The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 423

Emarosa was THIS year? Well shoot. That's hard for me to believe.

 

Yeah! They have a new single out already!

 

What do you have so far?

 

Checked out that Copeland record. I never really listened before but I'm sure they used to be a guitar band? This is very different from what I expected.

 

Yes and no. Always had piano and very airy vocals. Not "guitar" in the rock sense but the past records incorporated them more.

 

I might have just confused them with someone else like Cartel that I never really listened to tbf.

 

I went ahead and took two album assignments from @ugman_2000 -- ZOAX's s/t and Vola's Applause of a Distant Crowd. Namely because I really liked them both. (I'm three listens into each as I write this.)



Zoax's 2016 s/t is a fascinating mix of rock and metal, of ugly and pretty. The vocalist goes in and out of singing and screaming with an abandon that doesn't necessarily match the music at times -- meanwhile his scream has a throaty, "I'm choking someone please help me" sound to it, which actually took me a few songs to get used to. But part of this album's appeal is the band's refusal to play by the rules of any specific genre. Dance and thrash collide on "Devil Dance," indie meets alt-metal on "Fly High," while "ZuperHeroez" might simultaneously boast the album's most poppy instrumental work and the album's angriest, dirtiest vocal performance.

There's something unabashedly fun aboutt his strange concoction of sounds and styles, and I find it quite intoxicating. The hip-hop swagger of "Good Times" made me miss the 2013-ish days of letlive., and it seriously was a good time to listening to music like this. The album never really lets up, making it a fulfilling listening experience through-and-through, one that I imagine I will get the hankering to return to in years to come. It bums me out to discover that Zoax has already broken up after this one album, but I'm glad we at least got this one!



As someone who just finished recording a 10-song, 45-minute album myself, I am absolutely blown away by everything that Vola have accomplished on this 10-song, 45-minute album from 2018. This is seriously something else. At the risk of heaping too much praise on Applause of a Distant Crowd, it almost seems like the evolution of metal.

My immediate reaction to listening through this album for the first time was, honestly, thinking this was a side-project for Katatonia. This vocalist is a dead-ringer for Katatonia's, such that I actually had to go research the band members to make sure there was no overlap. In many ways, Applause could function as the logical follow-up to Katatonia's excellent 2016 release Fall of Hearts -- which makes it all the impressive that Vola is, in fact, such a newer and younger band.

What's most impeccable about this release is how it balances metal instrumentation with a never-compromising sense of beauty. The vocalist never takes the bait to start screaming, even during the set's heaviest moments, and when riffs appear that are extra metallic (see "Smartfriends"), it both fits perfectly into Vola's sound and also shocks me with giddy excitement and surprise.

The obvious highlight here is "Alien Shivers," which kicks off with what is quickly becoming one of my favorite guitar riffs...ever?? In a way, it seems ripped straight from an Architects album (which was the specific reference point that caused @ugman_2000 to assign this album to me), but it's recontextualized in a way that I don't think we'd ever hear on an album like Holy Hell.

Unless there's some brand of metal that I've totally missed the boat on, this release seems like something entirely fresh and new for the overarching metal genre -- with its unabashed use of modern electronics, pop melodies, and a generally lovely aesthetic. Three listens in, and I'm still floored by this wonderful set of tunes.

 

Both super great reviews there, I’m so glad you enjoyed both of those.

I definitely get a bit of a letlive vibe from zoax, just like a more funked up version of them. It took a couple of listens to get into his vocals too but god damn do they have some catchy songs. It’s a proper shame they split, their vocalist moved to the states for a job which caused them to split.

Vola I only discovered this summer when I caught them at a festival and they blew me away with how good they were. I guess they kind of sit on the edge of the tech metal and prog-rock/prog-metal scenes. With band like The Contortionist and Agent Fresco (who I almost rec’d to you). I definitely agree that they’ve got quite a unique sound about them and so many great melodies in the vocals.

Anyways cheers for the awesome write ups of those albums

I’ll probably get my reviews up over the weekend. It’s been a pretty busy week so I haven’t had a chance to listen to them properly yet.

 

Vola sounds like my thing!

 

Oh and link me to your band, it’d be cool to check them out.

 

Oh you’d definitely enjoy them Nate.

 

Was this for me? haha

 

Yeah, I forgot to quote you haha.

 

@SamLevi11 gave me the album Love Keeps Kicking by the band Martha



Martha is a pop-punk band from Durham, England and they reminded me of bands like Lemuria or Great Grandpa or Hop Along. I enjoyed this album quite a bit especially since the have a song called WrestleMania VIII (I'm a huge wrestling fan). The only thing that was a little disappointing is that 2 songs seemed to me like copycats of 2 other bands songs (one was a wonder years song and the other is a blink 182 song) but other than that it was an enjoyable listen and if you like pop punk then you should check it out. Thanks for the rec !

 

Just off the top of my head and in no specific order:

Ioanna Gika
Charli XCX
Loona
Lana Del Rey
Lucy Rose
He Is Legend
Bat For Lashes
The Dangerous Summer
Cult Of Luna
Carly Rae Jepsen


Have a dozen new albums to listen to (LIZ, Hannah Diamond, Tinashe, Refused, FKA Twigs, Coldplay among others) and still need to spend more time with a few others (Jimmy Eat World, Friendly Fires, Charly Bliss, Little Simz, Yuna, Sleater-Kinney, Norma Jean, Sum 41, Madonna, The Devil Wears Prada, Sara Bareilles, Tove Lo... i'm stopping otherwise I'll never make it to the end of this post). I'm sure I'm forgetting something. I can't keep up, to the point I'm happy Kesha, The 1975, Jojo and Halsey delayed their albums to 2020.

 

you know you're a member of the Chorus Music Club Society when you know, about a week in advance, what album you're going to get the next person to review before it's even been assigned.

 

Very diverse list and it should be. I can give you some pointers:
Refused is amazing and EOTY list material
Charly Bliss is very good
Norma Jean is good but for some reason I couldn't get into it
Sum 41 felt dialed in but I know it is getting a ton of buzz on here
The Devil Wears Prada is 100% on my EOTY list

 

I forgot how much I enjoyed the Stranger Things-based Ingrid Michaelson album, Stranger Songs! Big summer album for me this year!

 

This is the only song I have out so far! It's one-man-band stuff, kind of in an emo-pop vein. The rest of the album's coming in January :) Thanks for asking! Hope ya dig

 

Definitely a top 3 album for me this year, it’s so damn catchy. I was meant to see her the other week but I was I’ll so missed it

 

This is cool, I love the guitar tone. I’ll definitely have to check your album out in Jan.

 

Sorry you missed her show, but I'm stoked that you enjoyed it so much! I love all her albums, but this is the one that has resonated with me the most (so far).

 

I've really enjoyed her last 3 albums but yeah this albums really stuck with me too. I constatly get the songs stuck in my head, they're so damn catchy.

 

Glad you enjoyed it. I know exactly the Blink 182 sounding song, it's actually the one you mentioned "Wrestlemania VIII"! It sounds a lot like parts of First Date haha. Not sure sure on the one that you think copies TWY but I might have a listen.

I just think this band is fun and I like their whole ethos. Totally DIY, anarchist, vegan, straight edge and queer-friendly, and I haven't seen a band care as much as them that everyone in a crowd is having fun.

 

Everyone give this album a listen today if you can for @teebs41