Secret Lives! Of The Freemasons – Weekend Warriors
Victory Records
(3.5/5)
After listening to Weekend Warriors, I knew I had listened to a potentially great album, but I was left with a feeling that there was something missing. After consulting old Secret Lives!… material, I figured out what’s missing. Screaming! I know that there is a little bit in a couple of the songs on the new album and that not EVERY band should have screaming, but I believe that screaming is what helped bring this band’s vocal sound together in old material. I’m definitely not knocking the vocal talent the guys from this band posses and I also realize that, perhaps, the band wanted to change for this album. I give them credit for creating a good album, it’s just not really the style I generally prefer. Overall, the music written for this album is great and the vocals are expertly applied, but at this point, they are not exactly my favorite of all the Secret Lives!… material available. Although, the more I listen to it, the more I like it. All in all, this is a great album, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys listening to the Alternative/Emo style of music!
The Audition – Champion
Victory Records
(4/5)
Although the Alternative/Emo genre of music doesn’t normally attract me, I have come across a band/album that has really caught my attention! In simple words, Champion is a great album! Even though it is on the Alternative side of music, the mix of energetic dance beats, great guitar work, and excellent vocals have made this album rank pretty high in my charts. But not only are the musical aspects of this album good, the lyrics are cleverly written in a way that they simply flow with the music, grabbing your attention and keeping you from putting this album down until you can’t listen to it anymore. Even then you want to pick it up again. Being only The Audition’s second album, there is lots of potential for this band to have a bright future! Kudos on this new album, and I can’t wait to see what comes out of this band next!
Darkest Hour takes Wilmington venue by storm…
On February 1st, 2008, Victory Records band Darkest Hour headlined the second show of their current tour, The Doomsayers 2008 Tour with supporting bands Cephalic Carnage, Emmure , and Whitechapel. Having the interesting mix of styles in that small venue made for one explosive night!
The first band to hit the stage was Deathcore band, Whitechapel. Although Deathcore (or Death metal for that fact) is not my favorite style of music, I thought their set was pretty good. With the venue as packed as it was, it was hard to see what was really going on during their set, but they definitely seemed to have the makings for a good Deathcore band with pretty good stage presence. Again, they weren’t my favorite, but worth seeing if you’re into Deathcore or Death metal.
The next band to take the stage was Victory Records band, Emmure. These guys were pretty amazing on stage! Their music was great, their stage presence was awesome…this was a band worth seeing. If you saw these guys outside of a show, you might not actually think they were in a Metal band because of the way they dress and whatnot, but they easily proved that they have talent in the area of playing Metal while performing!
The third band to play that night was Death metal band, Cephalic Carnage. To be honest, I didn’t really like them at all! There was obvious talent in a couple of the members, but together they were HORRIBLE! It sounded like a bunch of noise. There was maybe one part in their entire performance that made any sense at all. I’m not just saying this because I’m not really a Death metal fan, but I am speaking from what I saw. However, some people who were there did like their set, so they must be doing something right. I didn’t see whatever it is they are doing right, but maybe it’s just me. Perhaps it was also a bit hard to look past the fact that two of the members looked old enough to be my dad!! The vocalist looked like a Death metal version of Carlos Santana with a beer gut! Oh well, it was only a wasted 30 minutes of life. I can go without that.
Finally, it was time for DARKEST HOUR!!! If there is one word that can describe their show, it’s AMAZING! This five-piece had everything it takes to be a great band. They had awesome music, great stage presence, top notch skills…they have it all. They really made it worth 3 hours of driving to go see them at their only NC stop on the tour. I was fortunate enough to catch up with them after the show to hang out for a few minutes and get an interview with their drummer, Ryan Parrish. In getting that interview, I found out that Ryan’s influences actually came from listening to Death metal when he was around the age of 12. these guys were awesome to see live and they’re all great guys to hang out with. If you ever get the chance to see them perform live, do it!
All in all, the whole night was great and I had a really good time being back in Wilmington to witness this great show!
