album."
This is not in vein of alot of the trendy, un-polishing bands myspace has cranked in the last few years; but instead, a band of music lovers, making the music lovers CD.
Colors flows, song to song like a stream of running water that turns into some kind of mad current, pulling listeners into its ferocious undertow.
Musically, nothing short of a phenomenon, and comes across as somewhat thoughtful. Vocally, I personally am obsessed, some of the singing (not screaming) on this record reminds me of Queen, it's just so epic.
The songs themselves feature tidbits of diverse musical influences, ranging from African tribal, to classical, to even country, and there is a little bit of metal in there as well.
The songs, and the record however do seem a bit drawn out and exhaustful, and while the record is good, it just doesnt contain the long lasting effects of their previous releases, nor can I say if there are any classics like their are on the older records (Mordecai, Alaska, Selkies...).

FINAL GRADE: B+

The Bled- Silent Treatment

The Bled has been a band of both surprise, and dexterity. Over the length of three different full length releases, listeners have often been confused and disorientated about their progression.
Their debut Pass the Flask was monumental in the since that it's prowess as a debut record was giant.
Their second release had alot of people scratching their heads at first glance, and I can honestly say that I flurried the release with hatred upon its arrival. But after more listens, I can see what they were trying to accomplish, and I think Found in the Flood has some of the best song writing in post-hardcore, or whatever it is.
The Silent Treatment is a return to the moshtastic textures of Pass the Flask but has the aesthetics and melody of their previous endeavors.
Mostly this record is establishing for this band, which is both awesome, and depressing considering this band has been around forever. Seriously why has it taken them this long?
Nonetheless, I love this record, I think it was written amazingly, and it has set in stone (for now at least) that this band can freaking write.
One thing though that has honestly killed would could have been a SUPER record, is the fact that I loathe the production of this record.
I think maybe a greased up deaf guy with expensive equipment must have mixed it. The kick drum is SOOO overpowering, it drives the breakdowns WAY too much, and almost acts in the same principal as a guitar. The guitars during breakdowns sound like a very trebley bass, and are indistinguishable. Bottom line is that it JUST WASNT MIXED WELL.
This is a good record, and something I would recommend people pick up, the sad part about this, is it just isnt phenomenal, which I think for some reason really wanted from this band, and standing next to some of the other incredible releases this year, it's more like a featherweight than a heavyweight.

FINAL GRADE: B