Read Poets Society

   Protomartyr songs often don't contain a clear beginning, middle and end, and this disregard for standard form or structure made the band's fourth album Relatives In Descent daunting and impenetrable for me. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, but this isn't necessarily an entertaining album as such - you don't put these songs on a playlist, you don't put the album on at a dinner party, you don't casually listen to it. It asks to be explored and worked at over time, to be experienced rather than listened to. Lyrically this album is a whole lot to take in, and impossible to fully understand, I suspect. Not really for me, to be honest, but this blend of spiralling post-punk and poetic dirges into depressive passages certainly has my appreciation and respect. I guess the word I would give to my experience of this album is oppressive - it only runs for about 43 minutes, but that time seemed to crawl by.    Rating: C

   Overshadowed by  another great pop-punk record  this week, Roam's second album  Great Heights & Nosedives will probably go under the radar of most casual fans of the genre, which is a shame, because it is a great improvement on their debut Backbone. Where Backbone was seriously lacking in the production area for my (and lots of others') tastes, Roam   now sounds like most other pop-punk bands with enough money for a decent production job. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, either - if it isn't broke, don't fix it - but for me it does get pretty derivative relatively quickly. The same can be said for the music too. As a pop-punk record it is ahead of the lacklustre Backbone , but still fits firmly in the discount bin of the majority of other records in the genre. Worth a listen to see how far Roam have come, but here's hoping they can make the same step forwards with their next record and leave the crowded pack.    Favourite Songs: Alive ...

   October has been a great month for music so far, as further evidenced by this second LP from Knuckle Puck,  Shapeshifter. The first thing I need to mention is the production - Shapeshifter sounds damn fine. The guitars in particular are on point; crunchy, warm and transparent. There is a dynamic contrast to these songs that could easily have been lost (and often is on a lot of pop-punk records) at the hands of another producer. Knuckle Puck's brand of pop-punk coloured with healthy helpings of emo is incredibly endearing to me, and lead single "Double Helix" is a great example of the catchy sing-alongs with shades of melancholy the band have a knack for producing consistently. My main gripe is to do with the lack of contrast or development, something most pop-punk fans won't even consider while they eat this up. Don't get me wrong, pretty much all of these tracks will make their way easily onto my summer playlists, but as a body of work these songs seemed to bl...

   The Ongoing Concept's third full length is easily the most unique post-hardcore record to drop this year. Whether or not it's actually good is another matter, but - as fans of the band will have come to expect - purely from a creative standpoint The Ongoing Concept have been consistently keeping it fresh with every release to date. While I've already dropped the post-hardcore label, it is a disservice to pigeonhole this band into anything, and Places confirms that notion by delivering a staggering concoction of riffs, R&B sections, ska, disco, funk, synths, horn sections, screaming, falsetto hooks and heavy guitars. As someone who's familiar with the band but not a die-hard by any means, my eyebrows were permanently raised for the entirety of the 36-minute affair (in the best way possible). And, dammit, it's really really good. Beneath the sheen of "what-the-hell-is-happening" insanity there are some seriously cool, catchy songs. I'm hesitant ...

   As one of the legion of post Brand New pop punk bands, Citizen have begun to follow in the path of their successful predecessors, moving further away from their roots into something moodier and more atmospheric. Citizen have never done it more me for the most part; not because they were particularly bad by any stretch, but simply because there wasn't much in the way of defining features to separate them from the rest of the scene. As You Please sees Citizen take a huge step away from being a generic emo/pop punk group, which if you're drawing parallels with obvious influence Brand New falls in line with the transition from Your Favourite Weapon to Deja Entendu and The Devil & God Are Raging Inside Me. This is by no means either of those records' equal - there are definite lulls back into the well worn routs they and every other band have treaded before - but it is a positive step outwards for the band. The strongest element of this album is its confidence in asking y...

   Manson's 10th studio album trades the bass-heavy glam swagger of 2015's The Pale Emperor for a more industrial, metallic tone reminiscent of Mechanical Animals era Manson, which was a disappointment for me. Instead of expanding his turf and exploring the newer, less-worn areas of his artistic output, we have a re-tread of what Manson has already proved himself to be adequate at, but without the danger and vitality his music was dripping with in the 90s. No one is going to be banning this album today, and he isn't the automatic scapegoat he once was, so this return to the past is as tiresome as it is confusing. Manson fans will likely jump right in, and there certainly is a certain glory-days vibe to Heaven Upside Down , but looking in from the outside I have no reason to care for something that was controversial and shocking 20 years ago, but dull and exhausting today (lyrics "so fuck your bible" don't do it for me on the first iteration, let alone the fift...

   Being one of the first "heavy" bands I listened to as a younger teenager, I have a special appreciation for and always give attention to August Burns Red when they release anything, and I honestly think I have actually come to appreciate them more as I have grown and my tastes have expanded. Their music has stood the test of time for me when a huge amount of other music in the genre has fallen into obscurity for me; there is something about their sound and approach to the metalcore genre that transcends the tropes and cliches that so many other bands get trapped in. So naturally I have been anxious to put this new album in and start chewing on whatever new direction they push their songwriting. More and more August Burns Red have been experimenting with different eclectic instrumental sections - 2011's  Leveler  (the weakest of their albums in my opinion) had the first notable foray into a salsa groove, 2013's  Rescue & Restore  (my favourite of thei...