Album Reviews: Black Veil Brides, Black Veil Brides

Like Dave Grohl, I don't believe in "guilty pleasures." If you like something, listen to it. For example, I've been listening to a lot of Iggy Azalea's "Black Widow" lately. (I know, people who listen to pop should be consigned to a hell of Hank Williams playing on constant loop.)

So when I say I like Black Veil Brides, a lot of so-called "music purists" are probably freaking out, because BVB are, unfortunately, a band that gets a lot of hate. There are several reasons for this.

One is that back in the early days, the band had a penchant for dressing like eighties hair metal icons. And apparently, people are still threatened by the idea of a guy in tight pants and eyeliner.

Another reason is the fangirls. Judas on a jackrabbit, the fangirls. Just scroll through the YouTube comments on any BVB video. It's a minefield of terrible grammar and exclamations on how hot various band members are, or what color their fingernails are painted, or what their favorite day of the week is.

Guess what, folks - welcome to EVERY BAND EVER.You can find the same comments on HIM videos. And Halestorm videos. And Alice in Chains videos. And in case all you music "connoisseurs" out there don't remember, this is what a Beatles concert looked like:

Look familiar? Now, I'm not bagging on any die-hard fans. When I was in high school, I loved Green Day so much that my parents wanted to lock me under the stairs like bloody Harry Potter so they'd never have to hear three-chord punk again. The people that bother me are the ones who care more about what BVB lead singer Andy Biersack's hair looks like than what he's singing.

Which is a shame, because they are a good band. And their latest self-titled effort only proves that.

I remember when Black Veil Brides first started making music. They were your standard melodic metalcore band, nothing special, kind of a dime-a-dozen. Then they got an all-new lineup, ditched the metalcore screams and sluggish guitars for clean-yet-rough vocals and dueling solos, and they became something else. Around the time of their sophomore effort, 2011's Set the World on Fire, they really hit their stride.

The latest album starts off a little wobbily with the generic anthem "Heart of Fire." Biersack's voice sounds more strained and less natural than it does on the rest of the album.  Luckily, it gets better from there.

You can see them going back to their stadium-rock influences, particularly on such songs as "Walk Away," which includes synth, echoing arena guitars, and backing chorus. It feels like a reinterpretation of that era, and I'm kind of intrigued by it, though I don't think it sounds as genuine as the intricate guitar textures of "Goodbye Agony."

There is plenty of metal to be had throughout the rest of the record ("Faithless" and "Last Rites"). The tempo moves up to thrash in "The Shattered God," and that's the thing about Black Veil Brides. Glam rock, thrash metal, and punk come together well, primarily because of the musical talent involved. You can't mix styles without technical proficiency, and like predecessors Avenged Sevenfold and Trivium, these guys have it in spades.

Stream the full album here.

Best tracks: "Goodbye Agony," "The Shattered God," "Crown of Thorns," "Last Rites"

Album Reviews: ">album title goes here<," Deadmau5

Like I've said before, I respect industrial/hip-hop/house producers as musicians probably even more than I respect traditional musicians, because they are literally a one-man (or woman) gluestick holding a project together.

And yeah, it seems like everyone thinks they can DJ these days, but that doesn't mean there aren't some good house artists out there.

One of my favorites has been Canadian producer Deadmau5. He gets a lot of flak for being a "skinny white boy," but he's a great artist. I like the range his songs exhibit; for example, "Strobe," from 2009's For Lack of a Better Name, goes from the soft flow of rainstick-percussion to punky synths and drum machines.

One thing that I think is problematic with dubstep, though, is that it tends to rely too much on digitally created sounds. If house artists aren't careful, they can get pigeonholed into a certain system of sounds that they rarely deviate from. Skrillex is one such example; I don't see much variation in his work.

And at the outset of this album, it appears that Deadmau5 is making this mistake. "Superliminal" and "Channel 42" showcase the same Nintendo-esque synths and poppy percussion that shot the artist to stardom.

However, these songs become a warmup to the somewhat creepy "The Veldt" and the explosive "Professional Griefers" (featuring Gerard Way, lead singer of My Chemical Romance), which has appropriately punk sensibilities.

The tracks I was most intrigued by were "Sleepless" and "Failbait." "Sleepless" is a lonely, existential, yet delicate exploration, and it's a good example of how Deadmau5 is using more genuine strings instead of created sounds. "Failbait," which features Cypress Hill, shows that Deadmau5 is equally at home creating rap beats or instrumental EDM. It's a true-blue rap anthem with chunky bass.

All in all, this is probably one of the better albums Deadmau5 has put out to date. And like a good book, though it lags a little at first, once it gets going, you don't want the ride to stop. I'm definitely going to pick this one up.

Stream the full album here.

Album Reviews: "House of Gold and Bones Pt. 1," Stone Sour

Corey Taylor is perhaps the only person I know who is the frontman of two wildly successful bands. Stone Sour's latest album, House of Gold and Bones Part One, proves why: Taylor is incredibly talented, both lyrically and musically, and he works with some great musicians.

What many people don't know is that Stone Sour was the original project, not Slipknot; Slipknot just happened to become famous faster. But in Stone Sour, you can see more introspection, more elegant  pain in Taylor's lyrics, and more musical exploration than Slipknot's traditional pounding double-percussion hits. Musically, it's the better band, especially with Taylor's characteristic clean-to-scream vocals winding through Jim Root's intricate guitar solos.

The latest record, which is part one of a two-act concept album (part two to be released in May), doesn't disappoint. While it's definitely angrier than 2010's Audio Secrecy, with more of a punk sensibility on tracks like "Absolute Zero" and "RU486," there are also the delicate piano and acoustic guitar of "The Travelers (Part One)" and "Taciturn."

I'll be honest: When I played the opening track, "Gone Sovereign," I was a little underwhelmed: it sounded like a harder-edged version of Slipknot's "Snuff." But everything spiraled upward from there. This album is indeed a journey, and by the end of it, you feel like that journey is your own.
Taylor recently said in a Loudwire interview: “It’s really a morality play. It’s about a person trying to find himself, or herself. You know, everyone in their lives finds themselves inevitably at a crossroads when it comes to personal evolution and whatnot. Trying to figure out what they want to do with the rest of their lives.”

With the recent fizzle of record-now-release-later multi-part albums such as Green Day's recent three-part set, I had grown wary of the genre. But this is one album sequel I am definitely anticipating.

My favorite tracks: "RU486," "Last of the Real," "The Travelers (Part One)"

Album Reviews: "Transit of Venus," Three Days Grace

At long, long, last, Three Days Grace has released a new album. I have been waiting for this day since September 22, 2009, when the band's third effort, Life Starts Now, came out. So this is kind of like Christmas Day for me. Seriously, allow me to geek out a little.

Why do I like Three Days so much? It's not that their lyrics are super-profound - they're more like raw explosions of id. It's that I love, love, love frontman Adam Gontier's voice mixed with the beautiful melodies and hard riffs. There's just something about their music that I've never seen in any other band. Three Days Grace is dark and mysterious, even when they're trying not to be. They're visceral, raw. Also, they're superb live.

Enough of that. The latest album is called Transit of Venus, released in stores yesterday. The band promoted the album by releasing a series of videos of the planet's actual transit, together with the tagline, "Some things will only happen once in your lifetime."

And indeed, this album proves that Three Days isn't afraid to experiment with style - and they usually come off better for it. I'll be honest, Life Starts Now wasn't my favorite of their albums - that honor goes to their sophomore effort, One-X. But you can't say that any of their albums sound the same - simply because they don't. "The music we were writing was a little more intricate than in the past, and we've been experimenting with new instruments. We wanted to present these new ideas concisely without going over-the-top in ambience and overall production," said drummer Neil Sanderson. The band recently announced on Facebook that they will be using a pianist, Dani Rosenoer, during live performances from now on, and posted a video of his cover of "I Hate Everything About You," Three Days' breakout hit.

The album is intricate and fresh. I'm excited to see the band returning to their hard-rock roots with songs like "Operate" (my current favorite) and "Broken Glass," but I also enjoy the beautiful acoustic work on songs like "Unbreakable Heart," and the choppy, dubstep-esque riffs on the album's first single, "Chalk Outline." The song "Expectations" is a creepy take on the girl-runs-away-to-become-a-Hollywood-actress theme. The most surprising song on the album was "Give in to Me," which for all the uninitiated, is a Michael Jackson cover. Now, don't get me wrong - I love the covers this band does ("Lose Yourself" by Eminem and "Rooster" by Alice in Chains being my favorites), but I don't know about putting a cover on a studio album. That said, it's a cool take on Michael Jackson.

I like the new direction the band is going - it's bold and original, and as the band said on Facebook,  "...we're all about being real....no tracks...no faking it, no bullshit like other bands try to pull off." Right on, guys. Right on.

Stream the full album here.

Album Reviews: "Disc-overy," Tinie Tempah

Okay, I didn't post on Monday because of the holiday here in the US, and I completely spaced it on Tuesday, which is a real shame, because the album I have to share with you today is really top-notch.
Tinie Tempah (real name Patrick Okogwu) is a South London rapper who just barely released the American version of his debut, Disc-overy, here in the States, so I may be way behind the times for all those in the UK.
 
The singles that have been big here are "Pass Out" and "Written in the Stars (ft. Eric Turner)." While I'm not big on the anguished piano of "Written in the Stars," I have to say that my sister and I have become absolutely infatuated with the purely British way in which the skinny, bespectacled Tempah says "pass out."

Tempah is listed as "grime" by most sources - a genre that started in East London - but his music definately has elements of hip-hop. He's toured in support of Rihanna, and his song "Invincible" is a duet with former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland. (Incidentally, it's a good song, but it has a certain cliched huge sound and soaring lyrics.) But it has a certain melodic quality that you don't find in American hip-hop. This is definitely one to check out, whether or not you enjoy rap/hip-hop.

Best tracks: "Pass Out," "Frisky," "Wonderman"

Album Reviews: The Cars' Move Like This

This is the album I mentioned clear back at the beginning of this year - an album I've been very excited to review. I enjoy the Cars, and since this was their latest album in 24 years, I was curious to see how this new effort would turn out.

The Cars have gone through some hard things in the past few decades - they broke up in 1988, and their bassist, Benjamin Orr, passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2000. Lead singer Ric Ocasek was known to tell reporters that the band would never get back together, so the group's announcement in 2010 via their Facebook page that they were reuniting to make a new album was surprising. They didn't recruit anyone new; they merely switched around so that Greg Hawke, who formerly played keyboards, also plays bass on the new album.

Jody Rosen, the Rolling Stone reviewer for this album, says, "This is the sound of a band picking up a conversation in midsentence." (For the full review, click here.) To that I'd have to agree. So many bands sound almost unrecognizable on their new albums after a hiatus. Alice in Chains' 2009 release, Black Gives Way to Blue, was one such. But Move Like This could have been recorded during the Cars' heyday. Ocasek's voice sounds none the worse for wear, and they've kept that delightful, synthesized New Age sound that sets them apart among their eighties counterparts and gave them international hits like "Just What I Needed."

The album begins with the song "Blue Tip," which has all the Nintendo-sounding guitar and poppy rhythms that have characterized the Cars in the past. The next song, "Too Late," is kind of a sappy pop song, forgettable for me. But really, this was the only song on the album I was disappointed by, which is not bad.

"Sad Song," the fifth track, hearkens back to classic Cars hits like "My Best Friend's Girl" with the choppy guitar beginning and clap-like percussion, but it's definitely a new song. Ocasek's lyric whimsicality is present throughout the album, but especially on songs like "Drag on Forever" ( "I heard your glockenspiel poundin soft") and "Hits Me" ("a bad excuse is better than none"). A little gem, perhaps my favorite on this album, is the song "Take Another Look," a mellow, beautiful little ballad that combines soaring guitar with soft lyrics.

In "Hits Me," Ocasek warbles, "I've gotta just get through these changin times." And with this effort, it appears they have, by sticking to the old ways. Nothing wrong with that.

Best tracks: "Blue Tip," "Keep on Knocking," "Drag on Forever," "Take Another Look"

Listen to the full album through Rolling Stone here.

Album Reviews: Stevie Nicks' In Your Dreams

I've got to admit, I know little to nothing about Stevie Nicks, except for her most well-known work with Fleetwood Mac, songs like "Landslide" and "The Chain." But I've decided to review her latest solo effort, In Your Dreams, for today; I like exploring new genres of music.

This is a very intriguing album, but in weird ways. When I checked out the tracklist, I expected the best tracks to be "Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)" and "Annabel Lee," but that's the crazy thing about music. If you set something to the wrong music, it can sound awful - it doesn't matter how poetic the lyrics are.

"Moonlight" was inspired by the "New Moon" movie, according to Nicks, in an interview on The Bob and Tom Show. The first part of the song was written in the 1970s, and Nicks said that the point in the movie where the heroine is abandoned by her love reminded her of a similar experience. I hate that movie, but the song isn't bad. It is interwoven with violins and piano, almost devoid of the plucky (no pun intended) acoustic guitar that saturates the rest of the album.

The lyrics of "Annabel Lee" are taken directly from Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem. I was really excited about this song, as this is probably my favorite poem of all time, but I don't feel the music did the words justice at all. It was way too sprightly and energetic. I feel like the words to that poem should be sung with brooding, melancholy reverence - after all, it's about a guy sleeping with his dead lover.

The best songs on this album came from surprising directions. "Wide Sargasso Sea" was written about a novel written as a "predecessor" to Jane Eyre (though it was not written by Charlotte Bronte). It focuses more on the relationship between Mr. Rochester and his wife Bertha. The song's lyrics are what really drew me in here: "She went back into her ocean / back to her white house" and "You may have forgotten me / but you'll never forget that kiss" are some of the most memorable lines.

"Soldier's Angel" was probably my favorite track on the album. It is sung with former Mac bandmate Lindsey Buckingham on backing vocals. Its sort of spiritual chant and its low, melancholy rhythms make this a standout song.

In the end, this is an album about the past, about sorrow and loss. But sometimes pain makes a beautiful subject to write about - this album is a solid work, and I'm definitely going to check out more of Nicks' solo work.

I'll post the videos for "Secret Love" and "Cheaper Than Free" above.

Best tracks: "Wide Sargasso Sea," "Soldier's Angel," "Ghosts Are Gone," "Italian Summer"

Album Reviews: Helplessness Blues, Fleet Foxes

Yes, that's right, I'm reviewing the Fleet Foxes' latest today. I know I'm kind of biased toward the harder genres of music, and I'll admit, I'm not usually one for folk or indie rock, but I like to try everything once, and when I listened to the Foxes' self-titled debut, I was hooked.

Their latest, Helplessness Blues, definitely doesn't disappoint. One thing I have noticed about the Seattle band is that their music is very evocative of nature, whatever the mood of the song happens to be. This was very evident in the first track, "Montezuma," which to me was reminiscent of sunrise, all golden light and the view from a pine forest.

Rolling Stone writer Matthew Perpetua commented that lead singer Robin Pecknold's voice has a "natural beauty," and I would have to agree there. It's very apparent in the layered harmonies and dreamy musings on this album. The most surprising song on this album, "The Shrine / An Argument," finds Pecknold in a raspy near-scream, which fits well with the sort of Old West, gunslinger-type attitude of the song.

The album picks up with such songs as "Bedouin Dress," which has more of a clopping, horsetrot beat and lively fiddle melodies, and "Battery Kinzie," which has probably the heaviest drums on the album.

The title track is a whimsical denouncement of individualism, with such phrases as "I'd rather be / A functioning cog in some great machinery / Serving something beyond me."

"The Cascades" was a surprise: an elegiac, instrumental song sandwiched between "Lorelai," a light song that explores a relationship, and the aforementioned "The Shrine." But it does fit with the lyrical depth of the album: though the music is belyingly optimistic, many of Pecknold's lyrics have a more urgent message upon closer inspection: "Battery Kinzie" opens with the lines: "I woke up one morning / All my fingers rotten / I woke up a dying man without a chance," while "Blue-Spotted Tail" questions the mysteries of the universe with the refrain: "Why is life made only for to end?"
The one thing I found discordant and slightly strange was the weird horn sounds in the middle of "The Shrine / An Argument." Now I know a lot of seasoned Foxes fans will probably say it's all part of the "art." Maybe I'm just an uncultured boor, but I have been to several art museums, and I have never seen the point in painting a canvas yellow and calling it a "masterpiece," or splashing some pink paint on a washer and dryer set and calling it "mystical and evocative." This was, I felt, an unnecessary element in an otherwise wonderful song.

All in all, though, the album was a beautiful and somehow innocent trip through a psyche, and I very much recommend it - even to those who don't like this sort of thing.
Listen to the album through Rolling Stone here.

Best tracks: "Montezuma," "The Cascades," "Blue-Spotted Tail," "The Plains / Bitter Dancer"

New Music Monday: The Human Equation

I'm trying something a little different for New Music Monday today - an album that's not entirely new (alright, it was released in 2004!). But it is new to me. You see, one of my very dear friends, who knows that I am always searching for interesting new stuff, recommended this album to me.
The Human Equation is a concept album by the Dutch composer/songwriter/singer Arjen Anthony Lucassen, released under the name Ayreon. There have been several concept albums (such as the latest, 2008's 01011001) Lucassen has released before and since The Human Equation, but I'm inclined to think this one is the best.
The album caught my attention from the beginning with its use of diverse folk instruments from around the world, such as didgeridoos and fiddles, giving it a timeless, ethereal feeling, so that you feel after listening to it that this story could have happened anywhere, in any time period.
It tells the tale of a man named "Me," portrayed by James LaBrie of Dream Theater, who has had a mysterious vehicle accident and has fallen into a coma that lasts for twenty days. Each day is represented by a track on the album. Many other characters are present, such as the personifications of emotions like Fear (Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth), Reason (Eric Clayton of Saviour Machine), and Pride (Magnus Ekwall from The Quill); as well as Me's Wife (portrayed by Mexican chanteuse Marcela Bovio) and Best Friend (Lucassen). The album explores Me's life, which deals with abuse by his angry father and betrayal of Best Friend after being bullied mercilessly.
This is such a fantastic idea - I don't know why I haven't heard of it before. And there's little to find fault with here - the sometimes soaring, sometimes thoughtful, and always passionate musical backdrop provide ample ground for the characters to express their emotions, and if the lyrics can be a bit trite in places, well, the guy isn't even writing in his native language! All in all, you feel like you've journeyed deep into the psyche after listening to this album, and it's a delight, one that doesn't often grace the world of metal/hard rock.

Best tracks: "Day Sixteen: Loser," "Day Three: Pain," "Day Six: Childhood," "Day Eleven: Love"

New Music Monday: The King of Limbs

Those who saw my Twitter post probably guessed what the EP was: Radiohead's The King of Limbs. The much anticipated 7-song set was released on February 18.
The first track, "Bloom", begins with a sweet, New-Agey piano tremolo, one that reminded me of Gyorgy Ligeti's "Lux Aeterna", only less solemn. The song is very intriguing throughout, especially with the uneven drumming. It creates a feeling of floating through space and time.
Unfortunately, it gets very repetitive from there. Although it picks up again a little with the third track, "Little by Little", which has almost a soft funk vibe, the next two tracks meld into the rest of the album with their similar Thom Yorke high, echoing vocals, and soft, dreamy music. "Codex", one of the most interesting songs on the album, has a sad, elegiac feel and a sweeping piano beginning. It is being compared by some to "Reckoner", a Radiohead song from their 2007 album In Rainbows. I found the comparison not really apparent; "Codex" is much more elegant.
While "Give up the Ghost" has a kind of folksy feel and an echoing chorus of "don't haunt me", it, too, begins to blend into the forgettable. And by the last track, "Separator", you're wondering if Radiohead will ever go back to being rock again. While a good effort, this album isn't their strongest; I'd like to see them go back to the material in 1993's Pablo Honey.

Tracks worth downloading: Bloom, Little by Little, Codex

Nightmare

Okay, I realize this is perhaps a little late, considering the album was released on July 27, but I've gotta do a quick review of Avenged Sevenfold's latest, Nightmare. Many thought the band was toast after the death of their drummer, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan in 2009. They had already started work on the album by then, though, and the band recruited Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy (allegedly Sullivan's favorite drummer) to finish the rest of the drumming. Honestly, I don't think they could have used anyone else (except maybe Lars Ulrich). The machine-gun double kickpedals and psychotic speed with which Sullivan executed such songs as "Beast and the Harlot" and "Almost Easy" could only be done by someone of Sullivan's caliber. According to bassist Johnny Christ, in an interview with Ultimate Guitar: "The lyrics then became mostly – not 100 percent – but mostly to do with [the Rev's] death and his life." In fact, the song "So Far Away" was written by lead guitarist Synyster Gates in tribute to his bandmate.
The subject matter is hardly darker than that of past albums (who could forget the murderous, necrophiliac deathfest that was "A Little Piece of Heaven"?), but it has a different mood about it, more somber and grim.
The title track is an interesting exploration of a Dante-esque version of hell, with the music video paying tribute to a fallen comrade with a set of empty drums appearing throughout. I think it is one of the strongest songs on the album, both lyrically and musically.
Another great one is "Natural Born Killer"; this one is a story told from the point of view of a murderer. One of the great things about Avenged Sevenfold is that they aren't afraid to explore the people and subjects that most people won't even go near, and it pays off in interesting, original songs, much as it did for their predecessors Metallica.
"Buried Alive" has a melancholy, bluesy feel that merges into a very James Hetfield ending, and the guitar solos are just as wicked as ever. Avenged Sevenfold is continuing to produce great stuff, despite the tragedy of losing a valuable member. In my mind, this album is a close second to, if not neck-and-neck with, 2005's City of Evil as their best album ever.

Recommended tracks: "Buried Alive", "Natural Born Killer", "God Hates Us", "Nightmare"