In the words of KoRn, ‘Y’all want a single (round up)‘? Of course you do.
Band – August Burns Red
Song – Fault Line
Despite August Burns Red having the most emo band name ever, they are far from the over-sensitive, moist-eyed heart-on-your-sleeve types. This is metalcore in all its furious, mauling glory. Between the Buried and Me comparisons stand out almost immediately (cited as a big influence) – jazzy-guitar lines, complex math-rock shredding and convoluted, sporadic drumming all give a nod to the North Carolina mob. However, there’s plenty of variety on offer on Fault Line – the brash hardcore punk elements are executed with spitting, incandescent rage, as are the chilling breakdowns and pummelling double-bass drumming.
There’s a slight touch of Poison The Well in the vocals, which are roared with bellowing, breathless terror. Lyrically, it’s generic angst-ridden cliché, but there’s a Clint Eastwood reference at the start and to be honest, Fault Line absolutely thunders along with a fiery vengeance.
The album Rescue and Restore comes out on June 24 and can be pre-ordered here. The video for Fault Line is available from this link.
Band – Marmozets
Song – Born Young and Free
This is only the second track I’ve heard by Marmozets and once again it’s an impressive slab of angular, raw heavy rock, that drifts into emotive punk rock and jazzy-mathcore at the flick of a switch. There’s elements of Rolo Tomassi – the more batshit-hardcore elements are fraught and agitated, whilst the chorus is a huge, soaring blast of positive and creative energy. Props to vocalist Becca Macintyre, who throws herself into the track with such gusto and fervor.
An exciting, battering romp of unhinged power and one of the most interesting tracks I’ve heard this year.
Born Young and Free can be downloaded from Marmozet’s bandcamp for free! Or you can chuck the band some money, go on…
Band – Torche
Song – Keep Up
Man, Torche get me pumped. Harmonicraft is sludge-pop gloriousness, Harmonslaught/Rock N Roll Mantasy is boom-chord ecstasy and now Keep Up is somewhere in the middle of both of these and is bloody superb. The lighter bubblegum-pop moments draw the listener in, whilst the crushing roar of the guitar-tidal wave of sludgy-doom buries everything in a wave of delicious surf-rock fuzz. It’s like Mudhoney meets Mastodon, whilst trying to cover a Weezer song.
That weird combination of being bone-crushingly heavy, with sugary good-time bouncing punk is something Torche are absolute masters at producing and Keep Up is another example of their awesome credentials. Only criticism is that it isn’t longer.
You can buy Keep Up through Volcom’s vinyl club when it’s ready for release… or continue to stream it FOREVER right here.
Band – We Are The Ocean
Song – Machine
Ok, I’ve just looked up We Are The Ocean on wikipedia…they’ve released FOURTEEN MUSIC VIDEOS! FOURTEEN? They’ve only been together 6 years and on their 3rd album! That’s impressive guys, seriously. You can’t fault their commitment.
Oh yeah, Machine…massive crowd potential, this is the one they belt out to get everyone singing to the heavens – vocalist Liam Cromby’s has an impassioned, powerful set of lungs – belting out the words “I’LL NEVER BE OWNED BY YOU!” on a track that’s dominated by heavy drum rolls (seriously, half the song is these) and a sense of rabble-rousing emotion. The trade-off between Cromby and guitarist Alfie Scully is one of We Are The Ocean’s strong-points, not to mention their Alexisonfire-lite post-hardcore, which is spine-tingling and suitably anthem-worthy.
You can view the video for Machine by clicking here and buy their 3rd album Maybe Today, Maybe Tomorrow here.
Lizard Hips
Junior Vice President of Keep It Fast. In other news: I work in social media, talk about dinosaurs, run a book club and have amazing facial hair. I am also a male man who is still not dead.
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