My Rambling/Praising/Reviews About Assorted Things, Mostly Music

[CyanideFishbone]

I thought i'd start reviewing albums I love because why not and hey I'm on summer vacation so I have something to keep me occupied. 

 

Time to reveal our first contestant........

 

 

 

Band: At The Drive-In

Release Date: September 12, 2000

Genre: Post-hardcore

 

Oh, At The Drive-In. One of the most amazing underrated groups of all time, sharing small radio time in 2000 when this album came out to their hit "One Armed-Scissor", which is an excellent song that still holds up to this day.

 

Anyways, where do I even start with this masterpiece. This is one of THE most perfect albums I have ever heard. Let's start out with the fact the band was EXTREMELY talented. Listen to the instrumentals on "Sleepwalk Capsules" and remember these guys were like.... 26? (Well, that's how old, Cedric Bixler, the lead vocalist was when Relationship Of Command was released, either way these guys were pretty damn young) and the instrumentals on Sleepwalk Capsules are pretty damn amazing. Great drumming from Tony Hajjar and of course amazing guitar work from Jim Ward, and of course, Cedric Bixler's fucking awesome vocals. I don't know if this is his normal singing voice or if he's trying to sound like Zack De La Rocha from Rage Against The Machine, but if it's the latter, he's doing a damn good job. And it's all not the super adrenaline filled post-hardcore. They're willing to experiment with electronic on "Enfilade" (which also has a cameo from Iggy Pop)

 

Alright, let's talk about my 5 favorite tracks:

 

"One Armed Scissor"- Of course I had to choose the big hit, and it's still amazing. Great song, great guitar work, Cedric Bixler is a fucking awesome vocalist, etc. Send transmission to the one armed scissor, cut away, cut away. Great lyrics, you get the gist. Overall an awesome track.

 

"Cosmonaut"- God that vocal breakdown near the end. Such an awesome breakdown. If I wanted to prove to anyone how great of a vocalist Cedric Bixler is (sorry I'm rambling about his vocals) put on the breakdown or the whole track because his vocals are amazing the entire track. Great lyrics. Love the guitar at the beginning by the way.

 

"Arcarsenal"- Awesome instrumental opening. Awesome song. Cedric Bixler's vocals are kickass this entire song, considering he's mostly screaming, but it's still an awesome track that gets me pumped up and filled with adrenaline.

 

"Sleepwalk Capsules"- You can read up top why I love this song. Great instrumentals and sounds pretty much exactly like Rage Against The Machine, which isn't a bad thing (in fact it's a good thing and makes this song even better). I'm serious, Cedric Bixler's vocals are nearly identical to Zack's here.

 

"Pattern Against User"- Generally awesome track. Another track where Bixler's vocals are nearly identical to Zack's. It's just a solid track.

 

Overall, if you're in to post-hardcore or just general punk, give this album a listen, or even better, give these punk rockers from El Paso a general chance. You won't regret it. This is such an amazing underrated group that had an amazing amount of talent that also went on to do several different projects like The Mars Volta and Sparta. But I feel I should end the review as I feel like i'm repeating myself. Give this record a listen if you like post-hardcore or punk.

Favorite Track: "Arcarsenal"/"Cosmonaut" (tie)

 

Rating: 10/10

FUCKING AWESOME

 

Buy it now (or listen to it) if you like post-hardcore or punk. You'll love it. 

[CyanideFishbone]

I think I should start reviewing songs, and I've got a giant steaming dog turd on the chopping block today, since I wanted to tear it up after seeing it on the current setlist for Guitar Hero Live and reminding me just how BAD of a song this is.

 

"King For A Day" by Pierce The Veil ft. Kellin Quinn (2012)

 

Oh, post-hardcore. You turned from this:

 

 

(Yes I know i've been praising At The Drive-In a little too much, but hey, I think I should compare a band that I love with a band I hate when both are the same genre)

 

To... whatever the fuck this is. In a matter of 12 years.

 

 

Before I kill this piece of shit, I want to say first that it's featuring Kellin Quinn, someone from ANOTHER shitty post-hardcore band (Sleeping With Sirens) so yay. Two shitty post-hardcore bands forming together to produce a song. 

 

Before I rip apart the lyrics Musical Autopsy-style, I just want to start with the main reason I hate this song: This song gives me a damn headache. I know the loudness war is a thing, but is it me or are the vocals AND the instrumentals in this song WAY louder than they should be? I mean really. Vic Fuentes is an awful vocalist on his own, but upping his annoying, doornail in your brain voice to like the max volume makes it twice worse. The instrumentals are okay? I guess? But of course, they're WAY too loud and just end up annoying the shit out of you.

 

Let's take a look at the lyrics, shall we?

 

Dare me to jump off of this Jersey bridge?
I bet you never had a Friday night like this
Keep it up, keep it up, let's raise our hands
I take a look up at the sky and I see red
Red for the cancer, red for the wealthy
Red for the drink that's mixed with suicide

 

The lyrics aren't AWFUL, but it's the delivery since Kellin Quinn and Vic Fuentes are both AWFUL vocalists on their own. The lyrics are a little dumb in my opinion, but that's nitpicky.

 

Please, won't you push me for the last time
Let's scream until there's nothing left
So sick of playing, I don't want this anymore
The thought of you's no fucking fun
You want a martyr, I'll be one
Because enough's enough, we're done

 

"Let's scream until there's nothing left" Hah hah, see you two in the hospital. "The thought of you's no fucking fun"? There's one glaring thing wrong with that sentence. It should be "The thought of you IS no fucking fun". I'm sure "you's" isn't a word, but then again, I'm getting my lyrics from a website. 

 

You told me think about it, well I did
Now I don't wanna feel a thing anymore
I'm tired of begging for the things that I want
I'm over sleeping like a dog on the floor

 

"Now I don't wanna feel a thing anymore"? "I'm over sleeping like a dog on the floor"? Isn't this song about rebellion? That's what I can tell, but I may be wrong. Because to me, you should feel rebellion while rebelling, and if you don't want to feel anything, then the only solution buddy is to kill yourself. (No, I'm not telling Vic Fuentes OR Kellin Quinn to kill themselves, I'm sure they're nice guys) And wouldn't sleeping on the floor be something you kind of WANT as rebellion? I think? I don't know. Because you sleep on a bed, and.... I'm looking into this too much.

 

The thing I think I love
Will surely bring me pain
Intoxication, paranoia, and a lot of fame
Three cheers for throwing up
Pubescent drama queen
You make me sick, I make it worse by drinking late

 

"Three cheers for throwing up" So let me get this straight. You want to throw up? The fuck......

 

Then the two lines of choruses sung by Fuentes and Quinn repeat.

 

Imagine living like a king someday
A single night without a ghost in the walls
And if the bass shakes the earth underground
We'll start a new revolution now
(Now! Alright here we go)

 

So your house is haunted. First off, ghosts don't exist, but maybe this is too nitpicky or I'm looking into this too much. If it WAS, wouldn't you move out or tell who you live with? 

 

Hail Mary, forgive me
Blood for blood, hearts beating
Come at me, now this is war!

Fuck with this new beat
Oh!

 

The "oh" just kind of comes out of nowhere. It feels really off with the whole thing.

 

Now terror begins inside a bloodless vein
I was just a product of the street youth rage
Born in this world without a voice or say
Caught in the spokes with an abandoned brain
I know you well but this ain't a game
Blow the smoke in diamond shape
Dying is a gift so close your eyes and rest in peace

 

Everything is okay... I guess, except for the last line which just leaves me confused. If dying is a gift, wouldn't that mean you were suicidal? Because this song as far as I can tell is about rebellion, and rebellion is a time where you are lively, not depressed, but I don't know too much about rebellion. Maybe you can rebel and be depressed? I don't know..... But the last part of the last line KIND OF makes sense, because the verse implies he's never been heard and all that shit so he'd want to die? Whatever, I feel like i'm looking into this too much.

 

First verse of the chorus repeats and the verse about living like a king repeats again.

 

We'd rather die than live to rust on the ground
Shit

 

Uhh, nice way to end a song with "shit" because that's what this song is. A piece of shit.

 

I'm pretty much free all summer and if there's any songs you'd want me to review, go ahead and request. 

 

Now, if you don't mind, I'll turn on some Green Day:

 

Now that's better. Great song.

 

Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/piercetheveil/kingforaday.html