Check out the new featured bands on the site including Relient K, Kaddisfly, and Lovedrug. Also be sure to sign up for our new Kaddisfly contest here.
Archives for March 2007
Life In Your Way – Waking Giants
Artist: Life In Your Way
Album: Waking Giants
Label: Solid State Records
Purchase: Smartpunk
Release Date: March 6, 2007
Overall: 7.0
Music: 7.0
Lyrics: 7.0
Production: 8.5
After releasing two albums on Indianola then being dropped from the imprint, Connecticut natives Life In Your Way have teamed up with hardcore Christian staple Solid State for their third outing Waking Giants. If you fancy yourself a fan of melodic hardcore, Waking Giants may be a worthwhile, albeit unmemorable, addition to your record collection. Crafting songs that roar and reign but still remain highly tuneful, LIYW deliver your cornerstone sing/scream breakdowns amidst some admittedly catchy guitar parts.
Produced by veteran “farm man” GGGarth Richardson, Waking Giants delivers on most fronts, never compromising it’s hardcore elements to reach a greater appeal. Tracks like “We Don’t Believe” and “Making Waves” showcase LIYW at the peak of their genre, mixing enchanting chord progression with heavy breakdowns and solid scream/sing choices. Even songs that start off less than brutal eventually find their callousness amongst the melody (Reach The End, Salty Grave). The redone “Threads Of Sincerity” (which appeared on the band’s previous album) sounds more intense than ever, flaunting a self-assured conviction that wasn’t apparent in LIYW’s past efforts. In fact, the greatest thing LIYW has to offer in this album is their ability to punctuate their song structures. In “Worthwhile” beautifully executed vocals are complemented by Joshua’s growls before tearing away into slow-moving savagery.
In my book, there’s a fine line between raw and polished that can make or break a band. All raw and no polish makes for an earache of a listen; over-polished and under-heated lacks the heart that’s central in hardcore. Life In Your Way did a good job tight walking the line, and consequently wrote songs that shirk predictability and rigor. However, I feel the album tries to do too much in the way of proving itself to both the hardcore and melodic hardcore communities. There are lot of great ideas and riffing inherent in this album, but few of them are ever taken to completion. What’s left is something that feels like the first draft of an epic poem–tons of great stanzas, but no ultimate build up and resolution. And although LIYW make it evident that’s what they’re trying to do, the pieces just don’t seem to fit the way they should.
Furthermore, as with many releases in this genre, there’s nothing truly original that Life In Your Way bring to the table. Labelmates As Cities Burn did a similar release two years ago, and while Waking Giants comes across slightly better than Son I Loved You At Your Darkest, it doesn’t stir the tide enough to ever break a wave. This pattern, in general, has plagued Solid State’s name over the past two years. They’ve been signing bands that, for all intents and purposes, have been pretty generic.
With that in mind, if you’ve been a longstanding fan of Life In Your Way, you’ll want to pick up Waking Giants to hear the progression the band have made since leaving Indianola (because it is considerable). However, if you’re a just a passing fan of the genre, move along until something better awakes the giant.
Track Listing:
1. Reach the End
2. Worthwhile
3. We Don’t Believe
4. Making Waves
5. The Shame
6. Salty Grave
7. Help! The Arm of the Mighty
8. Threads of Sincerity
9. The Beauty of Grace
10. Judas
11. Beneath It All:
Standout Tracks:
Reach The End, We Don’t Believe, Making Waves, Threads of Sincerity
Boys Like Girls In Van Accident
Boys Like Girls were in a van accident yesterday. Everyone walked away unharmed. You can read a message from the band below.
So the other day we were driving through a huge snow storm at about 1 in the morning. John was behind the wheel, I (Paul) was in the passanger’s seat starting to fall asleep. We had been driving about 25 mph all night because of the crazy snow and ice, and it looked like we were coming up on dry roads. So john got us back up to about 65/70 mph and it seemed like we were cruisin’. All of a sudden we started fishtailing (for what felt like an eternity) and end up sliding down the highway completely sideways until we ran into a ditch in the left side of the road. Luckily and most importantly everyone (and less importantly everything) was okay.
We all ended up calming down, and recorded a whole bunch of video before we got towed out an hour later.
A Thorn For Every Heart Post New Song
A Thorn For Every Heart has posted a new song titled “Worthless” on their MySpace page. Their new album, It’s Hard To Move, will be out in June.
Relient K Album Stream
Relient K are currently streaming their new album, Five Score And Seven Years Ago, on their MySpace page.
Lovedrug E-card
Lydia Update Number 2
Here is a little update of Leighton’s (Lydia) condition.
hello friends,
here is a small update on leightons situation.the internal bleeding is being caused by 3 ulcers inside is stomach, and the damage to the asophagus from the massive amounts of throwing up and dry heaving he was doing.
early friday morning one of the ulcers burst and he had to go into emergency surgery to get it fixed up, he is now back in icu and last i heard is currently in stable condition. i wish i knew a little more, but his parents phones dont work in the hospital so we take the updates when we can get them. as soon as i hear more i will let you know. once again, thanks so much for all your support, thoughts and prayers, it really does mean the world to him and us.
love
.lydia.
Circa Survive Album Update
The new Circa Survive album will be titled On Letting Go. Read a statement from Anthony Green below.
itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s a lovely decongested feeling, having completed this album. Leonardo de Vinci said a work of art is never finished, only abandoned. (and that thought makes me crazy)but weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re getting rested and making a focused and conscious effort to give up any preconceived judgments of day to day normalcy within each other and our surroundings. Any binding that creates a wall, a misunderstanding -at its true origin. Trying not to hold on to the patterns weâ┚¬Ã‹Å“ve formed in our pasts but creating new ones in places we would of never found alone. Musically weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢ve challenged each other to except the natural direction of the creativity that flows between us. aiming to free ourselves from the ridiculous need to please and be pleased by conventional means. An endless task of endless love. The making of this album has taught us all a lesson in personal detachment—- so, weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re titling it, On letting go. What are some things in your lives that you think you could benefit from letting go of ?
a-
Spin.com’s Artist of the Year: Final Round
Boys like Girls have made it to the final round of Spin.com’s “Artist Of The Year” contest! Voting for the final round begins on March 5th at 9:00 a.m and ends March 9th at 12 p.m.