Author: Brandon J.

Artist: Sufjan Stevens Album: The Avalanche Label: Asthmatic Kitty What does it say about the state of music that Sufjan Stevens can put out an entire album of outtakes and unused demos from his Illinoise sessions and still have a better album than all but 3 other artists this year? Does it speak to the wretched state of music, or does it speak to Sufjan’s genius? I would like to think that it speaks to the latter. And I’m hoping that there are people out there who would tend to agree with me on this.… Continued →

The Black Unicorn Tour – Montreal, QC Review by: Joel Cuthbert So to start it off this show was rather confusing. The initial ads I saw advertised the show as being at El Salon… which is one of the three event venues owned by members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, El Salon being the one used most for this type of show. I tried to see As Cities Burn at El Salon a few months ago, and when I found out the band didn’t make it across the border I walked out and wound up seeing Downhere, a good band but weird when you were pumping yourself up to see As Cities Burn, but I digress.… Continued →

Show Review: Further Seems Forever Farewell May 21st 2006 Location: House of Blues, Anaheim, Ca. Well, I ventured outside last night to attend the final farewell show from Further Seems Forever and what a night it was. It took place at the fabulous House of Blues in Downtown Disney (Anaheim, CA.) on Sunday May 21st. The venue is perfect for live sound of any kind and they have the best overall sound quality of any venue I step foot in. I got there and the room was about 1/4 filled for the opener, then a few more poured in for William Tell.… Continued →

Artist: The Juliana Theory Album: A Small Noise Label: Tooth & Nail Records Review by: Eric 1. Duane Joseph 2. For Evangeline 3. August In Bethany 4. Constellation 5. The Closest Thing 6. If I Told You This Was Killing Me, Would You Stop? 7. Into The Dark 8. To The Tune Of 5,000 Screaming Children 9. Is Patience Still Waiting 10. We’re At The Top Of The World 11. You Always Say Goodnight, Goodnight 12. This Is The End Of Your Life 13. Breathing By Wires This is going to make some of you feel very old, but The Juliana Theory was before my time.… Continued →

Album: How to Live With a Curse Artist: Stavesacre Reviewer: Dusty (Disclaimer: contrary to what some of you all may think of my musical tastes [from all my other reviews], I, like so many of you, am a massive Stavesacre fan. They’ve released 2 of my all time favorite albums in Friction and Absolutes, and have, with “At the Moment”, a song in the all-time greatest songs argument…top 10, no question. I have seen them more times than I can count. I have always loved their originality, to the point where, if you were to start playing a Stavesacre song to anyone who knows them, before Mark even starts singing, you can tell, even if you’ve never heard it before.… Continued →

Band: Quick and the Dead Album: “Consider Your Options” Label: None (Unsigned) Review by: Aaron Feldman www.quickandthedead.com www.myspace.com/quickandthedead Quick and the Dead – Consider Your Options It took all about two minutes listening to Consider Your Options, Quick and the Dead’s recent release, to ask myself “How is this band unsigned?” Hailing from Pleasanton, CA Quick and the Dead is a 5 piece punk-metal band who is storming the Christian punk world. They have played over 500 shows, many alongside bands such as Squad Five-0, Eleventeen, NIV, and Prodigal.… Continued →

Artist: August Burns Red Album: Thrill Seeker Label: Solid State Records Lancaster, PA is just half an hour away for me, so when I heard this local band had been drafted to the Tooth & Nail Empire, I was pretty surprised. But why not? Lancaster (pronounced locally as lank-ister, NOT lan-kaster as most others seem to say) has had a decent music scene for years, but until now hasn’t really gotten the attention of national record companies. The question remaining is whether or not August Burns Red does a good job of representing the 717 scene.… Continued →

Band: Stretch Arm Strong Album: Free At Last Label: WPO Records Reviewer: J Scannell www.stretcharmstrong.net “Stretch Arm Strong, where have you been all my life?” was the first thing that came to mind when I popped this into my CD player. I had previously had a song or two from SAS on a Solid State compilation, but nothing in the way of owning their CD’s. Recently I was checking out some live video from “This Is Solid State Vol 4” and was convinced I had to check these guys out.… Continued →

Band: My Epic Album: This is Rescue Label: None (Unsigned) Review by: Brandon Jones www.myepic.net www.myspace.com/myepic I am at a loss for words at the scope and imagination this 5 song release holds. The album invites you into a sound scape of originality and sheer focus, enough to captivate any listener. Though the band shares influence from a number of artists, it’s tough to completely place a finger on who and what this band sounds like. They escape all definitions and for that you will be captured by their sound, beyond belief.… Continued →

Band: The Echoing Green Album: The Winter of Our Discontent Label: BEC/Tooth & Nail www.toothandnail.com www.becrecordings.com www.echocentral.com www.myspace.com/echoinggreen Review by: Brandon Jones Listening to this album was a unique experience in itself. Going in, I already knew that this group had been around about ten years and released several album i’ve heard briefly. They were another one of those early 90’s Christian Bands that ended up somehow in the awful label failure mix. The one where every small Christian rock label goes under except for T&N… Anyway, back to the record.… Continued →

Album: Reasons For Living Label: Future Destination Records Review by: Cory www.fdrecords.com Slamming down 22 tracks mixed with a little bit of hardcore, pop punk and some progressive rock. Each band or artist on the sampler is extremely innovative and all the songs are very catchy. Future Destination Records did a great job on the song choice for this sampler; I found myself listening to every track over and over again. They bring a great mix of bands who are all for Jesus and a lot of the tracks provide for a worshipful experience.… Continued →

Band: Mercury Switch Album: Time to Shine Label: Indianola Records Reviewed by: Cory (xBeaconx) www.indianolarecrds.com www.mercury-switch.com OK, this band is above the mediocre. I was expecting a lot less, especially after having their previous release and not having many good thoughts about it. But this time the band brings in some experimental elements, not always good, but not always bad either. They use synthesizers similar to “Change of Times” era of Underoath. Which isn’t bad but I didn’t think it was necessary for every song. I still find that the actual metalcore part still boring, if you take away the different vocals and synthesizers.… Continued →

Artist: Further Seems Forever Album: Hope This Finds You Well Label: Tooth & Nail Records 1. The Moon Is Down 2. Pride War 3. Hide Nothing 4. Snowbirds And Townies 5. Light Up Ahead 6. Against My Better Judgment 7. The Bradley 8. New Year’s Project 9. How To Start A Fire 10. Someone You Know 11. The Sound 12. Wearing Thin 13. Bleed 14. Pictures of Shorelines 15. For All We Know 16. Vengeance Factor (feat. Chris Carrabba) 17. There, Now I’ve Said It (feat.… Continued →

Artist: The Fold Album: This Too Shall Pass Label: Tooth & Nail Records As I stepped through the crowd to get my hands on some new Project 86 merch, I passed a table shared in part by opening act The Fold. One band member shouted out to us to check them out “Tooth & Nail’s newest band.” Another member jokingly added “and possibly their best.” I had missed their set due to a last minute decision to get some food before the show, so at the time I was not interested.… Continued →

Band: Hawk Nelson Album: Smile It’s the End of the World Label: Tooth and Nail Records www.hawknelson.com www.toothandnail.com Oh my gosh, Brandon is reviewing a Hawk Nelson disc! No way! Are you insane? Well I do live life with some insanity at times but this isn’t the time to talk about it. This is the time to discuss the insane and raddical new disc by famed Pop Punk band Simple Plan, I mean Hawk Nelson. Wow where do I begin? Ha. Yah know what, every part of me wanted to rip this album to shreds and insult it’s very being but in some twist of luck, I’m not going to.… Continued →

Band: Caldwell Album: Accidental Renovation Label: Indianola Records Reviewed by: Cory (xBeaconx) www.caldwellrock.com www.indianolarecords.com www.purevolume.com/caldwell Hailing from the orange juice state, Caldwell slams down a nice freshly squeezed glass of post-hardcore. They offer up something for everyone, extra pulp, no pulp, and 100% juice. Why all the orange juice analogies? Well they are from Florida and I’m trying to get some comedy points. Anyways……Caldwell. Great band; roaring, fast guitars. Well laid vocal tracks, gang vocals, guest vocals; the works. The band brings in former Across Five Aprils singer Steve Taylor to lay down some vocals on the track, “Two Months Til Takeoff”.… Continued →

Artist: Death Is Not Welcome Here Album: Revelations EP Label: None A song I heard off this band’s first release a little while ago gave me no reason to be interested in them. In fact, I sort of disliked the song. However, I decided to give this release an honest chance, and my mediocre expectations were vastly exceeded within ten seconds of hitting play. “Beauty and the Beast” starts the album off hard with strong and melodic singing, clear drums, and a guitar riff that just might be stuck in your head for days.… Continued →

Artist: The Reception Album: Does It Keep You Awake? Label: None (released independently) Review by: Eric www.thereceptionwillfollow.com www.myspace.com/thereceptionmusic There are a lot of bands out there. There are piles and piles of names throughout each individual subgenre of rock music, and it is very difficult to weed through and separate the good from the bad. Some days every new band I check out is amazing. Other days every new band I check out is awful. There is that special something needed to distinguish a band from the piles and piles of others.… Continued →

Artist: Richard Swift Album: The Collection Vol. 2: Walking Without Effort Label: Secretly Canadian Reviewer: Dusty In keeping with the tradition of comparing Mr. Swift to older, gravely-voiced innovators, I shall continue with this review… Imagine Tom Waits in the mid to late 80s. In the 70s he made his living on simple barroom songs written (and mainly played) on the piano. Gorgeous songs that always sounded a little odd coming from someone with such a growling voice. By 1983, he’d had enough, and recorded Swordfishtrombones, an off-the-wall collection of songs that were more than a little uncharacteristic of his previous albums.… Continued →

(This is my first IVM review so be nice cause I know where you live.) This is arguably the most unique release Tooth and Nail Records has put out in a while. It felt kind of weird listening to the track “Love Comes Quickly,” a track I thought might fit well on a local country station, and seeing that T&N logo on the back of the case. Don’t be too concerned though, the “country” element isn’t really present within the album as a whole. Getting down to the actual music, it’s bunch of fun to listen to.… Continued →

Artist: Movies with Heroes Album: Nothing Here Is Perfect Label: CI Records Back in November I went to see The Juliana Theory play in Lancaster, PA. One of the opening acts I had never listened to before was Movies with Heroes, and they blew all of us away. I went with some friends from school and since then have heard at least one of them singing “Wake up. Wake up. Is this what you want?” probably about once a week. Then came March. Movies with Heroes was having their CD release show, and we had to go.… Continued →

Band: Enlow Album: The Recovery Label: Blood and Ink Records Reviewer: Cory www.bloodandinkrecords.com www.myspace.com/enlow I was pretty excited that Enlow was making a comeback. I remember hearing about these guys alot three years ago when I started listening to hardcore. Then sortly they put their guitars on the rack, and I never got the chance to really check these guys out. So when I ran across a news blurb on Blood and Ink’s website about Enlow’s return I was glad I would have another chance to check these guys out.… Continued →

Artist:After the Tragedy Album Title: The Beautiful Brand New Label: Self-Released Reviewed by:Ry From out of the southern state of Arkansas which is the stomping grounds of prolific bands such as Spoken and Living Sacrafice comes this new force in hard rock/post hardcore known as After The Tragedy. ATT has a lot to offer with this cd being their independent debut. Instead of walking down roads that have already benn tread ATT(i really feel like making a phone company joke right now…) would rather just rock out and find their own spot in the music scene.… Continued →

Artist: Istra Album: The Verdict Label: Blue Tint Entertainment www.myspace.com/istra www.purevolume.com/istra I first listened to downloaded mp3s from this band over a year ago, and was instantly in love, so when I found out they had a new album I was pretty excited. I had played those first few songs so many times, put them on so many mixes, recommended them to so many friends. It was time for something new, and Istra delivered. Istra plays a very melodic post-hardcore along the lines of Blindside or As Cities Burn.… Continued →

Band: The Chariot Album: Unsung EP Label: Solid State Recrds Reviewer: Cory www.solidstaterecords.com www.thechariot.com My days listening to this sort of noisy metalcore have long since past, and it was hard getting into this cd. The off timed guitars and seemingly nonesensical lyrics were hard to pass. And then I thought about Norma Jean’s “Bless The Martyr, Kiss The Child” and I got this warm fuzzy feeling inside of me. The music is very well written and complex and definitely throws variety around. I heard a banjo in one song as well as a piano in another as well as some pretty sweet guitar lines.… Continued →