Overall Rating: 9.1
· Sound: 9.6
· Lyrics: 8.5

· Impression: 9.1

8.) Let’s Pretend Like It’s 1910: The song begins with a hard drum beat. The drums and guitars really mix well. They overuse the screams a little bit here though. It sounds awesome when the screamer drops out in the intro and the guitars are jamming with drums. Out of nowhere the song goes into a massive breakdown. The best breakdowns are the ones that aren’t expected, and this one definitely is not expected. The drum fill leading into the breakdown is one of the best fills I’ve heard before. Having the band drop out and a fill with the toms is perfect. I’m still trying to get my drummer to play some drum beats like that that.

9.) To Be Specific: This song really deviates from the normal sound of Catherine. The first part of the song using an electronic drum beat and sounds like it may have been constructed on garage band or some other type of drum machine. The drums switch over to a true drum set but with some sort of effect that makes it sound like the drummer is playing in a bathroom. They make good use of effects on the vocals as well to make this song unique.

10.) Praise The Night Time: This last song on the album was a really good song to end on. Thank you for adding in a pick slide- I was looking for one of those! The bass sticks out much more in this song than in other songs. The contrast at the end was really effective. They don’t use a clean guitar in many of their songs and it was a good choice to throw a bridge with a clean sound at the end. I didn’t notice until now that they actually use the electronic drum sounds some more at the end of the song. The only thing I would have liked to hear was a buildup from the clean part to a huge breakdown at the end of the song. Oh well- props for being unique.

5.) Dear Elizabeth: One of the more mellow songs on the c.d. Starts off with an acoustic part, and goes into a mini guitar solo. This strong is very expressive, seeing that it is an instrumental. There’s not anything that exciting about this so. This song is more about Catherine showing another side to the band, and that they don’t keep to one sound. The best part of this song is that it transitions right into the next song and you can barely tell that they are two different songs (minus the fact that the vocals start right when it switches to track 6).

6.) Fallacy: Many hardcore bands have energy-packed songs, but don’t really evoke much emotion other than the raging hormones of a teenager. This band is different in that I see their music as more so poetry than just a bunch of a noise. This song is a piece of artwork. The screams sound awesome, yet you can still make out what he is saying. It’s hard for me to tell if in the recording there is a different screamer behind the main vocalist, or if it’s the same guy with some mixing done in the studio. The screams sound different enough that they could be two different band members, but at the same time it sounds like the main vocalist screaming in a higher pitch. Like in other songs, the screamer and singer sound great together (especially in the chorus).

7.) Thou Art A Villain: The transition into the verse really gets the song moving a lot. The drums keep the intro alive and you can get really feel the double bass. This song is effective at using dynamics. In some parts of the song one of the instruments will drop out making the overall sound of the bound lower, but still remaining heavy. The line, “There’s no heroes, there’s no heroes” is repeated over and over again until the song is over. I really like how they can use only one lyrical line and make it so powerful through repetition. The line eventually fades out into the nothing and leads into the next song.

Believe it or not, Warped Tour 08′ is right around the corner. The summer long tour begins in Ponoma, CA on June 20 and ends in Carson, CA on August 17. The tour has been long known as one of the biggest punk tours of the year, but every year it seems more hardcore/metal bands are joining the tour. In my opinion this years’ warped tour line-up is one of the best ones I’ve seen yet, especially for metal lovers like myself. Some of the hardcore/metal bands to look out for on this years’ warped tour include: A Day to Remember, Alesana, All That Remains, As I Lay Dying, August Burns Red (not appearing in august unfortunately), The Devil Wears Prada, Evergreen Terrace, Every Time I Die, Greeley Estates, The Human Abstract, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Norma Jean, Protest the Hero, Sky Eats Airplane, and last but not least, Story of the Year. Click here to view the complete list of bands and dates

History of Van’s Warped Tour

Warped Tour first began in 1995, making this upcoming tour the 14^th annual Warped Tour. The name “Warped Tour” originated from Warp Magazine, a magazine published by Transword Magazine that featured skating, snowboarding, surfing, and music. The concerts are usually held in outdoor venues or large parking lots across the country. There has been up to 100 different bands playing on the tour during the summer. Typically the bigger bands get the large stages and the smaller ones get the smaller stages. In 1998, Warped Tour became international and toured in Australia, Japan, and Europe. The summer concert tour continues to grow in popularity, selling hundreds of thousands of tickets each year.

Oh wait…There’s More!

Aside from the huge list of bands that play on the Warped Tour, there are many other side attractions to visit. This includes a half-pipe where you can watch crappy skateboarders who think they are good fall on their ass. I remember last year when I went there was a tent with TVs & Xbox’s that you could play Guitar Hero 3 on before it was even released. Warped Tour is also a good way to get a chance to hang out and talk to your favorite bands. Usually after a band is done playing they will migrate to their designated tent to visit with fans. Some bands even do signings at specified times, but beware of the mile long lines. Every band has a merchandise stand set up if you want to get a band shirt of your favorite shirt or pick up a cd. This show is definitely worth the $30 it costs to get a ticket. Warped tour usually runs from approximately 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. so drink lots of water and prepare for some killer music!

Banner from the Warped Tour last year

Catherine is a smaller sized metalcore band out of Sacramento, CA. They are relatively new to the scene and are starting to blossom now that they have a steady line-up. I recently picked up Catherine’s album, The Naturals. The album was released in 2007 on Rise Records. This is the only c.d. they have release so far, minus their EP titled Rumor Has It. Here is my review of The Naturals…

1.) First Take: Intro… just a dude coughing. nothing to see here… move along

2.) The Naturals: Great song to start off the c.d. with. Begins with a drum introduction/fill and moves right into the whole band, with screaming over the instruments. The transition from the verse to the chorus is well done. The verse has a rhythm guitar with a lead playing over the top. For the transition both guitars play a rhythmic, which is a nice switch. The chorus has a mini-break down and foreshadows the breakdown towards the end of the song. They do something for a bridge that you rarely see heavy bands do. The instruments drop out and an acoustic guitar comes in with the singer laying out the melody. Shortly after, the screamer comes in over the singer. Song ends with a short lived but electrified breakdown.

3.) Tailor: This song has to be one of my favorites because of the grindcore influence to it. This song covers a spectrum of different sounds and uses more singing (as opposed to screaming) than other songs on the album. The guitars use a lot of off-beat rhythms and the screams are on the accents of the guitars. All the phrases in this song are short and transition quickly from one section to another. The drummer does an awesome job at changing up the beats so they don’t all sound the same.

4.) Light Brite: The intro this song is extremely basic but still sounds decent. The song is turned up a notch when the verse starts. The drums and bass go perfectly together, creating a real heavy sound. The breakdown in the middle of the song is nice because you don’t see it coming. The screams really sound badass over the open chords of the breakdown. The bridge is absolutely genius. Like in Track 2, all the instruments drop out momentarily and an acoustic guitar fades in. The vocals the same line until the song is over. One of my favorite lines is in the bridge- “Thinking maps were made for us to follow, you showed me light was near, the brightest light is here.” I can’t even explain how explain how good this song is, you just have you hear it for yourself.

Catherine Photo

Just released albums to look out for – HOT!

In Flames - A Sense Of Purpose (Koch Records)

Sevendust – Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow

Veil Of Maya – The Common Man’s Collapse (Sumerian Records)

Meshuggah – ObZen (Nuclear Blast Records)

Bury Your Dead – s/t (Victory Records)

Upcoming c.d. releases to look out for – HOT!

Children Of Bodom – Blooddrunk (Spinefarm Records)

Heaven Shall Burn – Whatever It May Take (Lifeforce Records)

Stick To Your Guns – Comes From The Heart (Century Media Records)

From A Second Story Window – Conversations (Black Market Activities)

36 Crazyfists – The Tide And Its Takers (Ferret Music)

Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV (n/a)

Arsis – We Are The Nightmare (Nuclear Blast Records)

Atreyu – Lead Sails Paper Anchor 2.0 (Hollywood Records)

Kataklysm – Prevail (Nuclear Blast Records)

Our Darkest Day – By The Time You See This, I’ll Be Gone (Indie)

Overall Rating: 9.3
· Sound: 9.5
· Lyrics: 9.2
· Impression: 9

1.) Blossom, The Witch: The song is one of my favorite songs on album and is by far the most energetic. The song starts off with a suspenseful noise that builds up into the intro of the song. The drums in the beginning of the song are loud and in your face. You can feel the bass drum inside of you. The drums couldn’t sound any better. The drums kick up speed, creating the illusion that the tempo of the song gets faster, but only the drums are faster. When the lyrics come in, the keyboard is the main instrument that sticks out over everything. Not many bands do this, and they are very good at making the keys blend in when they want them to, and stick out at other times. The lyrics are very dark and they make it clear what the song is about.

She is the enchantment
She is the filth that you love to crawl in
You’re forced to feed on the dirt that you can only perceive as passion
But looks are deceiving
Beauty is only skin deep
She’s put and end to existence
She’s put and end to us all
There’s something in her eyes that says, “I am here to tell you lies”
Meet here stare to entrap yourself In the place where love has died
Beware the blossom
Beware of here eyes
Run
You’ll never make it out of here alive
Run
You’ll never make it out
But looks are deceiving
Beauty is only skin deep
She’s put an end to existence
She’s put an end to us all
Beware

2.) To Live And Die By Fire: The first verse of the song transitions into a powerful chorus, with a wavering keyboard sound. The fills between verses, choruses, and bridges are well done. They really show off the drummer’s talent. The keyboard part follows the guitar part in certain parts of the song in a lot higher octave that gives it a unique sound and reinforces the riffs. The song ends with a breakdown that makes you want to dance your pants off.

3.) The Worst Is Yet To Come: They start the song with a shredding guitar riff that really gets you pumped, although it is a bit generic. This song doesn’t use quite as much keyboard as the other songs, and when they do it is more hidden under the other instruments. The song isn’t anything special until the chorus comes. The chorus is extremely catchy. This is definitely one of their “sing-along” songs. A cool effect is created when the singer sings the chorus followed by the screamer repeating part of the line.

4.) In The Place Of Hope: The intro to this song is slightly boring, and as before doesn’t get good until the pre-chorus. A delayed guitar with a lot of added effects accompanies a trippy keyboard part leading into another catchy chorus. The chorus here is almost all singing unlike a lot of their other songs, which is a nice change of pace. The breakdown of this song is intense just like all of their breakdowns.

5.) White Walls: One of their hits, White Walls, is what really made these guys popular. This is the first song I heard by these guys, and it’s still one of my favorites. The lead riff in this song begins right off the bat and eventually the keyboard joins with the same melody. The screamer displays how he can do high screams and low growls throughout the song. By far the best part of this song is the breakdown. Right before the breakdown everything goes quiet, and only a bright keyboard melody remains. The contrast of quiet to loud really gives the breakdown even more strength.

Is has been a little over a year now since LoveHateHero released their first album, titled “White Lies.” They released an EP album in 2005, titled “Just Breath”, but didn’t receive much publicity until they toured the country a couple times and got signed to Ferret Music. Now that they are more well known people are starting to get into them more and more.

They are currently touring the U.S. with Alesana, The Chariot, and Sky Eats Airplane. This is one of the hottest tours out there right now seeing that Alesana didn’t become known until about a year ago and now they are already big enough to headline. Sky Eats Airplane, unique from the other bands on this tour, features the some wicked Electronic beats with help from their Mac. This mix of hardcore and electronica is becoming a hit and a lot of new bands are popping up that sound like imitations of Sky Eats Airplane (as far as I know Sky Eats Airplane was the first hardcore/metal band to use electronica and make a name for themselves).

Here is a live clip of LoveHateHero performing the song “A Last Fairwell” in San Francisco, CA (Beware: not the best sound quality). This song is pumped full of energy and they explode at the beginning with the whole band rocking out. Notice the guy on the left head banging like a madman. That automatically receives an A+ performance right there. The bassist has a Mohawk too, which even makes them more awesome. The vocals are right on in this clip and the screams sound even better than on the c.d. version. These guys are super catchy but at the same time have some technical guitar rifts that will impress you.

From the first time I heard these guys I was addicted. I had heard their name somewhere before but didn’t bother checking them out. One day I ran across them and I was blown off my feet. The first thing that caught my eye was the fact that they were from Indianapolis, Indiana, hometown to one of my old favorites, Haste The Day. The thing that makes these guys unique and different than the rest of the Christian/Hardcore bands on the bandwagon is that they throw in a touch of what we like to call “experimental” (whatever that means). The way I take it when a band considers themselves to be “experimental” is that they add an aspect to their music that is unexpected, or against the norm of the other genres they fit under. The thing I hate the most is when a band calls themselves experimental then sounds like just every other band out there. This is definitely not the case with Gwen Stacy. If you don’t trust me, go listen to the song “Hoy Empezamos Una Vida Nueva. (don’t ask me what that means…something about a new life). That song will most likely tweak you out! Another thing that makes these guys stand out from the rest is that they are only a four piece. That is really hard to come by these days. Having only four members means you have only one guitar to count on and nixes the idea of having a keyboard. If they can pull that off and sound as heavy as they do, I am very impressed. Catch these guys on tour now with Still Remains & Catherine. I plan on seeing them at the Madison show in a little over a month. My expectations are high and I have no doubt that they will exceed them.

Hello and welcome to Pat’s heavy metal Blog. If you’re into the smooth sounds of Enya or the poppy beats of Britney Spears turn back now. This is for the ones who want some pure metal with no exceptions. Once you enter there’s no turning back. I’m originally from California but now reside in Madison, WI and am currently attending UW-Whitewater. I have been apart of the Madison music scene for about 3 years now and have seen just about everything there is to see. I have been to so many shows by this point that it is really easy to point out the bands who have the killer live shows. I have found over the years that most metal bands tend be sound even heavier live than they do on c.d. This is why I am addicted to going to metal/hardcore shows because they are so intense and sometimes even give me an adrenaline rush. I don’t really have any specific type of favorite metal but lately I’ve been listening to a lot of hardcore, metalcore, grindcore, and death metal. Here I will inform you on the latest hot metal bands especially ones that not many have heard of but I predict will get big in the near future. I will give insight to live performances by different bands and what they did and didn’t do effectively. I will also provide information on upcoming concerts and upcoming c.d. releases.  Lastly, I will review various albums and let you know which ones are worth spending your money on.  Anything and everything metal . Rock on!

 August Burns Red is a five piece Christian metalcore from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  The band was formed in 2003 and released an E.P titled Looks Fragile After All a year later in 2004.  They were signed on a smaller label when they released this E.P. but didn’t start to get big until they were signed to Solid State Records in 2005, releasing their first full length album Thrill Seeker.  Their latest album, Messengers, was released in 2007 and has already sold over 50,000 copies.

A couple weeks ago I saw August Burns Red at The Rave in Milwaukee, WI for the first time. They are currently on the Take Action Tour featuring The Human Abstract, The Bled, From First To Last, and the headliner, Every time I Die.   I had seen videos on www.youtube.com of August Burns Red and from what I saw they looked like an awesome band to see live.   They opened with the song Composure of their new c.d., Messengers. They blew up with energy starting their performance and that energy didn’t fade until the time where they walked off stage. They played a lot of heavy breakdowns and people were going nuts in the pit. The band held perfect balance throughout their set and all of the instruments sounded right on. The drums were probably my favorite out of all of them- damn that guy is talented.  In the middle of their set between songs they announced that they are a Christian band and that they play for Christ.  They told the audience they love all of them no matter what they believe and if they have any questions they can come talk to them after the show.  I really respected this.  There are a lot of bands out there who claim to be Christian but just label themselves that to get attention.  All in all, once you see these guys live it will change your standards of a good live performance.  If you think these guys are intense on c.d. you don’t even know what intense is. Go see these guys live and you’ll crap your pants!

August Burns Red- “Composure” Video Shoot