The Tower & The Fool - How Long Review

The Tower & The Fool is signed to Run For Cover Records. Based out of Providence, Rhode Island this band puts a unique ring onto alternative rock. Using emo, folk and punk influences. The album opens up with "Dive Bar" with the drums and guitars all kicking in at once. The drums beat are a very relaxing beat, yet hard hitting enough for the soft sounding guitars to ring out over. The vocals come in and the lead singer has a very unique but soothing voice. There are a great mix of acoustic and electric songs throughout the record. In my opinion, with the guitar and his voice, this band reminds me of the solo singer John Mayer who is a very talented songwriter. This debut full length from these guys shows a very promising future from there.

My rating: 4/5.

Freelance Whales - Diluvia Review

This five piece indie band from Queens, NY is something you normally don't hear from bands. By incorporating different instruments that aren't typically used by alternative bands. Those instruments being a banjo, a harmonium which is comparable to an organ. The sound is blown through sets of free reeds and makes a sound like an accordion.  Lastly, use the most interesting out of the three which is the water phone, they use a stainless steel pan with bronze rods circling the pan in different diameters and circumferences that exhibit different sounds. The pan may also contain water to also release different noises. With such an interesting instrument line up and very talented musicians playing them and multiple other instruments, Freelance Whale's sophomore release "Diluvia" is a very interesting and much more mature follow up to their first album "Weathervanes" While incorporating all these different instruments along with the norm of guitar's, bass and drums, Freelances puts a new spin onto music and makes it interesting for all the listeners. 

My rating: 5/5.

Basement - Colourmeinkindess Review

When Basement released their first full length "I Wish I Could Stay Here" they blew up over the internet. It was the perfect mix of punk and emo. Coming from the UK, Basement has a strong background of the mix of melodic hardcore, punk and emo. They announced their break up over the summer of 2012, but announced they would release one more album before they call it quits. I was lucky enough to catch them in their last United States show ever. They seemed very bittersweet about what was going on, but they were possibly the band I have ever seen. Now October 23rd, 2012 is the official release of Colourmeinkindness. Right from the first track, you can tell the maturity of the band has gone up tons. They are more mature and more depressed as ever. This album pumps out all the emotions out on the last album they made. One of the lyrics that stands out to me were: "Love me, I want you to love me. I hate myself and that's okay." Some of the influences on this album could be from the 90's with how they deliver their vocals and the guitar style they play. A lot of people have critiqued the album and have said that the album is very relatable to the 90's alternative band Incubus. This album is perfect, straight through. This is my favorite album to be released in 2012 by far.

My rating: 5/5.

The American Scene - Safe For Now Review

This new album by The American Scene has grown to be one of my favorites of 2012 so far. I was not a fan of the past material that they had released, but I could tell that something changed on this album. The maturity went up on this album compared to the last, I could tell right from the first track that thing wasn't the same music they put out in the past. The American Scene is a hard band to classify into one genre, I can narrow it down to a couple such as, indie, punk, alternative and rock. The lead singer for TAS has such a great range for his vocals, he can go from low to high and everywhere in between. His voice could be compared to the lead singer of another indie/punk band Seahaven. My favorite song on this album was the acoustic song called "Untitled" just because of the raw emotion that they put into it. The way he sings it is just perfect, while that is my favorite song off the album, every other song on it stacks up that one just as well.

My rating: 4/5.

Harness - Victim of Suffering Review

Hailing from Santa Barbra California, this five piece hardcore band is probably one of the most pissed off bands you'll listen to this year. This heavy hardcore band influences are Integrity, Crowbar and Buried Alive. That will hype it enough that this short four song EP will make you want to destroy everything near you. The first song "Decline" clicks you in by the drummer on the hi-hat, preparing you for what you're about to listen to. With a persistent drumbeat, feedback and heavy guitar riff underneath you realize this EP is going to be one of the heaviest things released in a while. The vocalist starts off yelling "Just as blades pierce skin, your resentment sets in." The vocalist is pissed off and this persists throughout the whole 4 songs. If you are ever in an angry mood, this is a great way to get the weight of your shoulders. I'm excited to see what the next EP or full length will be like.

My rating: 4/5.

Lowtalker - The Marathon Review

Lowtalker is a newer punk band that I just recently found out about. They play an emo/alternative style of punk, taking a new twist to it. This is their second EP release that was just released on September 18th this year. I personally enjoy their first release (People Worry About Everything) more than The Marathon EP. I feel like their first EP moved along more smoothly than this EP, though the songwriting on The Marathon is more mature than their first EP. So each EP has it's ups and downs, even though I understand what direction they were trying to go for on this EP I would have preferred they wrote something more like their first EP. On The Marathon EP, Lowtalker went for a slower punk sound while on their first EP it was a faster style of punk which I enjoyed more. Though this EP is slower than the first, this is still worth the listen.

My rating: 3/5.

Twitching Tongues - Preacher Man Review

Twitching Tongues are still fairly new to the scene. They can be described as a metal influenced hardcore band. This is only three songs but they are some of the most original and interesting songs I've heard in a while. I just wish it was longer. While Twitching Tongues has released two full lengths prior to this, all of the material that has been released stacks up to each other as good as the next. Preacher Man starts off the EP where you can clearly hear the metal influenced vocals with the hardcore guitar riffs. They blend together and mix very well, it's not a normal combination but they pull it off very well.     Preacher Man was as explained by the lead singer Colin Young as "Preacher Man is a true story about my mother, father, and a priest." The second song on the album "Feed Your Disease"  is more hardcore influenced than Preacher Man, but still has the metal influence. The last song is a Candlemass cover, which is a doom metal band and they put a very interesting take from it. They use acoustic/electric guitars and the very interesting type of vocals he uses. All in all, this album is really good and it makes me excited for their future releases.

My rating: 4/5.