Arise and Ruin’s Night Storms Hailfire

Music-Reviewer.com

October 2009 Music-Reviewer.com

Arise and Ruin’s Night Storms Hailfire

Heather Gioia
Intern

Artist: Arise and Ruin

Album: Nights Storm Hailfire

Label: Victory Records

Ratting: 5 of 10

With intense guitars and a strong sound, Arise and Ruin begins their album Night Storms Hailfire on a better note then the album ends. With a fast beat the track, Forever Damned (track one) has a fast moving pace and a dark and painful sound. Yet prepare yourself for just one of an album full of production and mixing mistakes. The vocals on the track contain very strong lyrics and evocative content, yet they sound as if you are listening to Ryan Bauchman, vocalist, scream from two rooms away. They are scratchy, gargled, and hard to make out; Bauchman sounds so far away that the best you can make out are grunts, moans and the hook, “Welcome back to hell.”

If you care to give them a second chance after that, you may actually consider listening to the rest of the album. Bring the Rain captures more of Bauchman’s vocal skills, while allowing guitarists Brent Munger and Sam Paterson to prove themselves as more than just background sounds. With a wailing guitar solo fallowed by brutal drums from Derek Prince-Cox leading to a dramatic ending, Bring the Rain convinces you to give the band a second chance.

Doom Sentence (track three) continues to show improvement, and contains what very well might be an extremely moving track. Something full of passion, pain and hate; complete with intense drums, guitar and bass – yet it sounds once again like you are listening to music from the next room over, causing what sounds like it has the ability to be a track capturing talent to become more annoying then enjoyable.

By the beginning of Thrashburn (track four) you are hoping that the mixing guys finally got their job down, and at first you thing they have. Opening with strong and crisp sounding interments, Thrashburn soon too becomes a mixture of splash, crash and what was that?

If you decide to give the album further try because you can hear some talent from these Canadian boys prepare yourself for a wait before track seven, The Aftermath. The Aftermath almost finally creates a success story capturing the talents of Munger, Paterson, Alexis and Prince-Cox; but it fails to start doing so until almost a minute and thirty seconds into the track. Although I do suppose that it is true, that patience is a virtues trait, and well, listeners must learn to wait.

Prepare yourself for mixing disaster after mixing disaster as Buchman continues to sounding distant, almost as if when recording he was screaming through a hole in the wall. The guitars, though, continue to contain a brutal sound as Munger and Paterson, lay down entertaining riffs. However, Alexis’ bass continues to sound overwhelming and to dominate from track to track attempting to match the drums of Prince-Cox.

If you make it to Thrashburn, the sound guys are starting to show improvement, as the guitars begin to match the bass, they have dominant riffs, and the drums become dominant, yet casual capturing beats.  Oh, and at the end do not worry your laptop, mp3 player, car stereo or musical player of choice did not suddenly die or stop creating sounds. Night Storms Hailfire contains a hidden track; secret is out, on track eleven, The Long Haul. And talk about a long haul; prepare to wait about four good minutes of silence before you finally find their hidden track.

Arise and Ruin sound like they could be a brutal band, amounting to violent mosh pits and blaring car stereos. It is highly recommended that for the next album attempt they stick with one recording studio opposed to using Chemical Sound to record drums, bass and guitar and then Highland Sound to record the vocals and additional guitars. The mixing of the two studios failed to mesh to become a pleasant sound. Timing on the tracks was not off by the artist, but intro silence to songs and exiting silence from songs as a fault of faulty mixing.

If these boys record with one recording studio, preferably not one of the two attempted on this album, they sound as if they will be a band worthy of new fans. Arise and Ruin’s underlying goal is to demand listener’s attention, and that demand for attention seemed to have been lost in studio problems; yet if you pick through the mess you can hear a band worthy of your attention.

Every Time I Die’s The New Junk Aesthetic

Music-Reviewer.com

March 2009 Music-Reviewer.com

Every Time I Die’s The New Junk Aesthetic

Heather Gioia
Intern

Artist: Every Time I Die

Album: The New Junk Aesthetic

Label: Epitaph

Rating: 8 of 10

Still strutting their stuff, Every Time I Die’s newest album, New Junk Aesthetic, can simply be described as heavy, fast and eccentric.

These Boston boys got together in 1988 and debuted their LP Gutter Phenomenon in 2005, which they used to establish themselves as the new sound in both country and metal. Gutter Phenomenon was the first of many albums to take listeners on a journey in which they had not previously experienced.

New Junk Aesthetic has the same old Every Time I Die sound, the album lacks amounts of new creativity, yet highlights the bands talents. So may argue that Every Time I Die needs to adjust their sound to the “new metal listeners,” but why? They have established a strong sound that has drawn in numerous fans.

As the life of both the party and the funeral, Every Time I Die opens on a strong yet smooth note with Roman Holiday (track 1). Roman Holiday begins to set the mood for the rest of the album and fully captures attention. Using the unique combined sound of a car halting to a screeching stop and a pre show tuning to open and close the track, Every Time I Die allows you a moment to pause and embrace what is going to happen and what has just happened.

Missing the unrolling screams of vocalist Keith Buckley, don’t worry they are soon to come, along with a new surprise as K. Buckley tries his hand at melodic singing.

Prepare yourself, because the tracks to fallow Roman Holiday are rapid, violent, atrocious and powerful.

Who Invited The Russian Soldier? (track 3) is the first track on the album to fully embrace the bands brutality. Drummer, Ryan Leger, hits the pause right on beat and fulfills the silence with that hardly capture his talents. Mixed in with the vicious drums are dramatic guitars, as Jordan Buckley and Any Williams, just begin to showcase their talents.

Incase you forgot that Every Time I Die is not your typical band (as if that is possible), they remind you with Wanderlust (track 4).

While Buffalo may not scream southern blues,  K. Buckley makes this stereotype seem ridiculous. Prepare your ears to be dumbfounded as K. Buckley successfully mixes his unrolling screams with the sound of sweet southern blues to create a twangy brutal sound. Along with him, guitarist, J. Buckley and Williams, exeunt their talent changing tempos and using a mixture of unique sounds.

Continuing to show case their talents, Every Time I Die continues on their musical journey to For the Record (track 5). Their lyrical skills are more than exemplified on For the Record, as K. Buckley’s lyric-writing becomes choppy and poetic. While the lines are embellished in K. Buckley’s screams, take a moment to read the lyrics and truly enjoy the tale of a fugitive who finally got caught.

An attacking lyrical opening leads into a strong ranting and back to attacking, as Every Time I Die takes the call and response out of the interments and hands the responsibility over to K. Buckley. But, J. Buckley,  Williams, Leger and Josh Newton, bassist, do not take a back seat on this track (or any for that matter). Guitar, bass and drums all rage on with simple beats and rhythms that combined to capture their true talents, For the Record allows these boys to proclaim that they have mastered the back-to-basics and can spice it up with a touch of personality.

Every Time I Die continues to storm on track after track with a new attack and story.  Buffalo 666 (track 12) provides as a closing intensified metal track in which K. Buckley proves his mastered skill of screaming.

New Junk Aesthetic ends on a fun and unique sound. Goddamn Kids These Days (track 13) incorporates everything that you have heard on the pervious tracks to create an ending masterpiece. Amongst various tempo changes, you will find K. Buckley move from unrolling screams, at times with a blunt forcefulness to melodic singing which creates a sound that captures your ears and makes you wonder where the band is going to take their sound next. From fast to slow, unrolling to blunt, Goddamn Kids These Days is a powerful call out to all who have failed to listen to the mistakes of those who came before them.

Whether the sound is the same as the last album or not, Every Time I Die has done what they do best and made a commotion. New Junk Aesthetic is nothing to be looked over, but a simple step forward and sampler of what more Every Time I Die posses to offer in the future.