Bimbo's Lips, Old Blooded Ghosts and The End of The World...5 NEW TRACKS!

Hey Hey,

Lars Ulrich and Dave Mustaines mouth’s lovechild here. I was just surfing the net and I came across a couple of websites (Metal Hammer, Kerrang! And Rocksound respectively) and I found a selection of brand new tracks floating around by some big bands including Lamb of God, Cancer Bats and Lower Than Atlantis. And being the opinionated bastard I am, I’ve listened to them twice each and recorded by views. Some average, some totally orgasmic (I’m not telling, you’ll have to read the motherfucking post) and some just one’s on my own amazing behalf, well, if your humour matches that of the famous Chandler Bing. Thank you…And enjoy!

1.       Reading Lips by Still Remains

The Michigan metalcore sextet ‘Still Remains’ reformed last year after a one-off reunion gig became a full-time arrangement. Reading Lips is the first official track from the guys since the reunion and has been floating around recent live sets. It’s a ‘rough’ version but is rather enjoyable to listen to. It is classic Still Remains, so if you have missed them for the past 4 years you don’t need to worry about the changing world of metal and metalcore effect the band’s sound, nope, they’re exactly how they used to be. But this new track, a fusion of clean and scream vocals, thrashing riffs and banging drum beats mixed with the melodic, harmonic and thoughtful lyrics make this one of their best, if not their best track ever. It also proves that they are not a band about to stand ‘still’ nor are they the ‘remains’ of a once booming metalcore band. 8/10

2.       Old Blood by Cancer Bats

The Canadian Hard-core-Punk rockers have finally given us something new to have a natter over. Old Blood is the first single from up-coming fourth album, Dead Set On Living, and if your going on this track alone, it looks promising. I’ll admit, I’m not the biggest fan of Cancer Bats, but I’m open to anything and this, this is good. Considering, I’m only listening twice, this song is good. It’s all very fast, which matches the usual Cancer Bat style and of course, fits in very well with frontman Liam Corimer’s vocal style. However, the pace doesn’t help the lyrics or the idea of the song. It just doesn’t do anything special for me. I like the riffs, and the hammering drum-beats, matching perfectly with the pace and tone set my Mr Corimer are all great but I just feel like this is the same old stuff we hear time and again from the Canadians. I know I said similar for Still Remains (but in a positive light) but for them, consistency is needed after a reunion, Cancer Bats need to progress. They’re a band that have the energy to play second stage, maybe even main but they’re still stuck on the toddler stages going ‘goo-goo-ga-ga’ to the diehard fans missing the headliners for them. I like this track, and every Cancer Bat fan will, but it just lacks that spunk seen on previous efforts. 6/10

3.       Ghost Walking by Lamb Of God

Lamb Of God, the Virginian Heavy Metallers are always a marmite band and are hard to get into. Being a band that started in the 90’s and still going today in 2012, is impressive to watch their growth, and it looks like they both keep the style they’ve played since 1994 and adapt to the styles and patterns and buggy riffs of 2012. This new track is, I admit, amazing. I instantly clicked with it. I thought this is like the first bite of a perfectly made jam doughnut rammed with jam and sprinkled full of sugar. It was so good. The transition from acoustic to electric at the beginning, the riffs of power surging through every word from Randy Blythe’s mouth, sparking hate, sparking love, through the perfectly timed, perfectly written banging and crushing drum beats matched by the perfectly written lyrics that fuse with the music written for them instantly and perfectly like melting butter on toast “Night Blind on the shining path, Ghost Walking in the aftermath” lyrics such as these do not get sung with such perfect music so well all the time. This track is pretty amazing, and I’m going to have to give it the perfect score, considering this is a band under much pressure and criticism from industry experts and their own fans alike, this is possibly a track of the year candidate already. I hope to hear more like this in the future. 10/10.

4.       Underwater Bimbo’s From Outer Space by Every Time I Die

The New Yorker Metal-corers Every Time I Die are taking a leaf out of the book of Kerrang! And Metal Hammers album of the year winners Mastodon by giving a serious, heavy, made-for-moshing song a stupid, albeit intriguing song name. Yes, get past the rather humorous name of the song and what lies here is 3 minutes of fucked up metal. Not fucked up as in stupid or rubbish or whatever but fucked up as in it makes you want to mosh in your living room. The opening words shout, and scream and screech even “I WANT TO BE DEAD WITH MY FRIENDS”, yes, now you can see, in Every Time I Die fashion fucked up. The lyrics and the way they’re sang by lead Keith Buckley are the highlights of this song. It is very good and it means that the upcoming album Ex-Lives is going to be worth buying. Yes, this is a good song with heavy, modern riffs and a good moshing feel. I like this song, I like it a lot, surprisingly, for a song wanting you to be dead, with your friends, and for me that is a total ‘Holy Cow Batman!’ 8/10.

5.       If The World Was To End by Lower Than Atlantis

The Punk-Rockers Lower Than Atlantis are pretty much one of the leading bands in the up-and-coming egg-and-spoon race of Punk-Rock. They’ve been touring with the likes of giants You Me At Six and playing festivals such as Download and Sonisphere. And this song doesn’t let the pattern drop. It’s nothing completely out of the ordinary for the band, maybe a little more narrated by the lyrics and the music feeling less raw, and a lot better written, I mean, the riffs sync to the words like my iTunes syncs to my iPod Nano. And this track is, despite the riveting, perhaps dark title, is a song that any teenager, or even stressed adult can relate to. It’s all about the rough days and giving up and not giving up etc. It’s catchy, as a Lower Than Atlantis record usually is, yet I don’t get stuck by the average curse. I like it, I like it rather a lot. And I’m considering buying a ticket to their headline tour after this. Cheers guys J 8/10

Well folks, that’s all from me, and quite shockingly, it’s a rather good, well great, if not perfect batch of reviews tonight bar one, and if this is just 5 tracks, heard on the 3^rd of January 2012, then I am so stoked to see what the rest of the year brings.

Adios Amigos,

Jack Press

Pressy’s Point

The Lovechild of Ulrich and Mustaine’s Mouths :’)