Month: November 2015

From What We Believe – Sink Or Swim

From What We Believe is a five-headed band hailing from Hermeskeill, Germany. These five guys already released their first album “Sink Or Swim” in June, 2015 and has been touring ever since. The dubstep-ish intro to the album called “Coming To Light” gives you the impression that you’ll be listening to a metal album with lots of electronic elements but nothing is less true. Of course, one can ponder on the real necessity of this song in the overall concept of the album but that would bring us too far. The rest of the album provides a full-on wall of sound with very tight guitar and drum riffs, roaring screams and angelic clean vocals. Everything sounds very polished and clean but this subtracts nothing from the pure, raw emotions in songs like “My Lighthouse”, “Compass” or title track “Sink Or Swim”.  One demerit of this album we have to admit is that each song could be of another band like Parkway Drive, Bury Tomorrow and many others. The influence of these bands cannot be overlooked and while listening to “Sink Or Swim” you have to admit that these guys must have listened very carefully to their heroes so they could sound like them. After listening to this album you’ll be left with no breath and the only thing you could do is just sink or swim.

– Frederik Geuvens

After All – Rejection Overruled

Bruges, not just home to fancy lace, tasty chocolate and medieval sightseeing but also home to the finest band in the Belgian thrash metal scene: After All. Following their 2012 release “Dawn Of The Enforcer”,  After All decided it was time to kick some ass again, so songs were written, the studio booked and a new full album is on its way as we speak. But first they leave you with “Rejection Overruled”, a three-song EP on limited 300 pieces pressed in nuclear green vinyl. Featuring two new tracks and one reworked track the band once proves its talent and delivers a fine display of old-school metal vocals, energy, melody and hell-hard riffs. “Rejection Overruled” can keep every thrash metal fan satisfied while waiting for their next full album.

Grave Pleasures – Dreamcrash

After the demise of that other rock revelation, Beastmilk, the remaining members decided to rise from the ashes into a new form: Grave Pleasures was conceived earlier this year and set out to record straight away, the result being “Dreamcrash”, an apocalyptic tale comprised of deathrock and other sinister sounds. Taking their post punk to a new level, incorporating the diverse member rosters special skills ranging from black metal to goth and rock, weaving a sonic web of dark tunes.

Stating influences from groups as Killing Joke, Samhain and others, even touching grounds with The Damned. Grave Pleasures paints a picture that's intense and descends into the deepest abyss of the human mind.

– David Marote

Luna Sol – Blood Moon

Stoner rock is the name of the game that Luna Sol plays. Only in this particular case we're talking about ‘mountain rock’! The project formed around vocalist/guitar player David Angstrom (Hermano, Superfuzz) was conceived when David moved to the rocky mountains of Denver, Colorado. Inspired by the solitude of the mountains, he gathered fellow musicians Shanda, Shannon and Pat to form Luna Sol. ‘Dark’ and ‘heavy’ are the keywords with “Blood Moon”, their first full album full of stoner rock ridden with filthy riffs and a whole lot of influential friends such as John Garcia, Nick Oliveiri and Dizzy Reed, who bringing their skills to this record. The tales of the mountains are vibrant; “Blood Moon” is a great debut album that will take from the valley to the summit.

– Steven Vanmassenhove

Mountains To Move – Cotard

Pessimism and downward spirals, these are the main themes to Mountains To Move new EP, “Cotard”. This EP by the Antwerp based emo-punks deals on dark thoughts and feelings of alienation, written into songs as a cathartic experience. Influenced by their musical peers as Brand New and Citizen, the musical expression swings between punk and emo parts: from hard to melodic. ‘Heart on the sleeve’ songs as “Saint-Joseph's Burden” display the deepest inner feelings of a struggling being coping with life. “Cotard”, the title track, serves as the closure to this introverted EP, with its acoustic guitar play which lets the grim tale end with hope: the hope for more tracks from Mountains To Move as this is definitely their proper path and story to tell.

– David Marote

Neck Deep – Life’s Not Out To Get You

Pop Punk band, Neck Deep, are back with another brand new album, “Life’s Not Out To Get You”, and boy it’s a right corker! It has a much more pop punk feel to it than their previous album “Wishful Thinking”. It makes you dance around more without any care in the world. This is the album where the five-piece is going to get their big break, especially with A Day To Remember’s frontman Jeremy McKinnon, who helped producing the album. The second song, “Threat Level To Midnight” gives your ears the pop punk vibe and you know the album is going to get better and better just by listening to this track. The whole song has effective rhyming all the way through and the song will get stuck in your head all day. The one song that stands out throughout the whole fifteen tracks, which include three acoustic tracks, the sixth track “Lime St.”. The drum work during the whole song is outstanding and the powerful lyrics that tell a whole love story in just three minutes that has happened to one of the members makes this track definitely one to have on repeat all day long.  Neck Deep always include a sappy song in their albums, and this one is called “December”. Vocalist Ben Barlow sings it so beautifully, and a lot of people, boys and girls can relate to the lyrics to this wintery love song. This will definitely be pop punk album of the year by far! Let’s hope their next album will be just as good!

– Holly Reijs

Jusska – L’homme de l’ombre

Jusska, when you first hear this band name, one instantly drifts towards Scandinavian sounds but less is true. Hailing from the Antwerp area in Belgium, this three-piece is on a mission to deliver groove back to heavy music. Taken the lead from bands such as Vola, Karnivool and Deftones, the Belgian trio decided to brew their own conjuncture of the wall of sound. Brick by brick the notes build up to create a trip into the inner depths. Angst-driven lyrics will guide the listener through the maze of inner demons up until confronting them. These first three tracks are now available and more tracks will be released working up to their debut album. Let Jusska guide you through the shadows with “L'homme de l'ombre”.

 

– Barbara Maes

Moments – Hopes & Dreams

The Belgian melodic hardcore revelation Moments has finally found the time to record their first full album, “Hopes & Dreams”. The album starts off with the instrumental “Faith”. This ‘djent-ish’ and heavy intro immediately sets the tone for this super tight album. Each song corporates light-hearted twostep grooves with earth-shaking breakdowns, clean-cut riffs and the ever positive hardcore message. The only downside on this album could be the monotonicity of the screams, but we are eager to turn a blind eye on this when hearing songs like “Brothers”, dedicated to their friend Koen Daems who passed away last year, “Lost Souls” with the beautiful instrumental intro “Lost Thoughts” and “The Architect”.

– Frederik Geuvens

Yotam – California sounds

This album is what every singer-songwriter album should be: light, easy-listenable and catchy. Still, the songs do sound a little alike and there isn’t really one that has the ‘wow’-factor. So it’s a good album to relax to, to listen to on a Sunday morning, but it could use some spice, some twists to the gentle guitar riffs. Lastly, I have to say I do appreciate the song’s subjects. They’re not all about love, like so much music is nowadays, but about more refreshing things like the singer’s grandfather and the fleetingness of time. So all in all, this is a good album if you’re looking for something simple and calm, but not if you’re more into something provocative and novel. 

 

– Renske Gommer

Atreyu – Long Live

The five-headed band from California, Atreyu has been paving their way since 1998. And after all these years they’ve stayed true to their signature format of shredding guitars, ripping screams and heart-breaking clean vocals. So don’t expect something completely different while listening to their latest release “Long Live” but who could blame them? They’ve found their lucky recipe and changing their sound just for the sake of change would be plainly dumb. So if you want to hear the real Atreyu, listen to songs like title track “Long Live”, “Brass Balls” and “Start To Break”! The Special Edition of this album provides the fans with hit single “So Others May Live” and new masterpiece “Stronger Than Me”.

– Frederik Geuvens