teethforteeth

teethforteeth are a self proclaimed “experimental post-hardcore” band from Hammonton, New Jersey. Certainly New Jersey doesn’t leave a hardcore band a shortage of things to complain about so thats good. And so is their music. Teethforteeth demonstrate a superb knowledge of hardcore music and channel some modern influences into their sound. I hear a lot of Defeater in their music, not super heavy in their guitars and lots of emphasis on the shouting vocals.

The band have a mini album available for free on their bandcamp page, but I sincerely recommend sending some money their way or even trying to book them for a gig or two. They show a lot of potential and while they still sound rough and are still trying to find themselves musically, some more experience would be beneficial for them and they could prove to be a very promising figure in hardcore music.

Here’s there facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/TeethForTeeth. Get involved with this band

Luke Helker

Mayhem Festival Photo Diary

Luke Helker

Mayhem Festival Recap

This year, the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival celebrates its fifth birthday with one of the most solid, and yet, on of the most confusing lineups thus far in their career. Having replaced Ozzfest as the premier metal festival in America, Mayhem Fest has been able to deliver five different, unique, and special lineups of fantastic and important bands. I feel America has a real problem when it comes to summer tours because most bands just seem to flip flop between one and the next every other year, but Mayhem has always been diverse and slightly unpredictable, which makes it exciting. This year’s lineup, while deservedly received some mixed reviews, is incredibly solid and has potentially opened the gates for a wider audience for future tours.

My Mayhem experience took place on Friday, July 27th in Camden, New Jersey. I was joined by a few of my friends as we passed through the main gates and entered the arena, thus launching a long, but memorable day to come. The first band for me to see was I, the Breather, a Sumerian records act starting to make waves with their most recent release Truth and Purpose, which is an epic christian metalcore powerhouse of a record. Along with Dirtfedd and Betraying the Martyrs, Mayhem has really started to launch smaller acts. Ever since the beginning, Mayhem Fest have tried to promote some local acts. One band, Beyond the Scar, have been the Jager Band since the beginning (which says a lot about the band) and this lineup features a lot more local acts and smaller acts. For those of you that remember, Ozzfest was responsible for putting a lot of now-famous metal bands on the map (e.g. System of a Down, Slipknot, Down, Lamb of God, etc.) and was big on promoting lesser known bands by putting them with some of the biggest bands around. Apart from Beyond the Scar, Mayhem Fest have never really promoted local bands or tried to put certain bands on the map until now.

I think I, The Breather’s performance might have really won some people over. They’re heavy enough for some of the more straightforward metal kids and have enough breakdowns for the hardcore people. Everything was very clear and concise and while they aren’t really doing anything new and there are certainly bands out there doing what they do better, but I’m a fan of this band and was really happy with their performance and that’s all that counts. I then saw a few minutes of one of the local acts. I can’t quite remember their name and their music was less memorable. Just an average thrash band sounding like a sum of their 80s influences. Nothing new or captivating whatsoever. On the opposite end of the spectrum though, we have Whitechapel. One of the heaviest bands around, Whitechapel stormed through their set like a pack of rabid tigers attacking and killing a whole herd of Gazelle. Their newest self-titled album was released earlier this year and the new songs sound absolutely amazing live. I saw them at the Electric Factory back in December and they sounded just as good, if not better, this time around being outside. Great new album, great live band, it was all great.

Immediately following Whitechapel was Dirtfedd, a fairly new band that I had never heard and didn’t plan on hearing. From what I did happen to overhear though didn’t seem all to special, but I heard some people say that they were good. Maybe I’ll look into it next time. Which brings me to The Devil Wears Prada, another band that I had seen back in December with Whitechapel.  They were good, but I thought their show at the Electric Factory was better. Their mix wasn’t really bad either, I just think they sounded much better at the other show (probably because they were the headliners on that tour). I think adding The Devil Wears Prada was a risky, but smart move on the part of the powers that be that book the bands. The Devil Wears Prada have enough metalcore/hardcore elements that attracts more of a Warped Tour crowd to the show and the past few releases have been the heaviest in the bands career. Surely heavy enough to attract the heavy metal crowd that populates this festival. The problem is there are plenty of metalheads that are snobby and automatically discredit bands that aren’t 100% metal, so converting those people is the main goal for a band like The Devil Wears Prada and I think overall they most likely did so to an extent. I also feel like this band are the bridge between bands on the bill like As I lay Dying and Upon a Burning Body with Asking Alexandria (a bog upset this year, which we’ll address soon enough). I think we are going to start to see a lot more bands of this ilk and a lot more metalcore bands on the Mayhem Fest stages.

Next up we have Upon a Burning Body, a band that have already their stripes and proved that they can work a crowd unlike half the bands on this tour. They were playing the Sumerian stage, which wasn’t much of a stage. For the past few years, there were always the two side stages next to each other, but for whatever reason this Sumerian stage was merely a little tent with a stage that’s only an inch or two off the ground and the guard rail right up against the stage. As a photographer, I found it inconvenient and hard to get some great shots from the sides and behind the stage. Still got some decent shots, but I just don’t understand why they had a pitiful excuse for a stage set up all the way in the farthest corner of the entire parking lot and not right next to the Jagermeister stage like always. But like I said before, this is a very new and different spin for the Mayhem Festival. Anyways, Upon a Burning Body sounded amazing, playing a short set filled with mainly newer songs. I quite like the new album, but a lot of my friends have been slagging it off a bit and saying there are only three or four good songs on it. While I don’t think Red. White. Green. is as good as The World is Ours, I don’t think you should shy away from it at all. To me, I think the problem lies in the fact that a) Upon a Burning Body are one of the best bands to come out of the scene in the past decade and b) released an 8/10 debut record and toured relentlessly proving that they are a powerhouse live act and were more than capable of headlining shows on just that one album alone. When you look at it like that, no album can truly compare, but I happen to think that Red. White. Green. certainly does justice as a sophomore release.

After seeing As I Lay Dying, I got very excited for the new record and wanted to go back and rediscover some of their older material. I was also surprised at how fit Tim Lambesis is. In pictures he looks big, but his muscles were absolutely huge; much larger in person. But speaking of follow up records, I’m interested to see what this band will pull out of the bag for us this time around. “Cauterize” is a new song they released a short while back and is one of the best songs of their career, but to me, As I Lay Dying are the perfect 7 out of 10 band. Lots of good stuff, but nothing great. Nothing to really make them a headliner for a big festival or anything other than maybe headlining a second stage. I really liked The Powerless Rise and I hope this new album is better than it.

Probably the biggest surprise for me came from French metalcore and Sumerian records band Betraying the Martyrs. I had heard their debut album a couple of times and liked what I heard, but never expected to enjoy their show as much as I did. They kick off their show with the bombastic and brutally heavy “Martyrs” and continue to be relentless throughout their set. I was nearly blown away by just how heavy they were and how crazy their keyboard player/clean vocalist was. They really put on a good show and I think they’ve tripled the size of their fan base. Now all that’s left is a new record.Speaking of new records, how are Anthrax going to top Worship Music? Thanks to that album, Anthrax have made themselves in the limelight again and are getting some much deserved attention. I’ve always felt that Anthrax were one of the most criminally underrated  metal bands ever, but Worship Music completely blew me away as well as almost everyone else who thought they had this band figured out. Their live show blew me away just as much as the album did. Having never seen them before, I got starstruck seeing Scott Ian and Joey Belladonna right there in front of me. I just wish they were put on the main stage instead of Asking Alexandria. I get the rotating main stage idea, but apparently Anthrax preferred to not be on the rotating lineup and instead have chosen to headline the second stage every show. A noble gesture; I just hope everyone can appreciate what this band have done and recognize their importance and validity in this world.

Like I said, Asking Alexandria were opening the main stage during this particular leg of the tour. A lot of mixed reviews followed this band being booked. I think the logic of it makes sense in a twisted sort of way. They are one of the biggest metalcore bands around and will attract an enormous crowd just for them alone and they are part of the Sumerian records family. I would be prepared for a much larger Sumerian input from now on. If this particular Mayhem Festival is popular enough, we could certainly see more Sumerian bands like Periphery, Born of Osiris, After the Burial, Veil of Maya, and The Faceless (hopefully with a bigger stage as well). As far as Asking Alexanria’s show, I really just couldn’t be bothered. I honestly can’t stand them anymore. They’ve been unashamedly been ripping off Slipknot’s stage moves and are full blown alcoholics. In fact, for those of you that went t the festival and picked up a program, flip to their page. For all of the bands on the tour they have a general info box with a spot of a quote regarding your feelings towards being on the tour. Asking Alexandria’s quote was: “If we drink less, we’ll get a hangover…We keep drinking so the hangover never hits.” Not only is that completely irrelevant to the tour, but it makes them all look like assholes. I like some of their music, but I don’t want to be associated with a band that puts partying and debauchery first before the music. We already got enough of that with the glam and hair bands, but at least they wrote better songs. They just have some catchy choruses over some heavy breakdowns. Not a lot going on in the “song department” and for that, I just can’t respect this band anymore. I also felt their sound was muddy and indistinguishable between songs. I’m sure the die hard fans had all of their dreams come true seeing them, but I was not pleased.

I was pleased though with Motorhead’s performance. In fact I was more than pleased. I thought it was fantastic. My starry eyes from Anthrax had worn off so I needed to see another living legend to bring them back into view. I mean, when you think about it, none of these bands would be around if it weren’t for Motorhead. They are so important and I think they don’t get enough credit either. I personally can only really stand about a half hour of Motorhead’s music before I’ve had my fill, so it was good that they weren’t too high on the bill, but they really should have headlined. I was still more than pleased with their performance and the place just went off when they broke into “Ace of Spades” and “Overkill.”

Seeing Slayer allowed me to cross their name of the big four list. I have now seen all of the big four thrash bands, but out of all of them, I think Slayer were the worst.They were still really good, but Slayer should never just be really good. I mean, they’re fucking SLAYER! for a reason and I know that they are capable of better performances. Tom Araya practically looks like Santa Claus nowadays with his big beard and graying hair and Gary Holt certainly stepped up to the plate in order to fill in for Jeff Hanneman while he fights his spider-bite infection. That being said, I was happy to finally see Slayer and hear those great songs be played, but I know deep down that they are capable of better performances and so that makes me slightly disappointed.

Thankfully this last band was not disappointing at all. You know who I’m talking about. You know what time it is. One of the biggest, best and most important bands in the last decade, Slipknot were absolutely amazing.  Playing a blistering set, they stormed through with little banter in between. My only complaint was that I thought Corey’s mix wasn’t perfect. There was a little too much echo on the vocals, so with songs like “Wait and Bleed” and “Spit it Out” where the verses are close together, it sounded a little muddy, but overall, it wasn’t a big deal. There were also other songs that I wish they had played. Slipknot have so many killer songs that they could have played for another hour and would still have some great songs leftover.  It has honestly been a dream of mine to see Slipknot and especially to be a part of the Spit-it-out-zero-bullshit, so being able to finally be a part of that was really special for me. This was the closest I could ever come to seeing them in their Download 2009 performance. Now that Paul is no longer with us, there is this new sense of unity and I feel theres more of a connection between them and the fans. Aside from Metallica, they are the only other band that has welcomed me and every single other person in attendance to their family. I’ll probably spend Thanksgiving with Slipknot and Christmas with Metallica this year and then I’ll switch off next year. All in all, it was a perfect band to conclude a perfect day.

This was truly a unique festival lineup. A lot of surprises, a lot of heritage acts, and a lot of questions concerning next years lineup. I think every year has been very strong and I think whatever direction they decide to take will please a lot of people. Hopefully High on Fire will sort themselves out so that they can come back and redeem themselves for stepping out this year. Until then, I’ll see you next year.

Luke Helker

The Gaslight Anthem: Handwritten

Jersey boys The Gaslight Anthem have recently released their follow up album to the critically acclaimed American Slang. Handwritten is the bands fourth album and another album that will undoubtedly get fantastic reviews. However, it sounds a lot more like the band’s rawer sophomore record The ’59 Sound than the more radio friendly American Slang.

The thing about this band that I’m really attracted to is the uniqueness in their sound, while drawing obvious influences like The Clash, Tom Waits, and most notably, Bruce Springsteen. Brian Fallon’s voice is very coarse and similar to Springsteen’s, the music is very honest and working class, and they’re all from New Jersey. Yet the Gaslight Anthem have made a name for themselves by doing their own thing and writing great songs at the same time. Handwritten is just another example of this trend.

The album starts off with “45”, a lovely song about listening to records and is an absolute ripper. The album rarely lets up from there. The songs are much thicker than before and songs like “Too Much Blood”, “Keepsake”, and “Biloxi Parish” have more of a southern rock feel to them as opposed to the americana-punk style they usually write. The album also closes with a fantastic cover of Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky.”

Overall, I’d say this is a fantastic album from a man who was unsure of himself after writing American Slang. Thank god for Fallon’s side project the Horrible Crows I guess. That album he did allowed him to dig much deeper and write much darker material. I think  Fallon had to do that in order to come back to The Gaslight Anthem and write another killer record. Fallon said he was unsure of whether he’d be able to write another Gaslight Anthem song again after American Slang, but this album is proof the he’s still got it in him.

Luke Helker

Feed the Rhino: The Burning Sons

I knew it was too good to be true. There were too many awesome bands coming out with awesome records in 2012. I knew that once a band came out with a slightly disappointing record, it would hurt hard. For a band that was making exceptional waves over the past two years and releasing an amazing debut album, I just don’t think this new Feed The Rhino album really does justice compared to what everyone else is doing in 2012.

The biggest problem I have with it would be the production. I think they were trying to make it sound more raw; like four guys jamming in a room and I guess the achieved that in essence. However, I feel like it makes their overall sound much thinner than Mr. Red Eye. I feel the vocals suffer the most from this. That and I honestly just don’t think all the songs are all that great. The album starts off very aggressive and strong, but doesn’t end quite as strong. “Flood the System”, “Nothing Lost” and the title track kick off the album on a high note, but if it weren’t for “Left for Ruins”, the rest of the album would not have too many redeeming qualities. Mr. Red Eye was almost wall-to-wall bangers and The Burning Sons just has a few standout tracks.

Thankfully, this band are apparently a killer live band because that’s what will save them in the end. As long as they keep up their intensity, then this will prove to be just a speed bump. I think the band will somehow redeem themselves. The could certainly start by coming to America to tour. That would be sweet. Unfortunately, this album doesn’t quite reach the bar set by most of the band releasing records tis year. It’s disappointing, but at least I have plenty of great albums to listen to in its place.

Luke Helker

Warped Tour Photo Diary

These are photos from both Scranton and Camden. ENJOY!

Luke Helker

The Contortionist: Intrinsic

Technical deathcore band The Contrtionist’s sophomore album Intrinsic is out now and will probably shock you. They changed a lot on this record and compared to their debut album, Exoplanet, you might not even think it’s the same band. But it is and good thing to because it’s a fantastic album. The band really matured a lot on this album and they seem much more focused. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the band before and to be honest, I’m still not completely into this band, but I think this new album is ten times better than their debut.

What may shock and/or surprise you about this record is that there are a lot more clean vocals than aggressive ones. In fact, the guitars are much cleaner throughout. The album is much more of a prog metal record than a technical deathcore record, but it’s still very heavy when it gets to those parts, but overall it’s much more thought out and well-written. Songs like “Feedback Loop” will allow listeners to be comfortable with the heavy riffs as well as the new spacey, atmospheric shifts in sound (There was also a little marimba solo hidden in there, so I enjoyed that a lot. The marimba is now officially a metal instrument!). Other standout tracks include “Casualty”, “Cortical”, and “Geocentric Confusion.” The band prove that they can properly meld more complex textures and arrangements with gripping and brimming soundscapes and moods.

Overall, there’s not much else to say that besides the face that it’s a huge departure for the band, I think they pulled it off rather well. They’re proving their versatility on this record, which means we’ll probably see them for a while, trying new things and trying to stay fresh and relevant. I think this is a great record. Not my favorite of the year, but I applaud them for making the leaps that they did. Well done.

Luke Helker

Warped Tour 2012

Every summer, teenagers and young fans alike have gathered at their local stadium parking lots or open air fields to see some of their favorite bands play at various music festivals and tours. Since 1995, The Vans Warped Tour has celebrated the biggest names in punk rock and extreme sports and has since grown in order to accommodate the changes that time has brought us. The tour has since opened their arms to more hardcore acts as well as metal, ska, reggae, as well as the various punk sub genres and have in turn widened their audience and has become one of, if not the largest touring music festival in America.

America is slowly but surely catching up on European-Weekend-Music-Festival bandwagon, but a tour like Warped Tour compacts almost as many bands as a three-day music festival into one long, but exciting day. In today’s economy, the average Warped Tour attendee is able to see at least ten of their favorite bands for the price of maybe two and still have money to spare on a t-shirt or whatnot. It’s nice for someone who loves this type of music, but may not be a big fan of camping. I for one would like a whole weekend metal festival, but that’s a rant for another day. Let’s get warped!

July 18th, Scranton: This was seriously the day that just would not end. I’m currently working in south Jersey and so I decided that since Scranton was about a four-hour drive and the gates open at 11:00, I would wake up at five, get an early start, and everything would be good. But as everyone knows, nothing ever goes the way you expect it to at Warped Tour. I somehow woke up, turned off my alarm, and went back to bed. Not good. I woke up at 7, sprang out of bed and quickly got ready and was out the door in the next ten minutes and on the road. Trying to drive as fast as I could without breaking any laws, I journeyed through thick and thin. I’m not usually an angry person in a traffic situation, but since I was already fairly late and a stickler for punctuality, I was freaking out to say the least. For the most part, traffic was actually spaced out perfectly, but there were a few crashes close to the venue, which made for some congestion. I didn’t make it to the venue until around 11:30, but since the venue is on top of a mountain, I had to park at the base and take a shuttle bus to the top. After that, I found out that I had to take a separate shuttle all the way over to the other side of the venue in order to pick up my press wristband and ticket. After all was said and done, I didn’t make inside the actual venue until about 12:30 and missed one of the bands that I was looking forward to the most. We Are the Ocean, a four piece post-hardcore band from Essex, appeared at the Scranton show, but not the Camden show. I was gutted at missing them, but was able to see Title Fight, another band that didn’t appear at Camden, so I was very pleased at that.

When I first walked in, I caught the last half of I Fight Dragons‘s set. I Fight Dragons are a unique, nerdy rock band that combine video game aesthetics and sounds to hard riffs and anthemic choruses. One of their members even found a way to rig a Guitar Hero guitar console to actually produce sound and uses that as well as a keyboard station rigged with triggers and other techy devices to give their sound that gamey vibe. I’ve never seen or heard anything quite like this band and I can’t recommend them enough. I was surprised when I heard they were playing because they are not well-known as all, but I hope this tour really broadens their audience. After their set, I walked around and got a feel for how the stages were placed and how I was going to plan my day. That’s when the rain started to come. It seemed like the clouds came out of nowhere, but soon enough thunder followed, and then it started pouring. Most people took refuge under the main tent where Sleeping with Sirens were currently playing (probably the only people who benefitted from the rain). Others were making the most out of the weather by sliding in the mud on the lawn. It eventually let up, but almost as soon as it had cleared up, it was back again for round two. This time it was coming down in buckets and with the potential for hail, the powers that be were forced to suspend the day until the rain let up. I was worried that my camera was ruined and praying that everything would turn out all right because to be honest, it had been a pretty shitty day so far. When the rain finally let up, a lot of bands were either moved back and were rushed through soundchecks or just cancelled all together. Thankfully, this was not the case for Title Fight and without a soundcheck, the band gave a blinding performance. This is a band that have really grown into themselves and have really honed in on what makes them brilliant and has since expounded upon it with their latest release Shed. Truly a special moment for this band to be playing very near their home town with crappy weather and a decent, but loyal crowd.

Next up was The Ghost Inside, one of the best hardcore acts on the bill. Having just released a new record a few weeks ago, the band were  stoked to have new music to play to one of the largest tours in America. The new songs translated just as well as the older tracks and the band were fantastic both days. I’d seen them before for the first time when they were on the All-Stars tour last year. I wasn’t too familiar with them, but they were one of the best bands on that bill. Now I’ve seen them three times and they just don’t disappoint. Another band that don’t seem to disappoint are Motionless in White. I’m not really a huge fan personally. I think they’re good at what they do, but there are other bands that are better and I don’t think it’s fair for people to judge them because they wear makeup. But the crowds that that band brings in are enormous. They had one of biggest crowds on both days and obviously have a really loyal fan base. I must say though, to their credit, they aren’t bad on record, but they are much better live.

Here’s a band that I’ve heard nothing but good reviews for, but have never gotten the chance to see them. Every Time I Die were so good it was almost criminal. They also recently released a new record, which has gotten some mixed reviews, but when the band played the new songs, everybody went off like it was any older song. My only complaint was that they didn’t play “Wanderlust”, which is probably my favorite song by them. Otherwise, it was a great show. Mayday Parade were up next. I think Mayday Parade are one of the few really good pop punk bands of the last decade. Bands like Boys Like Girls or Cute is What We Aim For had potential, but faded into oblivion, and All Time Low just started taking steps back, but Mayday Parade have only moved forward. They’re newest record is easily the best thing they’ve done to date and they’re live show showed me that they can bring it live as well as on record. I was surprised by two things about their show. One: The decibel level of the girls screaming for this band was borderline painful (thank god I had ear plugs in) and two: They sounded really fucking heavy. Sharing a stage with the likes of Chelsea Grin, Every Time I Die, For Today, and Memphis May Fire means that you’re dealing with some heavy acts, and Mayday Parade stepped up and showed that they can be just as heavy and still be true to their pop punk ethos.

I left the one stage I’d been camped at all day for another stage in order to see Four Year Strong. I fell in love with this band when Enemy of the World came out and then went back and looked up their older stuff and loved it all just as much, but I can’t seem to follow the band with their newest album. I feel like they lost all of their momentum and even though I applaud them for experimenting, I don’t think it really went well with their sound. Nevertheless, the band were on fire and watching them live made me remember why I loved them, so much before. There’s a lot of standing around with that band just because the two main guys are both guitarists and frontmen so they’re always taking turns, which I think is brilliant. Closing out the day though was For Today, yet another band with a fantastic album recently released and another band that just does not fail live. I’ve seen them five times now and they have never sounded bad. The new songs were absolute highlights of their show sandwiched in between “Seraphim” and “Devastator” as well as few others.

Unfortunately, the rain screwed up all the times and a lot of bands suffered because of it, but all in all the day was alright. Long; but alright. I think the biggest problem was that bands that didn’t get canceled were rushed and so their mixes weren’t as good as they should have been, fair play to all of the workers and staff people involved in making sure things ran smoothly amidst the chaos.

July 20th, Camden: With rain in the forecast, I was worried and upset that there might be a repeat of what happened at Scranton. Waking up to the sight of steady rain didn’t help either, but overall, it was actually near perfect. It was overcast all day with misting occasionally, but no real problems with the weather, so I was happy about that. This time I journeyed with some friends of mine, which made it a little nicer to have the company to talk to about what was going on and sharing our thoughts on our favorite bands. The journey was stress free and it didn’t take long to get in and situated with our schedule. Quick little plug here: While standing in line some guys came up to me advertising their band. Turns out they were members of the band Chasing Morgan, a band that I reviewed a little while back for this very blog. The guys were super nice and even gave me a copy of their CD. I seriously recommend them to anyone who still listens to pop punk.

Getting back to the show, while my friends were getting good seats for For Today, I went and caught Polar Bear Club‘s set. I saw the last half of their set at Scranton, but since I’m such a huge fan, I really wanted to get the whole package. I think this band is absolutely fantastic and should be much bigger than they are. The songs are well written and don’t rely on breakdowns or bass drops to get the people going. It’s very honest and the band give it their all every time they hit the stage. After their set, I went to check out Every Time I Die again. Brilliant as always; no complaints. I had to wait of course and while waiting I saw Memphis May Fire‘s set. I caught a glimpse at Scranton, and was surprised by what I heard. They were really heavy and very breakdown-orientated, like half of the bands on that particular stage, but there was something about them that I liked that I still can’t seem to figure out. I’m going to have to listen to their studio albums and see if I can make the connection there. I then went to check out For Today again with my buddies. This being my fifth time seeing them, I think this show and the show I saw with them as the opening act for The Devil Wears Prada, Whitechapel, and Enter Shikari were the best shows I’ve seen of this band. Another band I would say never fail. In fact, probably the most frustrating thing about Warped Tour to me is that I just want to see all of these bands do hour-long headline time-slots because I honestly feel they could. I could go on for hours on why I love each and every one of the bands I saw, hate the ones I didn’t and still have room to talk about the bands I feel indifferent towards. But I’ve already talked long enough and there’s still so much more to write.

We all moved from the stage For Today were playing on and got a god spot for After the Burial. We had to sit through two other bands first though. “Sit through” sounds negative though and I don’t mean it like that because those two bands were Make Do And Mend and Twin Atlantic, both of which were bands that I had never heard before, but was interested in checking them out. Make Do And Mend are very much in the same vein as Polar Bear Club and of you like one, there’s no reason to not like the other. Very honest  with well written alternative-style punk rock with not a lot of bells and whistles. I thought they put on a great show and was interested in hearing more from them. Same goes for Twin Atlantic, who were a little more on the pop-punk side, but still had some grit to it. Then the big moment came: After the Burial. See, me and my friends are some of the biggest After the Burial fans around and every show of theirs I’ve seen has been spectacular. I personally think they got shafted in terms of their position on the tour. They are on one of the smaller stages and in the middle of day, which means they were followed by bands that were not only worse, but not well-known either. After the Burial have three albums out now and are probably one of the heaviest bands on the entire tour along with Chelsea Grin, Miss May I, and Born of Osiris (who also kinda got shafted because they played an even smaller stage). Regardless, they had a huge crowd and played phenomenally. Obviously one of the highlights of the day.

We went over back to the stage For Today were on and waited through Motionless in White‘s set so that we could see The Ghost Inside. Now when I say “we,” I really mean my friends because I has the press passes that allowed to go on the other side of the barrier and take photos of the bands, so I had no trouble getting a good spot for any band. The Ghost Inside played another stormer of a live show and I’m a real fan now because of seeing them on this tour. Like I said I had seen them before and was blown away, but now I’m practically addicted to them. I bought their newest CD Get What You Give at the show and have been listening to it a lot since. We then had some time to kill before Born of Osiris went on so we hung out in the pavilion. My one friend was actually really looking forward to seeing Breathe Carolina so the timing worked out well for him. I’m not a real fan of that band in particular, but loads of people seem to dig it and my friend enjoyed the show, so I’m glad that he was happy with their performance. Before Breathe Carolina came on, we were watching Falling in Reverse, another band that I really do not care for, but are unfortunately massive. I’m not one to judge a band by their looks or appearance, but I just want to punch all of those guys in the face. At least a band like Motionless in White has an image that reflects their sound and lyrics, but you don’t get that with Falling in Reverse. It’s just so unconvincing. They look like Motley Crue’s worst nightmare and try to sound like everything, but sounding like nothing. I have a female friend who is absolutely in love with them and so I felt obligated to at least give them a shot because I’d heard the album and I wanted to let her know  if they sucked or not. I thought they did, but the rest of the place didn’t seem to think so because the pit area was going mental. Fair play to them I guess.

Another unfortunate situation was Born of Osiris‘s set, which I found rather dull. The band like to move around a lot when they play, but the stage was so small it was hard for all of them to properly get into it. The sound overall was kinda flat and made the band sound thin, which is not how they should sound at all. It wasn’t that bad, but I’ve seen them do better, so it was disappointing in that respect. Thankfully though, Streetlight Manifesto were everything but disappointing. This is a band that are basically the kings in modern-day ska music and write some of the best songs period. I love this band and my only wish was that they could have played longer. Somewhere in the Between is almost a perfect record and seeing them play that live front to back would be incredible. Maybe in five years they will. Their set seemed to last only five minutes while Taking Back Sunday‘s set seemed to last forever. They played right before Streetlight, but it seemed like they played a full headliners set. I’m not complaining because I like Taking Back Sunday, but because I’m not as familiar with their songs like I am with Streetlight Manifesto‘s, made their set seem longer that it actually was. They were fantastic though and it made me want to revisit their past. Another band I want to revisit their past now is Yellowcard. Following swiftly after Streetlight Manifesto, Yellowcard played a show signaling the end of a hiatus and the beginning of another chapter in this band’s legacy. I think the album they put out last year was the best thing they did since Ocean Avenue, and they pretty much played songs off of those two records, so that was great. I think the biggest moment of the entire day was when the band broke into “Ocean Avenue.” The crowd was singing just as loud as the band were playing and there was an endless stream of crowd surfers cascading off the rails. It was ridiculous. It’s funny to think about it now, but Yellowcard are probably the biggest selling band on the entire tour this year, apart from maybe New Found Glory. Both band’s are huge heritage acts and sold lots of record back in the days when people still bought that shit. Them playing “Ocean Avenue” just reminded me of how big that song truly is and what an anthem it has become over the years.

Finally, the last band that I saw was Miss May I. I thought they were absolutely fantastic. The new album is killer and the new songs absolutely slay live. “Hey Mister” is a fucking rager and the rest of the set was just as well. But I think I must be missing something. Why is it the band feel they need to prove and constantly remind people that they are a metal band? What, just because there’s some clean vocals doesn’t mean they can’t be metal? There must be some sort of animosity towards this band from the metal community, but I can’t see why there would be. To me, Miss May I are a metalcore band. They’re just as metal as Bullet for my Valentine, Avenged Sevenfold, or any other really popular metalcore band from the last decade. They’re certainly heavier at times than those bands, but that doesn’t necessarily make them more metal or less metal than those bands. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Miss May I are just as metal as Slayer, but there should be no doubt that they are a metal band. It puzzled me as to why Levi’s final words were, “We are Miss May I and we are a fucking heavy metal band! Stay metal!” I think the problem is that the majority of people who go to shows like Warped Tour don’t generally like metal  music as a collective term because they jump to the conclusion that all metal bands are like Slayer or Cannibal Corpse. They prefer the metalcore bands that use more clean singing than aggressive singing so the regular imbecile doesn’t seem to make the connection that these bands are just as metal as any other band to come out of the past two decades. I’ve been rambling long enough so I think I should quit while I’m ahead. After going to these shows though it has really made me think and try to understand the people and the culture more. I’ll probably come out with a series of rants about what I saw and what have you.

Sorry for the super long review. There was a lot to see and a lot to talk about. I hope those of you that weren’t able to go find solace in these reviews and I hope that those of you that did go to the show are reminded about what an awesome week it was. I was fortunate enough to see two shows, but I hope you all enjoy these regardless of if you were there or not.

Luke Helker

Morse Coda at The Chameleon Club

On Saturday, I trekked across the world from my temporary summer home in south Jersey back to my home away from in Lancaster so that I could see my mates from Millersville in the band Morse Coda perform at the Chameleon Club in downtown Lancaster.

This summer is proving to be quite interesting and exciting for this band. They’ve been playing a lot of gigs around the Philly area and have even snagged a few gigs in the Brooklyn, New York areas too. Their fan base is growing slowly but surely and they’re getting better with every show. I haven’t been able to see any of the shows from earlier this summer, but saturday’s show was fucking amazing…and the album isn’t even out yet! They were supposed to release their debut album late in June, but have since parted ways with Keyboard player Sam Krepps (don’t worry they left on good terms. He’s off doing bigger and better things) and decided to rerecord the album and plan on releasing it in November.

I gotta be honest though, I think four is proving to be the lucky number for this band. I never quite understood the role of the keyboard in their show because they weren’t that prevalent in the live scene, but the keyboard flairs are much more noticeable on the recorded tracks of their songs. Now Ryan has started coming out of his shell and is shredding like a mother fucker. That guy is seriously the best guitar player I know and with every show he’s coming out a little more. By the time this record comes out, he’ll be a guitar god (not that he’s not one already). I’m also seeing Ben Young stepping out a bit more too. They played a song that he wrote back in his old band that involved him switching guitar/bass with Ryan and stepping up to the mic as well. It’s a beautiful song that’s well written and I hope they record it for the record. Brian Doherty is still kicking it both literally and figuratively and Michael James is still captivating audiences and singing his heart out.

This is a band that give 100% all night every night and their hard work is paying off because you can hear them starting to connect more as a band. They may be minus one member, but they’re sound sounds just as big, if not bigger and fuller and more refined. To me, this show proved that the band have enormous potential and are ready to take on the world. I can’t wait for the record to come out and I’m sure if it comes out within the 2012 year, it’ll be high in my end-0f-the-year album list. I seriously cannot speak highly enough about this band not just because they’re my friends, but because I really believe in what they do and I think they do it so well and I know they will be massive. Keep up the good work guys! Below are some pictures from the show. I hope you enjoy.

Luke Helker

P.O.D.: Murdered Love

It’s been quite a while since P.O.D. have been a viable entity in the music world. In fact, I’m sure most people under the age of 25 can’t remember a time when P.O.D. sold millions of records and was a big name in the nu-metal realm. I was probably just as surprised as most of the people in this world were when they heard that this band were back again. Murdered Love is the band’s eighth studio record  and I thought it was the best thing the band have done since Payable on Death (Which by the way is the official name of the band if you weren’t already aware).

P.O.D. were never the best nu-metal band and never had an album that properly asserted themselves in the genre. They’ve certainly made a dent in the community, but never were as big as they may have deserved to be. To most people, this band was mediocre at best and was a poor representation of what nu-metal was and with singles like “Boom”, it’s not hard to see why. I however have always had a bit of a soft spot for this band. Nu-metal for me has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure genre for me. I like a lot of bands in the genre, but have a hard time defending them musically. I just like the combination of hip hop beats and heavy guitars. For example, I like Limo Bizkit, but I think they’re an absolute joke of a band. They’re so ridiculous, they’re brilliant. I kinda feel the same about P.O.D. I got into them through “Youth of the Nation”, which I think is a great song and I really started to like this band. I love Payable on Death and I really like Satellite as well. The last two albums were pretty lackluster to say the least and I think that’s why most people thought the band had disappeared.

Murdered Love though is pretty decent. It features the original lineup and was produced by Howard Benson, who last produced The Fundamental Elements of Southdown. I was surprised at how heavy the first few tracks were. “Eyez” and “Murdered Love’ are huge tunes that are really heavy and in the spirit of the band when they were at their peak. “On Fire” and “Lost in Forever” are also real bangers. The album is not perfect though and kinda dips at points, but I think most people will agree that this is a really strong effort from this band and it might just get people talking about this band again. I’ve obviously never gotten the chance to see them live, but after hearing this album, I wouldn’t mind seeing them play some of these tracks. I don’t think it’ll make my Top 20 of the year list, but it’s definitely something I’ll try to put in steady rotation.

Luke Helker