REVIEWS
There’s plenty of music released every single month, and with each Monthly Music Roundup article, we share some quick reviews of several releases from throughout the month that we personally enjoyed and want to cover. ALBUMS
The Brave “Aura” The Brave have released their newest album, titled “Aura.” There are a few moments on here where the band shows some darker and heavier elements, through the instrumentation and powerful chorus on “Ethereal,” the breakdowns on “Technicolor” and “Lost To The Night” and the passionate and energetic “Desolation,” blending synths with harsher instrumentals. On the opposite side, there are some tracks on here that are pretty different from those, such as the much more ambient “Burn,” simplistic and slightly pop influenced interlude “Aura,” and anthemic opener “Through The Dark.” The majority of this record mixes all of this together, from“Above The Clouds,” which mixes harsher vocals in the beginning with more melodic vocals that lead up to one of the biggest and best choruses this album offers, the melodic vocals and aggressive bridge contrasting on closing track “Goodbye,” the raw vocals, darker instrumentals and memorable chorus on “Dragged Down” and the impressive melodies and dynamics on “Out Of Reach.” “Aura” as a shows every single aspect of the band’s sound, and makes an interesting listen. Faminehill “Ascend” Faminehill have released their debut full-length, titled “Ascend.” The band definitely has some heavier influences, shown particularly in the aggressive opener and title track “Ascend,” the instrumentally impressive closer “Illusion,” “Everlasting,” which combines melodic hardcore and metalcore influences, and “Torn,” which is easily the most aggressive track on the record. Contrasting these are some more melodic tracks, such as “Rotten Hearts,” with clean vocals delivering catchy melodies, accompanied by softer instrumentals, the emotional “Burden,” with one of the catchiest choruses the record has to offer, and “Everchanging,” with ambient and intricate guitar parts and synths and echoing vocals that add more to the track. The remaining tracks on the record combine it all together, with “Jaded” and “Ruin” balance melodic and aggressive moments perfectly, blending softer instrumentals with heavier influences, and “Grave,” a more post-hardcore leaning track with great dynamics between softer and heavier and sections, as well as the clean and unclean vocals. With “Ascend,” Faminehill have created a great metalcore record that incorporates heavier influences while also adding a bit of variety to make it stand out. Get Scared “The Dead Days” Post-hardcore/rock group Get Scared have released their highly anticipated fourth LP, “The Dead Days.” Quite a lot of the tracks on this record include elements reminiscent of the band’s earlier work. “Give Up My Ghost,” “Enough Is Enough,” memorable opener “Bad Things” and closing track “Goodbye Soul” all incorporate darker instrumentals, “Hell Is Where The Heart Is” has a great mix of clean and unclean vocals, “Time Keeps Running” brings so much energy, and “Silence” brings the heaviness both vocally and instrumentally right away, and is easily the heaviest tracks on the record. While this record does have traces of the band’s roots, there are a few tracks that stand out and show them experimenting a little bit. Second track “Deciever” is very catchy and brings just as much energy as the darker and heavier tracks, emotional vocals shine in the anthemic “Calling All Crows,” while title track “The Dead Days” and ballad “Like It Or Not” truly show the band’s more melodic elements and even feel a bit pop punk leaning. “The Dead Days” shows Get Scared staying true to their older sound while also branching out and incorporating a bit of variety, and the record overall was worth the wait. EPs A Better Hand “Out Of Sight And Out Of Mind” I’ve known about A Better Hand since their debut, and earlier this month, they released their sophomore EP, “Out Of Sight & Out Of Mind.” The band shows off a lot of their pop punk roots throughout the EP, especially through tracks like “Exposure” and “Mind To Lose,” both of which are full of catchy riffs and melodies. Lead single “Clear Your Conscience,” as well as the opener “Let This Go” and closer “Better In The Worst Way” lean a bit more towards the easycore side, primarily in regards to the instrumentals, and the extremely energetic “Stick Around” has a breakdown that really shows off those influences. That track in particular is one of quite a few standouts on here, the others being “25 Below,” which slows things down a little bit and has more unique instrumentals and melodies, and “Sense Of Sanity,” consisting of an impressive vocal performance and great dynamics in the instrumentals, which help build up the pre-chorus so well to the huge chorus, which is just as catchy as the ones on the remainder of this EP. “Out Of Sight & Out Of Mind” is a great step up for A Better Hand, showing not only their influences, but also their potential. The Long Year “Between The Waves” The Long Year have released their long-awaited debut EP, titled “Between The Waves.” Introductory track “TLY” gives the listeners a sneak peak at what’s to come as the catchy riffs and breakdown instantly show the band’s easycore influences. However, that’s not the only genre you can expect on the EP. “House Always Wins” shows some punk leaning and overall slightly more aggressive influences, including a great guitar driven breakdown that adds in a bit of screaming. Closing track “Glow” is a lot more influenced by pop punk and punk rock, really showing off the raw vocals and including one of the catchiest choruses this EP has to offer. The remaining two tracks stand out just as much, with “Sameview” bringing some darker composition, while “Empty Handed” has an emotional vocal performance that is easily one of the overall strongest ones on the EP as well. “Between The Waves” shows every side of The Long Year’s music, and the variety on it makes it a pretty good debut. Weigh The Anchor “Different Ways” I reviewed this band’s debut EP when it was released, and was also pretty impressed with their newly released second one, titled “Different Ways.” The band included the much more pop punk leaning elements from that debut all throughout this release as well, but it really shows on tracks such as the opener “Front Steps” with riffs as catchy as the melodies and a memorable chorus guaranteed to get stuck in your head and the closing track and title track “Different Ways,” with a huge, anthemic chorus, something you’ll find on the energetic “Tidal Waves.” While that track and “Famous Words” both bring a lot of energy, the band takes a few minutes to slow things down a little bit on “Distance” and “Apathy,” where the instrumentals have just as much passion and emotion as the vocals do and where the performances are some of the strongest overall on the whole EP. “Different Ways” brings a little bit of experimentation to the band’s pop punk sound and makes a great sophomore release for them.
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