TMR

Fit For A King – “Deathgrip”

 Posted by on August 31, 2017 at 19:46  No Responses »
Aug 312017
 

Ten years ago, Fit For A King was started in Dallas and Tyler, Texas and now they are a well-known name in the Christian metalcore scene. In 2008 they released their first self-titled EP and the EP Awaken The Vesper came out in 2008. They released their first full-length album called Descendants in 2011. At that point, they began to rise in popularity. In 2012 they signed to Solid State Records. This label is known for their preference of metalcore. A few well-known bands that signed to this label are Demon Hunter, Norma Jean and Becoming The Archetype. Their first release at this label was a great success. The studio album Creation/Destruction sold more than 3,100 copies in its first weeks of sales.

While the band was playing in Germany, terrorists gunned down a music venue. 128 people died, which left the members of Fit For A King angry, but also scared. Bobby Lynge, the guitarist, said that there was “a big chunk of time” after the attack he was still looking over his shoulder. He said that “Nobody should have to contemplate going to concert because they’re going to get mowed down by a guy with a machine gun. It’s infuriating that that’s a thing.” Four days before the attacks they played in Paris and at that point they realized the reality of death. Ryan Kirby, lead vocalist, couldn’t stop thinking about “Fragile life is, and how deeply death affects you.” The remainder of the tour, he, Ryan O’Leary and Jared Easterling started writing what would become Deathgrip. This record represents not only the inescapable nature of death, but also it’s grip on how we live our lives. This becomes clear if you read all the titles of the songs on this album. Titles like Pissed Off, Stacking Bodies and We Are All Lost sound very dark , but these are most of the time very hopeful if you listen to the lyrics. Continue reading »

Tremonti – “Dust”

 Posted by on August 28, 2017 at 21:02  No Responses »
Aug 282017
 

From Orlando, Florida comes Tremonti with their latest album called Dust. The founder of the band, Mark Tremonti, is known as the lead guitarist of both Creed and Alter Bridge. The bass guitar player is Wolfgang van Halen. His last name probably sounds familiar and that is no coincidence. He is the son of the well-known and amazing guitar player Eddie van Halen. Wolfgang left Tremonti this year. He also plays with Van Halen and he is the youngest member of that band. Mark Tremonti founded his own band because he was writing his own songs, which were probably nothing for both Creed or Alter Bridge. He was afraid the songs he wrote would never see daylight and thus began the idea of his own band.

To be honest, I did know the name of the band, but never heard anything of them. This band was a blank page for me and I did not know what to expect. However, the first song really caught my attention. My Last Mistake is an amazing song to start the album with. The fast and deep sounding guitar parts really fit into the song. The clean singing really is a good contrast to the heavy sound of all the instruments. It blew me away and immediately made me want to listen to the entire album. It sounds really melodic. Continue reading »

Of Mice & Men – “Cold World”

 Posted by on July 10, 2017 at 16:07  No Responses »
Jul 102017
 

From Orange County, California comes the metal core band Of Mice & Men with their latest album Cold World. It’s a well-known band in the metal core scene, so I was pretty exited to review this album. I’m a big fan of metal core and I really like this band.

For those who do not know the band, the name is actually a reference to a book from John Steinbeck. There are two reasons why they choose the name, according to the band members. Austin Carlile said that the sentence ‘the well laid plans of mice and man often falter’ has a lot to do with Jaxin Hall’s (former band member and co-founder of the band) and his own life. They had plans for life, the plans failed and now they try to make the best out of it. The other reason comes from Jaxin Hall. He said that the main theme of the book is about the American Dream and being self-sufficient. They wanted to make the band their American Dream. Austin departed the band after this album, which he posted on Instagram. He left the band to focus on healing and moving on after settling in Costa Rica. Early 2017 he got a question about his future with the band. He made clear that he would not go back to the band. According to him, the other members would not let him write what he wanted on the next record. Enough about the band, lets talk about their music. Continue reading »

Gloriam Dei – “The Covenant”

 Posted by on May 29, 2017 at 17:53  No Responses »
May 292017
 

It’s time to welcome the Finnish Power metal band Gloriam Dei. The name of the band is Latin and means God’s glory. If you look at the cover art, you can see light, or the glory of God, shining down on the man. They formed in 2013, but released their debut album in 2015. You’re probably thinking: “Why now?” Well, they are busy making an new album called The Midnight Sun and with this you have an introduction to this band.

I’m a big fan of Power Metal when it is done well and I must say this band did that for me the second I heard their first number. Their opening song Bethlehem sucks you in and that’s exactly the thing it’s supposed to do. The voice of Sami Asp fits exactly into this genre and gives me the feeling of one of my personal favorite Power Metal bands, Impellitteri from Sweden. Sami also plays the guitar together with Jarmo Happonen. I must say, as a guitarist, I really like the way they play guitar. It’s powerful and very melodic. The solo on the first song really stands out. I really like the switches between the guitar player and the synthesizer. The song The Covenant has an amazing build towards the end of the song. The switches in the songs between the rough bits and some slower bits makes it not only pleasant to listen to, but also makes it their signature sound. Continue reading »

The Devil Wears Prada – “Space” EP

 Posted by on December 27, 2016 at 23:10  No Responses »
Dec 272016
 

thedevilwearspradaspaceepThe American Metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada is back with their second EP called ‘The Space EP’. Since the very beginning of the band in 2005, they released 6 albums and 1 other EP. Their first cd was called ‘Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord’ and ceme out in 2006. However, the most remembering album was ‘Plaques’ (2007) and was their great breaktrough with song like ‘HTML Rulez DOOd’ and ‘Hey John What Is Your Name’. In 2010 they released an EP called ‘The Zombie EP’ (2010) and that one was focused on one theme. After two more albums and five years they decided to make another theme-based EP: The Space EP (2015).

Planet A is the first song of The Space EP and is a great opening song that lets see what you can expect of the rest of the EP: a lot of variation of metalcore and nice breakdowns with a mix of clean vocals and some raw screams. Continue reading »

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