AMP Magazine Reviews

Our Last Night: The Ghost Among Us

2008-03-07T17:52:05-05:00

More Underoath influenced Metal for the kids! However, these guys are better at it than most. Solid vocal and guitar harmonies can be found through out “The Ghosts Among Us” the young act’s first record with Epitaph.

Songs like “Recovery” have beautiful epic chorus’ but lack that pure hardcore punch when singer Trevor Wentworth decides to let the screams fly. If you’re into The Chariot, Underoath, or Haste The Day, you should definitely check these guys out.

Story of the Year: The Black Swan

2008-04-23T17:44:01-05:00

The Black Swan Is Story of the Year’s third official album released under their new home at Epitaph. With four tracks recorded by Page Avenue Producer John Feldmann (Atreyu, The Used, Golfinger) and the rest done with Elvis Baskette (Escape the Fate, I Am Ghost), this album is a step in the right direction for SOTY. This album reaches both ends of the spectrum, containing some of the most hard hitting brutal songs we’ve heard from SOTY, to some of the softest and most uplifting ballads the band has ever written. Lyrically the album is far more in depth than the previous two, and touches on subject matter both personal and politcal. All the hooks we love from Page Avenue and all the heavy riffing guitars from In the Wake of Determination fill The Black Swan to be SOTY’s most powerful album yet. A sure thing for SOTY fans everywhere!

Punk Goes Crunk

2008-04-08T18:22:01-05:00

This record is totally not what I expected. I expected all the bands to convert popular rap tunes into rock anthems; which some did. However, about half the tracks feature popular punk/screamo bands actually rapping to remixes of 2pac, Biggie etc! That being said, its pretty damn entertaining. Scary Kids do a pretty bang up job covering “Notorious Thugs” and Set Your Goals does Lil’ John better than Lil’ John does Lil’ John.

The Devil Wears Prada covering “Still Fly” and All Time Low doing “Umbrella” are the rock highlights of the record. TDWP’s cover sounds so good it feels like it could be a track off their last Rise release.

I was skeptical about this release when I got it but I am now a believer. If you’re looking to pick up a fun record to blast in your car, definitely, check this out.

Flogging Molly: Float

2008-04-08T15:16:01-05:00

Float is Flogging Molly’s fifth Side One Dummy release and arguably their best to date. Recorded in Ireland with Matt Hensley back in place as accordionist its no wonder this album feels so genuine.

This is a good, solid, fun album. King has a way with hooks and songs that simply make you want to dance. The album is more of what you would expect from Molly, simple Irish drinking tunes to tap your foot too. Songs like “Float” allude to a more experimental side of Flogging Molly, with pretty strings and minor melodies that make you want to cry. However, at its core it’s just another Molly record. Fun and simple sounding. Long-time FM fans will be pleased.

Every Avenue: Shh, Just Go With It

2008-03-07T18:58:01-05:00

Every Avenue brings catchy pop-rock complete with samples, keys, and synth. Great vocals harmonies can be found throughout “Shh. Just Go With It,” the bands fearless first full length on Fearless. However, the record is pretty boring.
These guys are clearly trying to take the Fall Out Boy/Paramore approach and run with it but they seem to come up short. Fans of bands mentioned above may mildly enjoy this record, it does have solid production and the songs are fairly well put together, it’s just not that exciting.

Bettina Schelker

2008-03-03T23:09:08-05:00

BS is a bit of a phenomenon. World class boxer, music and sports school founder and director. And an accomplished singer/songwriter in three languages. This is her 4th release, with a preponderance of the songs in English. It’s a folk record, in terms of instrumentation, and style (primarily acoustic guitar and voice), with CHUMBAWAMBA producing and adding, at times, further layers of sound. Bettina is openly gay and a strong anti-homophobia message runs throughout this disc, but there’s passion, tenderness, compassion, and righteous anger in equal measure. Like ANI
DIFRANCO, Schelker has her own label (Foundagirl - which means the catalog numbers are, of course, FAG 001 etc!). The songwriting, and performance on this are immaculate, and a fragile beauty is underscored with an undeniable power and strength. Not whiny. Not petulant. Pure class.

Billy Talent

2008-03-03T23:07:16-05:00

Canadian quartet Billy Talent is an international smash, yet success in the United States has eluded this outfit somewhat. 666 LIVE is a CD/DVD combo of the band during their 18-month tour and covers three of their bigger European appearances, all to rabid approval of audiences in attendance. Mixing up their supercharged energetic performances with an edgy concoction of punk, rock, indie, and emo, Billy Talent fans will want to grab this one, as it captures the band at their most explosive and genuine, especially on tracks like “Try Honesty”, “Red Flag” and “Standing in the Rain”.

Cashmere Jungle Lords

2008-03-03T23:04:22-05:00

Eclectic and quirky indie rock is what the Richmond, VA trio Cashmere Jungle Lords deliver on the 15-track BLOODSTONE FOLLIES. Sounding like Beck as channeled through Tom Petty, this act’s mix of Americana, Brit-pop, and southern fried surf rock lays down a subdued soundtrack for lounging in the hammock at home on a lazy afternoon on cuts like “Only Friend” and “Boilermaker”. Add in some ‘60s pop-rock flare and a penchant for embracing melody as displayed on the Roy Orbison-esque darkening of “Killing Floor”, the Who-esque regalia on “Summer Horoscope” and the Beatles-like jangle of “Everything Revolves Around You” and you can get an idea of what kind of aural treat you’re in for when popping this versatile band’s disc for a spin.

City and Colour

2008-03-03T22:59:29-05:00

City and Colour is Alexisonfire’s singer Dallas Green’s solo side project; just Green and his guitar. His voice is near flawless, sure to impress any listener upon the first few seconds of hearing it. There is a slight subtlety in Green’s voice that seems to make it allergic to annoyance, and above all, packed with honesty. He seems extremely trapped and without answers. In the track Constant Knot, Green sings on how he wishes he “could just disappear and run away from all of [his] fears.”

The want to abandon everything is not the only self-deprecating constraint that grips Green. Alas, it appears that Green’s main enigma is sleep. He passionately sings about how he can’t help but lie awake at night; a reoccurring theme on the album that truly captures the alienation that Green is dealing with during the entire album. Green spends the majority of the album with an existential outlook on life, declaring that “we’re all just waiting to die.” on the track Waiting...“Bring Me Your Love” is an elegant, brutally honest depiction of an alienated artist on a soap box reminding us that we are not alone in our feelings of alienation.

Detriot Cobras

2008-03-03T22:57:37-05:00

I rather liked earlier recordings of The DETROIT COBRAS so I was looking forward to reviewing this CD.I hadn’t heard anything from them since their 2001 release “Life Love and Leaving” on SFTRI. This release still has plenty of obscure rock and soul covers butthey seem much more placid (flaccid?). Rachel Nagy’s voice still sounds sweet although a very clean andsmooth production has left the band without any of the real grit that I previously enjoyed. There are some decent songs on here but many sound as if they were being performed by BONNIE RAITT or someone. Not bad, but way too middle-aged or FM radio for me.