Hopesfall | No Wings to Speak of

I'll never forget the day I heard this EP in 2003. I had just gotten into 'hardcore' or any kind of music with screaming in general. A week after playing this EP on repeat I knew it may be my favorite EP of all time.

It's now 2010 and I've grown out of 98% of hardcore.

No Wings to Speak of is still to me the greatest four stand-alone songs recorded for one compact disc.

In words I can't quite describe, I'll simply say that these four tracks encompass the most beautifully aggressive song writing and emotionally impacting lyrics that nearly anyone could relate and feel to. The emotion of the melodies, the vocals, and the lyrics simply are beyond what other bands in this genre at that time we're attempting to do. What's blatant is that Hopesfall weren't attempting to do anything other than what their hearts were writing. This is natural and pure.

If you're into any kind of hardcore and you somehow missed this EP or are turned off by the way Hopesfall transitioned as a band, please go back and listen to this. You will not regret it.

Also, if you're Bill Lohr and you're reading this, your opinion is invalid. You love Pearl Jam.

Highly Anticipated Record: Agalloch | Marrow of the Spirit

1. They Escaped the Weight of Darkness 03:41
2. Into the Painted Grey 12:25
3. The Watcher's Monolith 11:46
4. Black Lake Nidstang 17:34
5. Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires 09:40
6. To Drown 10:27

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FINALLY. A new Agalloch record. And how I cannot wait to hear this one. The album title, cover artwork, and track listing are all fantastic. Now it's time to hear the overly awaited, highly anticipated tunes these guys have been writing for awhile now. I for some reason have a feeling this could be their greatest record. The Mantle is nearly a masterpiece but I feel if they combined that song writing with the production and overall sound of Ashes on the Grain they could produce an even better album than anyone expected. Hopefully that's what Marrow of the Spirit is.

Quick note: Track 2 is called "Into the Painted Grey". I'm thinking this is referring to the album cover. As if someone were walking into the painting. It reminds me of dredg's "It Only Took a Day" which is metaphorically about a sleep paralysis episode of somebody stuck inside of Dali's numerously named "Sting caused by the flight of a bee" painting (that's the shorter of the three names).

This record comes out 11.23.10. Sooner than I expected although still way longer than I planned on waiting after Ashes on the Grain. Let's see if this album can surpass my absurdly high expectations.

Cloudkicker | Beacons

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1. We are going to invert...
2. Here, wait a minute! Damn it!
3. We're goin' in. We're going down.
4. Oh, god.
5. I admit it now. I was scared.
6. We were all scared.
7. Push it way up!
8. ...it's just wide-open field.
9. It's bad. We're hit, man, we are hit.
10. Amy, I love you.

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After releasing a debut LP and three solid EPs soon after, Ben Sharp finally gave us another full length, Beacons. The hype around this one was much larger due to the fact that he didn't actually just...give this one to us, instead posting little teasers every week. Each release thus far has been a free download on his site, something that I greatly encourage and appreciate, and so do fans. Intelligently, I believe he built up his fans appreciation enough for him to offer this record to fans in a stream, yet they can pay whatever quantity of currency they wish for a higher quality digital release, and he will then ship out physical compact discs of Beacons to those who dished out money. Very cool.

You may be looking at the track listing for this record and think...'What a bunch of stupid titles.' Actually, all the titles are rather eerie and interesting. Each are final or nearly final last words from pilots about to eat shit. What's great about the titles are that each song really resembles the final words. Such as the "We're goin' in. We're going down.", which is a very winding and frantic song that easily gives off panic-y imagery of you being in a plane twisting down through the sky.

The album runs together pretty smoothly although certain sections of the CD are smoother than others. The stand out moment of the record are the two ambient tracks "I admit it now. I was scared.", "We were all scared" which beautifully run into each other and then into the best song on the record "Push it way up", a groovy monstrous track with oozing layers of ambient reverb soaked guitars gushing all over the product. The guitars sound like 3 separate sirens roaring loudly over the music that literally put you in a frozen trance. It's as if something terrible is happening yet you can't move because of how beautiful it sounds. It's a great moment on the record.

In all, this is by far the most cohesive and solid effort from Cloudkicker. As much as I enjoyed his previous releases, this one will easily get more spins from me. Definitely check this out if you haven't already. He is streaming the album right on his website for free.

A Swarm of the Sun | Zenith

1. Lifeline
2. This One Has No Heart
3. Refuge
4. The Stand
5. Zenith
6. Repeater
7. The Worms are Out
8. Lifeproof Houses
9. I Fear the End
10. Reaper

Two guys from Sweden. Seriously, can the Swedes do ANY wrong?

This record is dark and minimalistic. It's dreary and sad.

And really enjoyable.

It sounds like a combination of Callisto, Tool, Logh, and post-rock in general.

I would recommend it to anybody that likes any of those things.

Stand out tracks are "Lifeline", "Repeater", and "Reaper", the concluding track that makes me want to spend my entire day void of any sunlight, under thick covers. Check this CD out.