Haste the Day - Pressure the Hinges 2007

So Haste the Day just released their 3rd album titled Pressure the Hinges, and man it rocks!!

I've slowly become a Haste fan, but its taken a lot of listening. These Christian rockers have a great mix of hardcore sound with screaming vocals and some melodic sing alongs, but this new record breaks the mold.

The first two albums, Burning Bridges '04 and When Everything Falls '05 were straightforward; one beat (fast), typical breakdowns, screamo singing with a sing along chorus. very predictable. good, but predictable.

Already on this new album, the first 2 actual tracks, Pressure the Hinges and Minor Prophets, they've changed speeds to a little slower rock beat, the screaming in much more quality sounding. It almost sounds like a new singer all together, wait, it is. Original singer, Jack Ryan got married in December and therefore quit the band. The new guy Stephen Keech is the former singer of New Day Awakening. I like both dudes, but this new is a good change of pace.

So far, the Oracle comes across as my first favorite song. Heavy breakdown early in the song and an actual guitar solo in the bridge. Also, this song is great to sing along with.

Servant Ties really sounds like the old Haste, chugga chug drum beat right off the bat and heavy singing. Great breakdown. The old schoolers should like this one.

In the end, this is 13 tracks of a new Haste the Day. i personally really like the new refined sound, great energy and positive lyrics. I hope everyone will give this record a chance, especially if you've listened to Haste the Day before and didn't like them. Lately a bands 3rd album has sucked (think Dead Poetic, Thrice, Underoath, Rise Against...) but these guys have put out what i will listen to the most.

Sick of it All Tribute CD

So I've been reading about this project, but it seems to finally finished, at least, it'll be released May 8th.

If you haven't checked out Sick of it All, they probably have the craziest live show. They've been around for what seems to be decades and they have more enjoy than a lot of these young bands. The most recent time we saw them play was last year with stretch Arm Strong and First Blood and it was amazing.

Anyway, i thought I'd give you a heads up on this CD, the track list looks awesome and they've got a few songs up on the myspace page.

1. Rise Against "Built To Last"
2. Unearth "Clobberin Time/What's Going On"
3. Hatebreed "Ratpack"
4. Madball "Give Respect"
5. Bleeding Through "The Truth"
6. Comeback Kid "Step Down"
7. Ignite "Cease Fire"
8. Bouncing Souls "Good Lookin' Out"
9. Pennywise "My Life"
10. Kill Your Idols "Friends Like You"
11. Sepultura "Scratch The Surface"
12. Himsa "Maladjusted"
13. Most Precious Blood "Alone"
14. First Blood "Just Look Around"
15. Stretch Arm Strong "Busted"
16. Walls Of Jericho "Us Vs. Them"
17. Suicide Machines "Goatless"
18. Bane "We Stand Alone"
19. No Redeeming Social Value "World Full Of Hate"
20. Napalm Death "Who Sets The Rules"

Positive Hardcore

I just uploaded a playlist to FIQL.com that includes songs from christian and/or positive hardcore bands. Some people really shy away from the Christian label on music, but trust me, this isn't DC Talk.

Anyway, don't be scared to check it out, you might already be listening to one of these bands and not even know that they're Christians. Most of these bands would fit into the category "Christian's in a Band" instead of actually Christian music.

Either way, i think the positive spin on hardcore is what separates this style of music from Buttrock. A lot of the stuff you hear on the radio is so depressing or negative and its great to listen to underoath or Comeback Kid sing songs about sticking together and the positive things in life.

so i hope you check it out

http://www.fiql.com/playlists/positivechristian_hardcore/

FIQL.com

So I'm really excited about this. I found this site, www.fiql.com where you can upload a text file of your homemade playlists (itunes, winamp, wmp...). This site apparently only works when I'm at work but i brought 2 text files in today, uploaded them and BAM, it worked.

So now you guys have to check it out. This way you all can stay up to date with me Converting Atheists Into Believers compilations that are designed to combing already amazing music with new stuff so that people will understand the greatness of the Hardcore scene.

anyway, check this out and tell me if it works. FIQL: Converting Atheists Into Believers v.5

Side note, www.BMerCO.com is very close to being launched, there you'll have this blog, my sports blog, Isaac's blog and many more all located at one place. so that will be a good day.

Bouncing Souls are comin' to town

So my homie Drew called me up yesterday to tell me that he heard on the radio that the Souls were coming, so i looked into it and it's true.



Friday, May 11 the Bouncing Souls will be playing at the Fillmore Auditorium with Single File, P.O.S. (which might be the weirdest/crappiest sounds I've ever heard) and Denver's own Love Me Destroyer.
So this appears to be the worst lineup possible for a Fillmore show, especially since tickets to the Fillmore are usually out the roof! Both POS (Piece of Sh!t) and Single File sound terrible. I like Love Me Destroyer, but not that much. So who knows, I'll probably skip this show if the ticket is more than $20.


As for now the only info i could find was on their homepage, www.bouncingsouls.com and on the Fillmore's homepage where you can buy tickets.



If you haven't listened to the Souls, they have been around forever and they're hilarious live. The first punk show i ever went was at the El Dorado Saloon with Mustard Plug, Bouncing Souls and the Pietasters. These guys hold a special place with me.



So check em out!

Good Riddance R.I.P.!!

So one of my alltime favorite punk bands called it quits today. Truly a loss to the punk scene as one of the last good skate/political old school punk bands is no more.

Good Riddance became big on Fat Wreck Chords just as i was really getting into punk back in high school, my old band Guiltripp even covered one of their songs...actually, we did quite a few of their songs.


I don't even know what to say, i really like these guys even though i don't truly stand in line with their strong political views, and their last few albums haven't really done much, but they had some classics like Ballads of the Revolution and Operation Phoenix.

If you have listened to any of my Converting Atheists Into Believers compilations you will be familiar with their songs, and if you don't know them, please check them out, they have a great sound, borderline pop-punk with an edge.

I think my best memory of this band was seeing them at Big Shots in Sacramento on the Fat Tour with No Use for a Name and Mad Caddies or something. Anyway, our whole crew was there and this dude pissed me off in the pit so i punched him. Well things got hecktic and the dude got kicked out. Russ was yelling at us to stop, and i was so short that no one saw me slink away unharmed. Good times!

Wish i could see them one more time

If you having withdrawls worse than me, Russ Rankin, lead singer, has another band Only Crime who has been touring a lot lately, and were on Warped Tour last year. Not quite Good Riddance, but close.

Thanks for the memories.

Shallow Man Down @ the Cricket 3/31/07

So last night i went and checked out my co-workers band, Shallow Man Down, and i have to say, it was an entertaining night.

First, we can start with the terrible. Terrible mix, terrible PA system, terrible looking crowd, terrible clothes, terrible tattoo's, terrible stage candor("can i say i have a woody onstage?"), terrible crowd dancing (yes, people actually danced), terrible bar prep (one bartender for a packed bar), terrible hair, terrible cliche's, just terrible.

But

the music wasn't all that bad. I went into this little show with a mindset that i was going to hear some pretty bad music, and i was surprised. Shallow Man Down is your typical jam band and thanks to a really good drummer and bass player, the music actually makes you want to nod your head. Since I'm pretty young its hard for me to find a group to compare the music to, just stereotypical jam music for your average 40 yr old dive bar patron.

Unfortunately the vocals were mixed into the background music so the sound was driven by the bass (note the "terrible mix"). Jake Scott, the guitarist, was a lot better than i anticipated, i wish his mix would have been louder and could have been helped by a rhythm guitarist because the keyboardist forgot to play keyboard.

Jake, Matt and Tim (guitar, bass and drums) are the obvious talent in the group. All three looked comfortable on stage and besides the cliche rugs and no shoes, were very fun to watch. David, the singer, apparently has a pretty good Creed-style voice though you couldn't really hear it and he lacked any range, and humor for that matter, and he needed a haircut, and he was reading his lyrics from a notebook...

As for Poppa Baca on bongo's / percussion, definitely didn't need this element of the group, but, it didn't take away either. The only element that didn't seem to fit in was the keyboard/tambourine player. He added nothing of music interest all while doing a fake Scottish accent and looking like a total fool.

All in all, the songs were good, predictable, but enjoyable. I would love to hear these guys in a better venue though i am partial to small, intimate places so maybe just another bar where the sound guy actually stays in the sound booth. For $5 i am glad i went, I'd see these guys again, especially since this was their first live show and there's no denying that the guys had some jitters.

Good job fellas.