With that in mind, and now I have listened to all of them, I can now do my reviews for them!
Here goes . . .
Parkway Drive – Deep Blue
This was one of the albums that I had been looking forward to listening to the most. I had heard awesome reviews for it last year, and all of the comparisons to some of my favourite bands, and the rumblings that this was the metalcore genres standout release of 2010, meant that I was more than a little disappointed to have not got round to listening to it sooner. As a huge metalcore fan boy, that was a massive oversight on my behalf. I therefore turned this on, expecting to be blown away.
What I was, in all honesty, was a little perplexed. Firstly, this album is NOT of the metalcore genre in the slightest. Metalcore requires shouty verse/clean melodic chorus interchanges, to give it the basis of its roots in the genre. Every band from A Day To Remember, to Atreyu, to Killswitch, and all those in between, make music like that, and find themselves (rightfully) rooted in the history of that sub-genre. However, a complete lack of singalong, saccharine soaked choruses, makes this nothing like any metalcore record you will ever listen to.
With that aside, I could then listen to it as a body of work and see what I thought of it. As a straight up metal/hardcore album, it is really good. It is solid, it is heavy, and it makes you want to pump your fist, and then maybe some faces afterwards. It is great in that respect.
Thunderously powerful, and pummelling.
However, for me, it didn’t seem (on first listen anyway) that there were any out and out “hits” on the record. It did seem quite samey in places, and nothing seemed to set its stall out as the best track on offer. For that reason alone, I would suggest that it might require more than one listen, to really appreciate it. However, that being said, the album is a solid heavy metal/hardcore record, which veers more towards the hardcore punk stylings than you would perhaps expect. I don’t recall a single chorus throughout that used clean, and melodic vocals, so to me, it is a hardcore record firstly. It’s a bloody good one at that, and the live shows off the back of this release will be incendiary. Would be a great album, and a great live set, to get in the pit too, and there is no shortage of songs purpose built for that on Deep Blue.
I was a little disappointed, only on the basis of what I was expecting, and which I didn’t get – that is not the bands fault though. This is a really good album, and will really get you pumped up. On a bad day, and in an angry mood, I can only imagine how good this really sounds!
However, as a body of work, I will ultimately reserve final judgment until I have spun it a few more times.
7/10
Underoath – Ø – Disambiguation
I really got into Underoath circa 2004, when they first burst onto the scene. They, like so many other of my favourite bands, were bringing a full bloodied metalcore assault to the masses, and, like many of my peers, I lapped it up.
Their first record (ok, it was technically their third by that time, but it will always be considered to be their debut “proper”) The Changing of Times was good, and they then perfected their sound on the absolutely essential They’re Only Chasing Safety. What followed however, in their subsequent records Define The Great Line and Lost In The Sound Of Separation was an evolution which saw the melodic vocals as provided by drummer Aaron Gillespie, take a back seat, in favour of the heavy and schizophrenic screaming of their lead singer Spencer Chamberlain. Those last two records were brutal, and heavy, in a new and distinct way.
For their latest record I expected more of the same really, especially since Aaron Gillespie has long since ended his tenure with the band to focus on his other band The Almost. That pretty much made it a foregone conclusion that melodic soaring vocals would not be playing a part on this record. The album is once more a heavy, schizophrenic metal assault, allowing Spencer to litter his cat wailing screams across the dense textures put together by the group backing him up.
It is once more a solid offering, but like with the Parkway album, it does seem like it is short on out and out “hits”. It is a heavily layered album, and there is lots to it, so the hardcore will be more than satisfied. However, the more casual listener may fail to truly “get it”.
Personally, I am somewhere on the fence.
I long for the days that they return to They’re Only Chasing Safety-era Underoath, as I loved the songs from that time. However, at the danger of making them regressive, they have evolved into a truly phenomenal beast of a metal/screamo band.
Much likes its predecessor on this list, it may benefit from future listens, but, as enjoyable as it was as a whole, it didn’t have any distinctly memorable moments, so loses marks on that front alone.
6.5/10
Airbourne – No Guts, No Glory
One thing is for sure is that with Airbourne, you know exactly what you are going to get. They offer up an updated retro hard rock and roll, in the AC/DC mould, which, whether it is album 2, or album 22, will always sound just like it should.
With that in mind, No Guts, No Glory sounds just like their debut, and just like the majority of Acca Dacca’s back catalogue. However, it is still an enjoyable listen.
But, and here is the but once more, there isn’t really anything memorable about it. There is no “Back in Black” moment, where it all comes together, and just makes sense. Sure the tracks are good, they are solid, and they are performed with great technical ability. Clearly. However, as a listener, I want to be moved, either by sheer sonic brutality, or by choruses that are as huge as skyscrapers, that I can sing along to until tomorrow morning (at the earliest).
Neither happens on this album though for me, and it is somewhat lacking in big moments.
It isn’t a bad album by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, my biggest criticism really is that is just seems a bit too long. There are also a number of tracks that are a bit too slow for my liking. Airbourne are far and away at their complete best when they get their heads down and play hard, fast, and heavy rock and roll, drenched in their Ozzie swagger.
They are a great band, and an awesome sight to behold in the live environment. As much as I found this quite listenable, it lacked a bit of the killer instinct I would expect from them.
Solid, but unspectacular.
6/10
Your Demise – The Kids We Used To Be
. . . and then came this little beauty. I had heard that Your Demise were making some pretty big noises on the scene, and playing some killer live shows. I am SO glad that I picked up this album as well. It is a great, balls to the wall hardcore album, and one that has some killer hooks and choruses throughout. Heavy and memorable over the course of 11 tracks, this one is a complete keeper.
The soaring choruses took me completely by surprise, and make this album have a really anthemic feel to it. The Kids We Used To Be is an absolute stormer, and my highlight of the entire album. MMX and Miles Away are also hot tracks and clear standouts, but the quality is impressive throughout. It is unrelenting and moving from start to finish, and there is a real “street – gang” vibe to it. Your Demise are clearly a band that are playing as though their life depends on it, and perhaps it does. Hardcore bands are always going to struggle to break out of the underground and “cult concern” box – however, with this offering, they stand a good chance at doing just that.
They could have a really huge year on the back of this, and some more killer shows will only cement their reputation as one of the best underground bands doing the rounds, and who stand a real chance of stepping it up a gear over the next twelve months, and getting bigger and bigger in the process.
Representing for Britain, these five hardcore punk upstarts put in such a solid effort that they certainly give their American peers, often thought of as the scene leaders in hardcore, a run for their money. They certainly have done us proud with this release.
In a live environment, I can only imagine how great these songs will sound, sweat drenched, and when singing along with masses in unison, and punching the air in cathartic release.
A storming album, and one that will undoubtedly get better the more I listen to it.
MASSIVE.
8/10
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