So Dub Reggae innovators Dreadzone have returned to the fold with their sixth studio album Eye On The Horizon. Core members Greg Dread, Leo Williams, MC Spee and Early 16 join Chris Compton and Chris Oldfield to form the Dreadzone of 2010. Having last toured the UK in December of 2009, Dreadzone hit the road again on the 19th March for another 15 date tour.

Eye On The Horizon see’s the band fully embrace traditional song writing and dropping it against their trademark experimental dub. Tracks such as ’Beyond A Rock’ take Dreadzone in a more straight ahead rock delectation while ‘Yeah Man’ is pure dub. ‘American Dread’ is literally screaming for the festival circuit with it’s slide guitar and honest, posi intro. ‘Gangsta’ tackles the current issue of young adults believing that adopting a gang lifestyle is acceptable and shows that Dreadzone is not all about brightening your summer – there is a serious message beneath the uplifting reggae tunes.

Despite the loss of Steve Roberts and long-time supporter John Peel in the last 6 years it is clear that Dreadzone have no intention of slowing down. If anything, their recent tour and Eye On The Horizon shows the world that these legends of experimental dub are far from hanging up their instruments – if anything, this may just be the album which really blasts them into the mainstream consciousness.

Words: Richard Heaven

To coincide with his 19 date UK March tour, Xtra Mile Recordings are releasing ‘Nintendo’ as a download-only single with his cover of ‘Abraham, Martin and John’ as the leading B side.

‘Nintendo’ starts as a soft piano ballad regarding seafront conversations and softly spoken plans before building to climax which slowly winds down again while reminiscing on simple pleasures and missed appointments. It’s songs like this that remind you that you need to enjoy the simple things in life and to step off the highway once in a while.

His cover of ‘Abraham, Martin and John’ is a thoroughly moving track. Although it was originally written for soul legend Dick Hollar you would be mistaken for thinking that this track was made with Chris in mind. You can imagine him spending a quiet moment back home wondering what happened to his own friends which fell aside the roadside and will most likely begin wondering about your own old pals.

If this single is anything to go by, I can see the ‘Love Is Not Rescue’ being the album that will, at worst, satisfy his existing fans and at best bring him some of the recognition he so rightly deserves.

Words: Richard Heaven

When I received the review copy of this album, it came with notes stating ‘for fans of blink 182’. Fair enough a popular enough band, who have probably influenced loads of other bands over the years. Fuck me! This album grabbed me by the ears, smashed my head into the keyboard and screamed ‘Listen to me’ as I sat dazed.

This isn’t no Californian, pop punk clone, with cheery melodies. It’s a down and dirty, UK style, 2000s’ punk album, very much of ‘now’. And a blinding debut by the Hertfordshire trio. Yes that’s right, this massive sound is made by just 3 musicians.
Unusually, the album opens with the title track, Far Q. On this track, LTA set out their stall, with some speedy guitar riffs and supersonic drumming, topped off with a consuming vocal.
The speed and intensity of the music continues all the way through the album, until the second last track, the unusually named, Mike Duce’s Symphony no11 in D.M.
This track slows the pace right down, just for one song before EXTRA! EXTRA! Read All About It! slaps you in the face and brings you back to life.
For me, there isn’t really a stand out track. Each track has its own merits and none are weak enough to force any other one to jump out at you. I did however find myself drawn back time and time again to the imaginatively titled, I’m Not Bulimic (I Just Wanted To See How Far I Could Stick My Fingers Down My Throat).
All in all, the music on this album really must be heard live. It just screams chaos and mayhem for a live performance. I haven’t seen Lower Than Atlantis play live, but you can put your last tenner on at the bookies, I will this year. Venues across the UK…LOOK OUT!
For me, despite citing bands like the Smiths, the Smashing Pumkins and Nirvana as influences, they have a sound which is of the moment and appeal to fans of, the Gallows, Enter Shikari.

Words: Wullie Marr

Listening to the debut EP from Electro-Indie-Punks The New Loud is like a game of spot-the-influence. Throughout the EP you can hear musical nods to Joy Division as well as New Order and The Killers. Mixed by Mark Trombino of Jimmy Eat World fame, this EP carries his trademark sharpness and shimmer.

The EP is six tracks long – 3 originals, 1 cover, 1 demo and 1 extended mix. While they all stand on their own two feet, the EP does have it’s stand out moments.

Don’t Dance will appeal to the legions of Indie Kids who spent their formative years listening to the Foals, while Heaven’s trance inducing lines could easily propel it into becoming an alternative club favourite in the right hands. I didn’t think they could pull 2+2=5 off successfully, but I can honestly say they proved me wrong. True, it does sound quite different to the original, but where’s the heart in a cloned cover version?

The New Loud don’t explode onto the scene with their debut EP, but it’s a strong enough release to keep fans happy until the album is released later this year, and varied enough to get them at least a little mainstream attention. Definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Words: Richard Heaven

Enter Shikari bridge the gap between the second and yet-to-be released third album with the compilation Tribalism. Consisting of four live tracks, seven remix’s and four new tracks, it really is a mixed back.

The new tracks are what you would expect from Enter Shikari – high energy synth lines and shouted vocals. They don’t really tread any new ground for the band but they do showcase their lyrical growth and ongoing musical maturity.

Despite their flatness, the live tracks show what the band are capable of when given a crowd to whip into shape, a fact which the producers didn’t chose to ignore. Some people will find the inclusion of the screaming crowd a little distracting while others will enjoy it’s ambience – I am one of the latter. The highlight has to be their live cover of ‘Insomnia’ – when that iconic line kicks in it’s is difficult to resist becoming a follower, even just for three minutes.

However, it is the remixes which kill this release. Out of seven remixes, four are of No Sleep Tonight and two are Juggernauts. While each carriers it’s individual sound and merits, I can’t help to think that this is just plain lazy. With two albums and numerous EP’s to crop material from, the fact that they only used a total of three songs for remixes brings the whole release down. Multiple remixes of the same track? Leave it to the singles.

Overall, it’s a solid release that will keep the Shikari fans happy. It may win a few new fans over, but I doubt it will impact the music scene as much as their previous two albums. The remixes really interrupt the flow of the overall album and the track listing could be improved, but overall it’s an enjoyable album.

Words: Richard Heaven

Surrey pop-punk quintet You Me At Six released make-or-break album number two ‘Hold me Down’ mid January through Virgin Records.
It’s excelled any expectations the fans and the band alike have had by reaching number five in the official UK album chart, whereas their first album, ‘Take off Your Colours,’ only reached the top 20. They are now receiving much more media attention and radio play than ever before, and have proved to be set for great heights.

The album (recorded at Outhouse Studios in Reading,) kicks off with song ‘The Consequence,’ promoted as a free pre-release and is bound to get pulses racing as it has a heavier feel than most of the other work completed by the boys. On some level it can be compared to ‘Tigers and Sharks’ from the first album, or some of the gritty unreleased tracks from the bands younger days.
Following this is the track on everyone’s lips ‘Underdog’ of which the video is shown daily throughout many music broadcasting channels. However, it wouldn’t be fair to say that these two renowned songs are what make the album. It was ‘There is no such thing as Accidental Infidelity’ that you could consider as a more upbeat verse of A Day to Remember’s ‘If it Means A lot to You’ that did it for me.

Many tracks from the rest of Hold Me Down appear to be a sort of diary or therapy for singer Josh Franceschi by spilling a number of thoughts and feelings about the break up with his ex girlfriend.
Three of the tracks that poignant to this are ‘Stay with me,’ ‘Safer to Hate Her’ and ‘Fireworks.’ The latter being the icing on the cake for this 12 track masterpiece and what all good ballads are made of with similar tones to ‘Always Attract’ (from first album ‘Take Off Your Colours’), and using the metaphorical lyric ‘Remember when, you were my boat, and I was your sea, together we’d float, so delicately. But that was back when we could talk about anything..’
It’s words like these that make us understand why countless numbers of girls (and guys) swoon over this young band.

Words: Talie Pemberton

Creeds’ second single taken from, Full Circle, their 2009 album, is Rain. At 3 ½ minutes long, this isn’t a short song, but seems to pass quickly, which for me is a mark of an easy to listen to track. It sees the band picking up from where they left off before their split and sounds fresh, rather than repackaged material that you sometimes get after a band reforms.
Although it’s melodic song with an acoustic guitar intro, Rain, as you would come to expect from a band of Creeds’ stature, has a big, heavy sound. The powerful and stand out vocals of Scott Stapp help to produce a rock sound out of what seems to be a sadness tinged song. Despite coming from Florida in South East USA, his vocal style could just have been easily been have been honed in the grunge filled North West.
I expect this song to attract interest of fans of bands like Pearl Jam, and give the band some new fans that weren’t there first time round.
It looks like the break has done the boys well though, and looking forward to hearing more from Creed in the future. Gonna have to go and get the album now.

Words: Wullie Marr

Bowling for Soup, the piss taking Texan ‘pop punks’ are back in true BFS style with their latest offering, Sorry For Partyin’.
The album kicks off with a very recognisable style in A Really Cool Dance Song. It’s one for the crowd to jump about to, but listening to the lyrics has you laughing as well. They continue with the jovial, upbeat mood, throughout this album.
The laugh a minute continues all the way through with songs like My Wena, BFFF (with lines like “We farted, both in the same key” and “I hit on your mom and got to second base!”) and Hooray For Beer.
One of the standout tracks for me was I Can’t Stand LA, having a traditional punk style drum sound to it, but with the unmistakable BFS lyrics and lead over it.
A couple of tracks were a bit of let down for me. Notably If Only which just not as upbeat and bouncy as you would expect from BFS. It was more a ‘lighters in the air’ type of song.
It’s hard to believe that the boys have been around since 1994 and haven’t gone down the pretentious route of making crap albums and passing them off as ‘taking a new direction’. They give their fans exactly what they want, time and time again, which is how they still sell out UK venues on a regular basis
Vintage BFS, and sure to be a favourite among their fans.

Words: Wullie Marr

In late 2007, vocalist Craig Mabbitt made his departure for personal reasons and the band continued on the current tour with bassist Jared Warth taking Mabbitt’s place on vocals. A little while on and the band announced they had found a new frontman in the form of Take the Crown’s Beau Bokan, there was high anticipation for the bands next release.

Disappointment is the only way I can sum up how I felt after listening to ‘witness’ for the first time.
Although the record is well written and follows that signature Blessthefall sound that we all came to know and love on ‘His last Walk’, it is lacking the power clearly present in the bands first album and is somewhat lacking in originality with opening song ‘2.0’ sounding very similar to The Word Alives’ song ‘Casanova Rodeo’, the majority of songs sounding almost exactly as those on the previous album and with Bokan sounding so similar to Mabbitt on ‘His last walk’, it almost seems as though he and the band had never parted ways.
The band may not have lived up to the anticipation surrounding the release of ‘Witness’, but it shouldn’t go unrecognised that the band have definitely done themselves proud with a few songs on the album, notably Skinwalkers, Stay Still, To Hell and Back & Hey Baby, Here’s That Song you Wanted. Which are the kind of songs that make you want to go crazy and sing along to every word of them, and have become contenders for bands to watch out for in the future.

Hannah Cole
6/10

Coming four years after their massive ‘A Beautiful Lie’, this album has had an enormous amount of time and energy spent on it. The band has used a fair bit of outside influences on this album. These include, a screaming hawk, 100,000 30 Seconds fans that were recorded all over the globe, as well as Tibetan monks chanting on the opening and closing tracks. From the opening track, Escape, you begin to appreciate the amount of production that has gone into this release.
The album, although taking a little bit of a new direction for the band, does not drift too far from what loyal 30 Seconds to Mars fans will recognise as their sound. From the powerful first single Kings and Queens, to Jared’s haunting lyrics on Alibi, this is still 100% 30 Seconds. The band went through a great deal of turmoil during the making of the record and it comes through in the passion given to some of the performances and in the writing of some of the songs. Track, This Is War, possibly pointing to their massive legal battle with Virgin Records.
The review copy had Kanye West joining in on Hurricane, but which didn’t make it onto the release version. Personally it didn’t work for me, but as with some of West’s other work, it may have been a grower.
Taking the album as a whole, it could almost be constructed as a set list for a stadium concert. Being led in slowly, and building up to, This Is War. Giving the band a breather with the acoustic sounds on 100 Suns, building back up to the crowd led Vox Populi and taking you back down, as the light fades, to the sound of the Tibetan monks again on the unusually named L490. Coming from LA the band still seems able to avoid the commercial ‘pop rock’ which is prevalent on the West coast and still appeal to the masses.
This Is War is sure to please existing fans and probably win over a few more with its big ‘arena sound’ and is sure to go down a storm when the band tour UK arenas with it in February this year.
Wullie Marr