Across Five Aprils – Life Underwater
Victory Records

(3.5/5)

Got Metalcore? If not, you need to run out and get yourself a copy of Across Five Aprils’ new album, Life Underwater ASAP! This album is one for the books! Throughout this 11-track piece of art, you are taken from the “norm” of Metalcore, and you’re thrown through an exciting plethora of Metal and Alternative influences! Guitarists Adam Nordmeyer and Zak Towe kick-off this album just before really being joined by bassist Josh Dycus and drummer Steve Wooteon for an impactful burst of energy in the first track, “The Darkest of Roads”! Seconds later, you’re introduced to the screaming vocals of Brandon Mullins. To be honest, I’ve never heard vocals quite like what’s coming of of Brandon’s pipes! This element helps make this album different from so many other Metalcore albums. Armed with this edge, AFA takes you through track titles such as “Faith Shaped Pills”, “This Means Not Welcome”, and they even throw in a Harry Potter reference for all you HP fans with the title “Snape Kills Dumbledore”. Honestly, I think that “Snape Kills Dumbledore” and the last track, “My Sins Stacked to Heaven” are my two favorite off the album simply because of their musical content. “Snape Kills Dumbledore” doesn’t appeal to me through the name, but this track is heavy! I love it! “My Sins Stacked to Heaven” shines over the others as well because it’s mellow makes you think that they AFA will end the track in a soft and relaxing way. Not quite! This track definitely has its mellow parts that definitely help it, but it also has very high energy parts as well, making it a well rounded end to a great album. Overall, Life Underwater is a great buy, and you should get a copy as soon as possible.

Four Letter Lie – What a Terrible Thing to Say
Victory Records

(4/5)

If you want one of the best Metalcore albums of early 2008, Four Letter Lie has answered the call! Their latest masterpiece entitled What a Terrible Thing to Say is an absolute masterpiece. Throughout the entire album, you are constantly taken from one extreme to the other as the members of FLL create an ingenious mixture of Metal and Alternative music to take you through the motions of one of Victory Records’ top albums! Seriously, this album is great! The musical aspect of the album is composed with an incredible mixture of guitar riffs from guitarists Kevin Skaff and Conner Kelly, thunderous drums provided by drummer Derek Smith, and smooth bass lines kicked in from bassist John Waltmann. From a vocal standpoint, this album continues to get better and better. The vocals provided by vocalist Bryan Nagan and guitarist Kevin Skaff intertwine screaming and clean vocals to help you along the thrill ride that is What a Terrible Thing to Say! Honestly, I can’t figure out which tracks really stick out to me; they’re all so vital to making this such a great album! The first track “Cake Eater” is a good one to listen to when looking for a track to really set the mood for the album. You know right off the bat that this album is going to have moments that are made of just pure energy, and you will have moments where the tempo is slowed enough to take a quick break before being hit with energy again. So, if you’re looking for an album to keep you on your toes and in the spirits of Metalcore, go get your copy of What a Terrible Thing to Say as soon as possible!

Farewell to Freeway
Richie – Drummer

1. Who are some of your influences for your drumming style?
John Bonham from Led Zeppelin is my biggest drumming influence. Also, Vinnie Paul, Carmine Apice, Morgan Agren is incredible, Neil Pert, etc.

2. When did you first realize you wanted to be a drummer?
I used to watch the Muppets and Animal was the one who always rocked out on the drums, he’s my first drumming memory. I also used be a huge fan of this kids rock band called KIDEO and I always loved watching their videos and TV show. The first time I saw them when I was 5 or 6 I knew I wanted to play drums, luckily my uncle has as old Royce kit and he let me learn on those.

3. What was your attitude/what feelings went into writing “Definitions”?
Its a very positive record. We wrote it gradually over the course of about 8 months. During that time we still toured as much as we could staying on the road and persevering and working as hard as we could. We toughed it out through a lot of hard times so it deals heavily with staying determined to what you want to accomplish. We knew it would be our first major release when it came out so we wanted it to encompass everything that we’re about. Its a very honest record.

4. How does it feel to be back on tour supporting a great album?
Thanks! It feels awesome, the record comes out real soon on February 19th, so we’re thrilled to be playing all the new songs and supporting something we’ve put so much into. We can’t wait for everyone to hear it. We’ll be on tour for the next 5 months as well all over North America.

5. How does tour life typically go for Farewell to Freeway?
It’s day to day, thats what we’ve come to realize, is to just take things as they come, stick together and work towards our bands goals, whether you have a good show that day or not. We try to always have that in mind. We all have a great time on tour, its an amazing way to see the world and to be playing music every night is what we always want to be doing.

6. Do you prefer to play big venues or smaller ones?
We like playing all size venues, thats the exciting thing about being in a different room every night. I think though at this point we like playing bigger venues just cause we’ve been playing smaller ones for the last 4 years and we like big sound systems!

7. What keeps you entertained during down time while on tour?
I try to spend a bit of time seeing some of the area that we’re in, sometimes we don’t get much time so I try to get as much in as I can. It’s always cool meeting new people all the time too. Other than that we usually just hang with the other band(s) we’re on tour with or play video games and watch movies.

8. With a name like Farewell to Freeway, people may assume you guys are an Emo band. What might you tell someone who makes this assumption? What would you classify FtF as?
I would tell them to just listen to the music and try to see us live to make an accurate assumption. It’s hard these days, but I usually describe our band as Hard-Rock with Metal, Pop, and Punk influences. I know it’s pretty vague but it best suites us as we do have a lot of varied sounds.

9. How has being in Farewell to Freeway impacted you the most?
Just being on tour all the time, It has a huge impact on my life as you have to say goodbye to everything at home and know that your going to be living out of a van for a month or longer. Also, just being a musician that is able to play so often has been one of the most important things in my life, I always look forward to it.

10. How do you feel about the final product for “Definitions”?
I love it! We couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. We recorded in Westfield, MASS just outside Boston at Zing Studios with Eric Arena (A Day to Remember). It’s the same studio that Adam D records all the Killswitch Engage records. Most recently, he recorded Parkway Drive there, so it’s awesome we got the chance to record there, it was awesome! It’s our best sounding and best written material to date, and to know that it’s being released all over the world is pretty amazing. I’m super proud of the record.