#Solid State Records

[falloutbradreviews]

Wolves At The Gate – Wasteland

I swear I should just rename my review show to “Octanecore Reviews,” because I’m just reviewing Octanecore bands now. To be fair, though, the band I’m going to be talking about today didn’t start off as an Octanecore band. Wolves At The Gate is a long-running metalcore band that I’ve never quite listened to much, minus an album or two from them, but I’ve never talked about them publicly. They were always a generic metalcore band that just never did much for me, but I’m pretty sure I’ve listened to their last album. I remember it being okay, if I did listen to their last one, but it’s been a few years since that came out, so I don’t know, for sure. Regardless, I saw that they had a new album out, so I figured I’d check it out. There isn’t much that came out this week, minus the new Rivers Of Nihil, Aesop Rock, and Stray From The Path records, so it’s more about quality over quantity. I listened to this record, and well, it’s not the worst thing I’ve heard all year, but it’s far from the best. They stared off as a generic metalcore band that did what they did well, and ultimately turned into a generic Octanecore band. This album frustrates me on a few levels, but at its “core,” it’s not half bad. It’s a solid Octanecore record with some cool breakdowns, riffs, and vocals, but that’s where my praises ultimately end.

If you like this sound, you’ll probably like the album, but I’ve made it clear over a few reviews now that are about Octanecore bands that I’m starting to get sick of this sound. I like it, don’t get me wrong, but so many new bands / albums are coming out that sound the exact same, and it’s tiring. This is why I walked away from reviewing in the first place, because I started listening to so much that sounded the same, and it just got old to say the same things over and over. Wasteland is the embodiment of those albums, where it just blends into the crowd, and doesn’t do anything unique, but it’s also not a technically bad album. I don’t hate this album, or even think it’s bad, but there are a few things that bother me about it. Not only does its sound bother me in the sense that they do nothing with the Octanecore sound, at least nothing I haven’t heard anyway.

My biggest issue with this album is that it’s mostly comprised of short interludes that honestly did not need to be here. This should have been an EP, I’ll say it now. The album is 36 minutes, but it has 13 songs on it, and most of the “songs” are just interludes that add nothing to the record. There’s one interlude that’s not even 30 seconds here, and I’m just left scratching my head at that one. Not to mention, everything just blends together, too, so it’s hard to tell when one song ends and another begins. I suppose the best thing about it is that it’s only 36 minutes, but the album blends together so hard. The performances on this thing are solid, but it’s the lack of catchy hooks and memorable moments that bother me. I said there are some good vocals, riffs, and breakdowns, but I don’t remember where they are in the album. I’ll need to listen to the album a bunch more times to let it sit, and sometimes there are albums like that, but those are usually albums with a lot to say or do, not generic Octanecore albums that you can get the gist of on your first listen.

Like I said earlier, if you like this sound, I think you’ll like this. There are going to be a ton of modern rock and metalcore fans that eat this up, and good for them, because it’s got a sound that people clearly like. There are way too many boring synth and electronic elements for my liking, but it all just blends together into a big blob. That’s how a lot of these albums are, for better or worse. Despite how a band like Sleep Theory wears their influences on their sleeve, they still make really catchy, fun, and memorable stuff, so there’s no excuse for bands to fade into the background like this. I don’t hate this album, by any means, but at the same time, I wouldn’t go to bat for this thing. I just hate that this sound is getting so popular now, because it’s become so saturated and boring. That’s what happened with late 00s metalcore and 2010s pop-punk. They both got so saturated with generic, boring, and uninteresting bands and albums, I just got bored of the genres, and it’s starting to happen here, too. The last couple of years were pretty fun, but it’s annoying listening to a generic Octanecore album every week, frankly.

[escapistsatellite]

Demon Hunter- Deteriorate (Resurrected) [Lyric Video]

[decemberthe7th]

⛵⛵⛵⛵⛵⛵

[nineteenfiftysix]

The Chariot - Evolve: (Wars And Rumors Of Wars, 2009)

[gbhbl]

Acres have taken a bold approach to this album. Keeping it short, focusing on their strengths, and giving it an incredible amount of replay value.

[slrmagazine]

Wolves at the Gate Drop "LAW OF THE [Waste]LAND" Visualizer. #wolvesatthegate @wolvesatthegate

[grungeincluded]

''Along with the niches of more counter-cultural inspired Evangelicals releasing more and more #music through the 80s, artists tried to keep up and create or come into the amorphous sounds and scenes of what came to be called “#grunge”

''Grunge can be defined in various social, musical, aesthetic, and political ways, with its roots in punk and that scene(s)’ diversity of expression and ideology.

Grunge made suburban kids able to access really cool shit they never would have come across otherwise, as experimentally expressive entertainment or philosophically. They could move to the city and reinvent themselves, or do it in their basements with less fear of getting their asses stomped on the way to the record store (which happened to me, again and again, in 1979).'' - Chris Estey

© Grunge Included | @37fotosb

[mymelodic-chapel]

Underoath- They're Only Chasing Safety (Post-Hardcore) Released: June 15, 2004 [Solid State Records] Producer(s): James Paul Wisner

[thephotopitmagazine]

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA + FIT FOR A KING ANNOUNCE SECOND LEG OF METALCORE DROPOUTS TOUR SECOND SEMESTER KICKS OFF IN JANUARY

  THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA + FIT FOR A KING ANNOUNCE SECOND LEG OF METALCORE DROPOUTS TOUR SECOND SEMESTER KICKS OFF IN JANUARY   FIT FOR A KING + THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA are thrilled to announce the Winter 2024 leg of the Metalcore Dropouts Tour. The Fall 2023 leg wrapped up last week and the co-headline pairing is so good it needs to keep going! The Metalcore Dropouts 2nd Semester Tour…

[nando161mando]

ICE must have a solid track record of not "accidentally" deporting US citizens in the past, right?

[falloutbradreviews]

Miss May I - Apologies Are For The Weak (15th Anniversary Re-Recording)

The year was 2009, and I was a sophomore going into junior year in high school at that time. I was fully headfirst into my scene phase, and I was into bands like The Devil Wears Prada, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Underoath, Norma Jean, Cobra Starship, and a ton more bands that were popular during that time. I was mainly into metalcore around that time, because I discovered of an aforementioned bands the year prior and found a whole style of music that was totally new to me. Metalcore took the catchiness that I liked of post-hardcore, but it added heavier vocals, metal riffs, and breakdowns. Rise Records, in particular, was notorious for signing bands that sounded like that, and there was even a name for it — “Risecore.”

One of the more underrated bands from that style was Miss May I, especially their first couple of albums, but as with most bands of that era, they started to move into butt-rock. Yeah, I don’t know if you guys remember, but a lot of metalcore bands started becoming hard-rock bands in the 2010s, ultimately giving rise what I call “Octanecore” now, where these metalcore bands also have hard-rock and butt-rock sensibilities. It works for some bands, truthfully, but it’s been more so a way to retain the heavy credibility and get fans through radio rock listening. Thankfully, though, Miss May I’s last album, 2022’s Curse Of Existence, is a great return to form that shows they haven’t that ferocious sound they had on their debut.

With that said, their debut, Apologies Are For The Weak, turns 15 this year, and to celebrate that, the band signed to Solid State Records (which is a great fit, thankfully), and put out a re-recorded version that not only updates the original, but every song includes a guest vocalist from a metalcore or deathcore band in the scene, essentially being bands that were around that the same time that they were. I was really curious about this, because I loved their debut back in the day, and hearing a guest vocalist on each song would be interesting, so how is it?

This album is great, and while I don’t think it tops the original (usually the re-recorded versions of albums don’t resonate as well, but that’s an almost impossible task), but it holds a candle to it. The guest vocalists definitely add something to it that make it worth listening to, as well as the updated production and the musicianship sounding a lot better, but this clearly has a lot of care and love behind it. Apologies isn’t the most defining album of the 00s, but it’s a fun and energetic metalcore album that included some razor sharp riffs on top of breakdowns, so there’s been a bit of a cult following for it over the years. If you loved that album, I’d certainly listen to it, and if this is your first foray into this band, it’s still worth listening to.

[freshthoughts2020]

[pagesofkenna]

if i ever DO decide to move to the midwest, or just generally the US east, which is where the midwest is, ive got to start an influencer-style shortform video series where i try out non-Californian things for the first time from an extremely Californian-perspective

[dragonofeternal]

sorry to ask this (no judgement) but are you into plantcest? you reblogged a post that op tagged as that but you didn't tag it as that so i was just wondering since it came up on my blacklist, i hope you're having a good day!

I'm neutral to positive on it?

I enjoy it, but it's not my "OHHH MAN GOTTA SEE IT" ship to seek out. I might write some eventually? IDK I think that whether you read a romantic/sexual element into it or not, though, Knives has a really fucked up view of Vash (and particularly Vash's bodily autonomy) that lends itself a dynamic that can quickly slip into uncomfy territory. Usually I'm better about tagging ship stuff (esp things I know other people filter for) but I'll be honest and say my brain was a lil fried last night so it slipped my mind.

As a general rule for any folks new to the dragonofeternal space, I'm solidly ship and let ship. I enjoy fucked up ships and nasty gore weirdness with the same breath that I enjoy wholly unshippy and unsexual gen content. I am a creature of many pleasures, lol.

I'm big in people taking active agency in curating their online experience, so if the stuff I like or reblog makes folks uncomfortable, please feel free to unfollow/mute/what have you at any time. I know I have things that are dealbreakers for me bc of squick or even just general dislike/annoyance lol, so please don't worry that I will be offended that you aren't into XYZ or unfollow me.

All that said lemme go add the plantcest tag to that one pic because I uhhh definitely missed that the blades were dripping when I first reblogged it lol

[jazzdailyblog]

"Central Park North:" A Landmark in Big Band Jazz

Introduction: The late 1960s were a tumultuous time for jazz. The genre was evolving rapidly, with new subgenres emerging and challenging traditional forms. Amid this dynamic landscape, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra carved out a distinctive niche. Their 1969 album, “Central Park North,” stands as a testament to the vitality and innovation of big-band jazz during this period. This blog…

[wormsdyke]

nothing like the specific pain of listening to the new record of a band you love and discovering it’s good but completely different from their past work and no longer your style