The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 285

Hawthorne Heights: Bad Frequencies

Well, I have to say there's a lot of hype surrounding this album, so I was a bit nervous to try this one out. (It's also not quite in my wheelhouse.) But @Bad Frequencies has yet to steer me wrong, so I jumped in!

The instrumentation was awesome - the guitars and drums (and piano and strings in places) were all fantastic! They worked together perfectly.

As usual, I haven't yet fully picked up the lyrics, but from what I can tell, they are full of emotion and meaning. The "clean" vocals and melodies were really great. And yes, the elephant in the room - there was screaming. I didn't find it to be out of place, and after a few listens, I didn't mind it at all! I'm very pleased to report that.

No major critiques here!

"In Gloom" opens the album with a slow, ballad-like part (complete with piano!) that features a few strings, which I did not expect. About a minute in, the drums and guitars start up and the song takes off running. I really enjoy both "sides" of the track - the energetic part and the calmer beginning. "Pink Hearts" has some awesome guitars and a...lyrical callback to "Ohio Is For Lovers?" Too cool. I really like this - it's fun and almost poppy. It reminds me of "Never Let You Go" by Third Eye Blind. "Crimson Sand" has an AFI-esque riff at the beginning (very nice) and it kind of feels like an AFI song overall, which is really awesome. I love the catchiness of the chorus, especially. There's a bit of screaming here, but it's not excessive. "The Perfect Way to Fall Apart" is another AFI-esque track, with a bit of screaming. I remember this one standing out a lot during my first time through the album - I think it was the guitar part, because I really love it. "Just Another Ghost" has another fantastic guitar part (I'm a sucker for that kind of layering of the guitars - it reminds me of Acceptance). Once again, there's a touch of screaming, but it's (again) more of a garnish than a main dish, if you'll forgive the analogy. Next up is the title track, which starts out very quietly; almost like a lullaby. All of a sudden, the guitars and drums return, along with the most screaming on the album. I will say that I was caught off-guard by that the first time I heard it, but it's not all that out of place, either. It's like two sides of a coin, and I think it fits the theme of the song/album to have a song like that. "Skylark" is another energetic track, with some really cool drums! There's a bit of screaming on this track, too, but nothing excessive. It adds a bit of punch to some of the vocals. "Edge of Town" has another really cool guitar part, which makes me think of Acceptance. The chorus is so catchy - this is one of my top favorites! The guitars falling out at the beginning of the final chorus and at the end of the track was a nice touch. "Starlighter (Echo, Utah)" has more awesome guitars and yet another really catchy melody. "Push Me Away" has some pretty powerful guitars (I especially enjoy the rhythm guitars) and a fantastic melody. It's definitely one of my top favorites! (I really thought there would be a lot of screaming in the breakdown/bridge, but that didn't happen.) "The Suicide Mile" is a pretty upbeat-sounding track with rather dark lyrics. There's a tiny bit of screaming, as well. "Straight Down the Line" has a really cool sound to it - I get some Anberlin vibes from this! I'm reminded of "The Unwinding Cable Car" and "Dismantle. Repair." in places. Very cool. I love this, even with the little bit of screaming! "Pills" closes out the album with another energetic, powerful track. I think it encompasses the mood and feel of the whole album really well. Some really cool riffs here, too!

Verdict: 10/10

Favorite tracks: all of them!

Reminds me of: Third Eye Blind, AFI, Acceptance, Anberlin, and everything I enjoy about pop-punk


(Thanks for sharing an unexpectedly fantastic listen, @Bad Frequencies!)

 

This was a pleasant surprise! I hoped you’d like the abum but did not expect you to like it this much!! A lot of what you said was true, and a lot of your standouts are mine. I also love the two sides of the coin analogy for the title track :) great write up as usual man!

 

Thanks! I'm glad you think I did the album justice. :)

 

Be careful what you wish for

 

+44: When Your Heart Stops Beating

Before going into this album, I was told that it was made by the "remaining" blink-182 (Barker and Hoppus) members during a hiatus. I also learned that it was electronic. So I knew two things: 1) I'd enjoy the vocals since it wasn't DeLonge and 2) it was very much in my wheelhouse!

Like I noticed on the blink-182 albums I've listened to, the instrumentation was awesome - the guitars and the drums (especially) were amazing. I'm always very impressed with Barker's drumming.

Of course, I haven't yet fully picked up the lyrics, but I can tell (and I've heard) that they are rather dark. As I mentioned above, I really enjoyed the vocals (Hoppus' vocals were a highlight from self-titled for me), and the melodies were quite catchy, just like on the blink-182 albums I've heard.

No critiques here!

The opening track, "Lycanthrope," hits the ground running! There's some awesome drums and driving guitars. The melodies are really catchy, and Mark's vocals are great. This track feels like it could have been a blink-182 song. Also, after my first few listens, I'm still not quite sure what this song has to do with werewolves, but maybe knowing the lyrics will explain that to me later, lol. "Baby Come On" is a much slower track that also seems like it could fit on a blink-182 album. The drums are really cool on this track, too. The title track is next, and it's another fast track, like the opener. I really enjoyed the guitars here, and Mark's vocals were great. The percussion during the chorus is awesome! I really enjoyed the instrumental bridge, too. "Little Death" is a slower track, and it features my favorite type of vocals by Mark. "155" is the first track where I get a major "electronic" feel, so of course I love it! It's peppy and catchy, and the synth reminds me of Anberlin a bit ("There Is No Mathematics to Love and Loss"). "Lillian" is another electronic-sounding track, (due to the "atmospheric sounds" in the background in the intro - I get Linkin Park vibes for some reason), even though the main instrument is an acoustic guitar, and it takes on a folk-like feel as the track continues. It's a pretty relaxed and chill track. "Cliff Diving," on the other hand, is quite fast and really catchy. The guitars and drums were both fantastic! I really enjoy the chorus, and the instrumental bridge is amazing. "Interlude" has a very electronic sound and, as the title suggests, it's a short little instrumental interlude. I dig it! There are some pretty awesome guitar riffs featured. "Weatherman" is another dark, electronic-sounding track. I love tracks that have a dark, electronic feel, even though they're slow. It's very catchy, too. This one is probably my top favorite! "No, It Isn't" is another track that feels like it could be a blink-182 song. It might be a bit slower than most of blink's tracks, but something about it reminds me of "California." It's probably the catchiness and the way the harmonies are handled. "Make You Smile" starts out with some pretty piano, and also includes some female guest vocals. The drumming is really impressive! "Chapter 13" closes out the album with some more powerful drumming and great vocals. It sums up the feel of the album rather nicely. I love the bridge!

Verdict: 10/10

Favorite tracks: Baby Come On, When Your Heart Stops Beating, Little Death, 155, Cliff Diving, Interlude, Weatherman, Make You Smile (yes, over half the album)

Reminds me of: blink-182 and Anberlin


(Thanks for sharing yet another awesome album, @Bad Frequencies!)

 

Awesome awesome review. The +44 abum is always a special one to me and is a huge milestone of that time of my life, so I am glad you enjoyed it.

Also, as you pointed out this is darker and was made during one of their hiatus. Many of us know, but a lot of the songs have references to the break up and Tom, weatherman and No It Isn’t are specifically REALLY on the subject

 

Alright everyone, it is time!!

I first off, would like to thank each and every member of CMCS for making this club so awesome and such a friendly place to discover new music.

I do also want to thank of course those who wrote out essays to enter our 25 session contest. Each and every one of your essays was brilliant and captured the best parts of CMCS. After reading them all, I took everyone into the raffle instead of the top 5, as it was just too hard to pick the best ones. I have done the lottery, and would have posted it (and my reviews) sooner but I’m not feeling 100% today.


I would like to congratulate out winner...

@Patterns in Traffic ! Congrats buddy. Dm me and we’ll sort out which of the two prizes you want :)

 

Congrats, @Patterns in Traffic!!

 

Congrats @Patterns in Traffic!!! Takes that amazon gift card and buy some huggies for that little one on the way! Haha!

 

Matt Skiba & the Sekrets: Kuts (bonus trade)

Before I listened to this album, I was aware that it was Matt Skiba (now of blink-182)'s work. Once again, I knew I'd enjoy the vocals, since I found Skiba's work very enjoyable on the newest blink-182 album, "California." (I will say that typing these song titles without any "C"s got on my nerves a bit, lol.)

The instrumentation here was awesome - the guitars and the drums were fantastic, as was the (unexpected) piano!

As usual, I haven't yet picked up the lyrics, but the vocals were awesome and the melodies were quite catchy, just like on "California."

No major critiques here! (I almost typed "Kritiques" - ugh! ) I wouldn't always be in the mood for this kind of an album, but it's still good!

"Lonely and Kold" opens the album with some fast drums and guitars. It has a really cool melody (almost folk, in a way). It's a catchy track that tends to get stuck in my head. The slower, quieter bridge was really good. "She Wolf" is a bit "funkier" and has some interesting effects on the guitars. It's another fast and catchy track. It's not just the "Wolf" reference, but I'm reminded of Duran Duran with this track. I really loved the guitars, here! "Krazy" has a folk-like feel to it, again. The chorus is really catchy. The drums really get to shine on this track in places, too. "She Said" has a similar feel to the previous track. Kind of pop-folk, in a way. "I Just Killed to Say I Love You" is a slower track, and a bit more electronic. I really enjoyed the drums, here! "Way Bakk When" has a really cool sound to it. It's very catchy, and the guitars are awesome! I really like the drums during the verses, too. "Krashing" has some pretty cool guitars, too, along with a really strong drum beat. "Hemophiliak" is one of my top favorites! The guitars and drums are awesome! So catchy! "Never Believe" has a simple little piano melody to it (just as the previous track did for a few seconds), and a lot of electronic elements. These factors make this track my top favorite on the album. Also, a few moments in this song make me think of The Killers (oh, again with the K's, lol!). The bridge is awesome. "Vienna" really reminds me of "Hey there, Delilah" (sorry, I had to). It's cool, though - I enjoy it! It's pretty different for this album.

Verdict: 9/10

Favorite tracks: Lonely and Kold, She Wolf, Way Bakk When, Krashing, Hemophiliak, Never Believe, Vienna (yes, over half the album)

Reminds me of: (new) blink-182, Duran Duran, The Killers


(Thanks for sharing yet another really cool album, @Bad Frequencies!)

 

I’m glad you liked it so much! I only recently got into it myself back in early March when @broken22 , our resident Alkaline Trio and it’s members expert, gave it to me in this very club. Liked it so much I went out and bought the physical copy immediately. I’m glad to spread the awesomeness of it, also your stand outs are the same as me, especially Lonely And Kold, the rhythm of his vocals on that track are just a major ear worm

 

Congrats to @Patterns in Traffic ! A worthy winner.

 

Also how good is the acoustic version of Baby, Come On?!

 

Thanks to @Kiana I listened to:

Porter - Moctezuma
I have trouble with foreign language stuff, but this was a slam dunk. The music is just fantastic. So varied. Such great command of dynamics. So well-produced. Doesn't matter that I can't understand much of the lyrics, the music is crafted to tell a story on its own.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed them. I know they were really random picks but you have very eclectic tastes so it's fun to throw out curveballs.

 

Another late review - a little while back @iCarly Rae Jepsen and I traded which led to me receiving the following:

R.E.M. - Out of Time (1991; Warner Bros.)

R.E.M. and I have a little history together, they have been a band I've always been intrigued with and have tried to get into for some time now. My first experience with them was hearing their 2011 record Collapse into Now which was a mistake to listen to such a late career record for a band with such a rich history. Collapse into Now and I just didn't click. A few years later I gave Murmur a shot and again R.E.M. and I didn't click (I feel that I will return to Murmur a some point with different feelings). Coincidentally the day before I was assigned Out of Time I had heard Reckoning and finally I was on board with R.E.M. and ready to dive into another album.

Out of Time isn't a perfect record by any means and doesn't quite live up to Reckoning but the highs make it a worthwhile listen. The opening track "Radio Song" featuring KRS-One wasn't a great start to the record but thankfully arguably R.E.M.'s most well recognized song "Losing My Religion" followed and set the record on the right path. "Shiny Happy People" and "Country Feedback" are other notable songs. Overall the record was inconsistent but the highlights make it a record I will continue to revisit.

(I don't have a lot of REM context since I've only heard a few record so it was a tough review to write without diving further into their catalog)

 

Great review @highfidelity203 it’s definitely quite daunting delving into a band with such a big discography. I didn’t really get into R.E.M. until about 7 years or so ago because I had no idea where to start.

R.E.M’s run from Green through to Monster is excellent imo. It’s definitely worth giving those a try if you’re want more that’s in a similar vein to Out of Time. Personally my favs are Green and Automatic For The People.

Their Albums either side of that run have some highlights too, the pre Green is a lot more punky and their post Monster leans more on the indie rock sound.

 

I’m hoping to get my review from last week up in the next few hours after I’ve had some dinner. Was also contemplating writing up a gig review too but tbh I’m not sure how well I’ll do it justice (you can blame the pre gig pub crawl for that lol).

 

Thanks for the rec's - I've been thinking of checking out Automatic for the People next. They have been one of those bands that had been eluding me a bit until I heard Reckoning. They also seem like a band where you need to still with their records a bit to really get a lot out of them.

 

What show did you go to?

 

How funny, I just assigned Out Of Time this week to my partner!

Highlights on that record for me are "Half A World Away" and "Country Feedback"

R.E.M. have some incredible songs scattered through their career. "Nightswimming" is one of my all-time favorite songs

 

Would you say Out of Time is your favorite record from them or just a nice entry point since it has "Losing My Religion"? I'm just curious cause I thought Reckoning was a better record even if the high points weren't quite as high.

 

Yeah Automatic is definitely a great place to go next, it’s got some of their biggest songs and it’s definitely one of their best albums. I think it’s justified in making it on lots of all time lists in the media.

Saw Machine Head do an evening with, they played a 3 hour set, it was so good.

Yeah Nightswimming is an all timer, Stipes vocals on that have such emotion in them.

 

Sevendust - Time Travelers and Bonfires (2014)



So last week @Davjs gave me Sevendust's acoustic album from 2014. I was familiar with Sevendust but they're a band I've never really gone in on. I think the only album of theirs I'd heard in full before this was Home, which I thought was pretty good and definitely something I'd have been more into if I'd heard it at the time of it's release. Also a fun fact for all you lovely people in the CMCS I was big into Nu-Metal back in the day when I was growing up so I was quite looking forward to checking this out.

Anyways back to the album at task here, this album is their 10th studio album and is made up of two halves, all acoustic. The first half is made up of brand new songs written for this stripped back album and the second half is acoustic renditions of songs from their back catalogue, most of which from their earlier albums.

So I enjoyed this album a fair bit and as it's pretty mellow I found myself going back to it a fair bit this past week, especially when work was doing my head in. There's really two stars of the show here on this stripped back album. Lajon Witherspoon on vocals being one of them he's got such a great tone to his voice and can really hold a note. The other star on this is Clint Lowery, with this being an acoustic album it really brings his great guitar work to the front.

I have to say I think the first half of this album is a lot better than the second, I think a lot of this is down to the fact that the songs were written specifically to be played acoustically and for them to sit next to each other. Where as the second half is what I presume are fan favourites done acoustically and as such don't really fit together as well as the first. That's not to say I didn't like them, just personally I prefer the newer tracks. Saying that Gone still a banger even acoustically.

So basically to sum this up while there's nothing too ground breaking here I enjoyed this album quite a bit, especially the first half and it's a great to put on to chill to. I can also see me going back to this from time so thanks for a cool rec @Davjs I'll have to make sure to check out some of their other albums I missed.

Favourite Tracks: Bonfire, One Life, Gone
RIYL: Radio rock done acoustic style

 

Also this album made me revisit a load of nu-metal albums I used to be into back in the day so that was fun (like I don't still jam some of them anyways). As much as a uncool rep that genre has nowadays, there's still some legit classics there.