Moneen - The Red Tree

I’m not even a long-time fan of Moneen, and I didn’t think their last effort, Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now? to be that much better than average, but this album cannot be ignored. As silly as this sounds, I’d recommend it to fans of high-energy bands, something along the lines of early Early November or Gatsbys American Dream. What I do remember when I saw this band live a while ago was that they brought energy to their live performance; that same energy can be felt during The Red Tree.

Believe it or not, it’s not the energy that’s so appealing about this album. It’s the band's ability to take that energy and apply it to slower songs. Prominent tracks like “The Day No One Needed to Know” beam with raw emotion, and is completely stripped down to the naked vocals, and then all comes back together to deliver a remarkable song. Another notable track that is much more defining of Moneen is “The Frightening Reality of the Fact That We Will All Have to Grow Up and Settle Down One Day.” Not only defining because of its unusually long title that Moneen has been known for, but it’s really a song that first-time listeners can hear and understand what Moneen and the rest of this album is all about.

Genre: Indie, Post-rock
Label: Dine Alone, Vagrant
Released: 2006
Download
Purchase

The Blood Brothers - ...Burn Piano Island, Burn

Straight out of Seattle, creating some of the most viciously hyperactive music I have ever heard, come the Blood Brothers. A five-piece hardcore/post-hardcore outfit, the Blood Brothers lasted from 1997 to 2007, playing an experimental and incredibly frenetic form of punk full of anger and aplomb. On ...Burn, Piano Island Burn, the group employs a more varied offence than seen in previous releases, as each song seems to seamlessly switch back and forth between fierce, balls-out hardcore and slower, more rhythmically-coordinated pop music. Considered by many to be the Blood Brothers’ magnum opus, …Burn, Piano Island Burn is an album full of convulsive, frantic music, one that refuses to let up to the very end

Genre: Screamo, Post-Hardcore
Released: 2003
Download
Purchase

Title Fight - The Last Thing You Forget

It was about damn time!
Title Fight finally releases their first full length, if you like fast, raw, melodic punk, this if for you.
I fucking love these guys.

Tracklisting:
1. Symmetry
2. Introvert
3. No One Stays at the Top Forever
4. Memorial Field
5. Loud and Clear
6. Youreyeah
7. Room 200
8. Evander
9. Anaconda Sniper
10. Goldwaite
11. Neck Deep
12. Western Haikus

Release: 2009
Label: Run For Cover
Genre: Pop Punk
Download
Purchase

Paint It Black - Amnesia

Paint It Blacks braaaaaaaand spankin' new EP, so stoked on it.

Tracklisting:
1. Salem
2. Homesick
3. Nicotine
4. Amnesia
5. Bliss

Download
Purchase

Oceans - The Great Divide

This band has something right in them. They deserve everything that should and hopefully will come to them. I'm not going to review their album because I think you should check it out for yourself. I will tell you they play hardcore music. For fans of Comeback Kid and No Bragging Rights. Support this band, because they support something real, something passionate, it's music. Real music. I believe in this band whole-heartedly. I'm not their biggest fan or anything, but I do like their tunes and they have the right attitude, they're giving away this album for free here.

Architects - Hollow Crown

This is metalcore – to use a lazy definition – at its finest. This is one of the genres that can easily (read: frequently) turn sour, especially when everything sounds similarly discordant and when music becomes ‘brutal’ for the sake of brutality. Luckily, Hollow Crown has ignored this generalisation, giving us a roller coaster 41 minutes of sweeping progression. Dynamically, it’s relentless; there’s no slowdown in the music. But stylistically it seems to evolve throughout. Without a doubt my pick for album of the year.

Tracklisting:
1. Early Grave
2. Dethroned
3. Numbers Count For Nothing
4. Follow The Water
5. In Elegance
6. We’re All Alone
7. Borrowed Time
8. Every Last Breath
9. One Of These Days
10. Dead March
11. Left With A Last Minute
12. Hollow Crown

Label: Distort
Released: 2009
Genre: Metal
Download
Purchase

A Textbook Tragedy - Intimidator

Finally, a metal outfit out of the country that Canadian's can be proud to call their own. This hard-hitting, heavy outfit out of Vancouver breaks through the gates with their debut album "Intimidator", a title that says it all. The title track gets the idea of the entire album across, a 6 minute song that ranges from low-end vocals with chuggy, "smash some-fucking-body" parts to melodic guitars and catchy singing vocals... A well rounded album made by a well rounded band, get into it.
For fans of: Converge, Architects, Parkway Drive

Tracklisting:
1. If You Want Blood...
2. Bottomfeeders
3. WWJOCD
4. Dude, I'm On Alesse...
5. Intimidator
6. The Gospel According To Textbook
7. Who Invited Zetner?
8. Godspeed, Centipede
9. Stay Out Of Riverdale
10. Cathy Rattlesnake
11. Total Immoral
12. Start The Reactor

Label: Distort
Released: 2008
Genre: Metal
Download
Purchase