Various Artists - Rock Sound Presents: The Black Parade

The Black Parade defined not only an era, but a generation. It was part of everyone's soundtrack in the mid-2000s, whether it was the heartwrenching piano chords of 'Cancer' or the iconic piano intro of 'Welcome To The Black Parade'. It was revolutionary, powerful, and generally one hell of an album.

Its been ten years since it was released. With its tenth anniversary just a month away, The Black Parade memorabilia is coming through. Next week, My Chemical Romance will be releasing a double LP: The Black Parade / Living With Ghosts, featuring the album on one side and demos from the era on another. This week comes in the form of a dedication album. Rock Sound has brought together a number of big artists to cover songs from The Black Parade. It's a cool project, but not everything is as good as it may seem...

1) One OK Rock - The End.: Starting off fresh is perhaps one of Japan's most well established rock bands, One OK Rock with the opening track, 'The End.' It's a pretty great cover as an opener, but also a bit misleading. The song has great little subtle differences hidden in between the more notable ones. The song's performance adds electronic elements in between the cleaner moments, the contrast between the soft and heavy moments becoming that much greater. What's misleading is how original and good the cover is: having it at the start makes you think some new interpretations of these classic songs are coming, not completely changing them yet adding something new... (92 / 100)

2) Escape The Fate - Dead!: ...sadly, that isn't the case, as seen in Escape The Fate's cover of 'Dead!' It's pretty much an except copy of the original, without much change to it. It has a great guitar solo, but that's as much credit as you can give it. The vocals don't quite give it the same punch, either. It feels like a standard cover band cover, and nothing else. (74 / 100)

3) Creeper - This Is How I Disappear: On the subject of vocals, Creeper's cover of 'This Is How I Disappear' has perhaps the least-fitting vocals on this entire record. It goes in with the nature of Creeper - the vocals are trying to sound creepy and condescending, and it simply doesn't work with the song. The instrumental is incredibly weak, as well. The vocals are half of the mix, and the instrumental is barely any louder than them, making it have little impact. (51 / 100)

4) State Champs - The Sharpest Lives: In the same scenario as Escape The Fate, this song stays even closer to the original than 'Dead!' did. The little guitar punches in the verses aren't as spidery as they were in the original, being fatter and bassier, an subtle but odd difference. the guitar solo is great, and they nailed the bassline underneath it. (70 / 100)

5) Crown The Empire - Welcome To The Black Parade: It's impossible to create a cover that truly does this song justice, but Crown The Empire didn't even try. It's almost painful to listen to this cover. It's completely uninspired, drained of emotion, and takes away all of the original charm of the song. They couldn't so much as try and take out the hammers of the piano hitting the strings as they play the intro. It's worse than a cover band. It really makes you appreciates the small things in the original song that may seem insignificant, but really made the track what it was. They didn't even do the guitar leads in the intro! It's nothing more than a badly rehearsed cover by a cover band you'd see in a bar setting. (35 / 100)

6) Moose Blood - I Don't Love You: Moose Blood amassed a pop punk following leading up to their release of their debut LP Blush - read our review of it here - and brought pop punk back in a new yet familiar light. 'I Don't Love You' meets all the criteria to be a banging pop punk song, and Moose Blood took it and made it just that. With Eddy Brewton's reckless abandon in his vocals, the vocals worry more about emotion than hitting the notes, giving the song a fresh new revival in sweet and warm colors. (88 / 100)

7) Palisades - House Of Wolves: Another song that's received a rebirth in a brand new light. Palisades brings a great blend of intensity and electronica, the verses quite and choruses explosive. The original had an off-kilter, funky composure to it, while Palisades brought a groovier rendition on this cover album. It sounds very modern - if The Black Parade was released in 2016, this is definitely what 'House Of Wolves' would've sounded like. The massive chants of "S-I-N-I-S-I-N" bring a huge conclusion to the song. It's one of the most original covers on the record, without a doubt. (94 / 100)

8) Twenty One Pilots - Cancer: There wasn't a better band to cover this song. No one else but Josh Dun could capture the somber and accepting tone that Gerard Way sang the song in better. The song's a melancholy build of piano and a light drum electronic beat, while Dun's vocals dance a tragic dance in a symphony of vocoders and reverberating words through a cavernous atmosphere. Some would argue that the cover abandons the original's premise and mood with the electronic elements, but its subtlety makes it just as powerful in a different light. It captures all of the beautiful of the original while still remaining catchy, especially in the amazing part after the chorus where samples of Dun singing "I will not kiss you, lips are chapped and faded, call my..." as they echo and float away. The ending reprises it, and the final piano chord resonates and fades away, as if its acceptance and resignation of the narrator. It's truly beautiful. (97 / 100)

9) Ghost Town - Mama: 'Mama' was always a weird song. Ghost Town made their cover of the song weird, but a bit too weird. It's a cool cover, but it tries too hard to create the mood of the original by adding a bunch of different elements. The creepy keyboard part in the verses is cool, albeit overused. It's encouraged for a band to not stick too close to the original, yet Ghost Town sounds like they had to deliberately try to make something like they did. It explodes just like the original does at the end and has the same vibe, for what its worth. It's a good cover, just... a bit too much. (75 / 100)

10) New Years Day - Sleep: Female vocals! It's great to hear someone of the opposite sex tackling the classics on the album, especially when she brings a badass rendition of 'Sleep'. New Years Day's Ashley Costello sings and screams powerful atop soaring and heavy choruses, truly bringing out the best of alternative metal, resulting in a massive, melodic, and epic cover. The guitar solo combined with her screams are just excellent as they kick into one last explosion to end the track. An awesome cover, no doubt. (96 / 100)

11) Against The Current - Teenagers: Against The Current brings in more female vocals into the mix, their groovy and fun alternative rock vibes to record. Their debut album In Our Bones proved that they have the anthemic pop rock vibe nailed (read our review of it here). The intro starts dramatically before Chrissy Costanza's vocals kick in in time with the bass synth. The choruses are just as anthemic as the original's, big drums and sweet guitars not powering the song but acting as support for Costanza's warm vocals. The guitar solo is nailed, leading into a powerful final chorus complete with big gang vocals to emulate the rebellious composure of the song and a bright guitar lead. No one could've fit better into this song than her. (94 / 100)

12) Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! - Sleep: This cover of 'Sleep' just sounds like an overproduced version of the original. There's really nothing special about it that MCR's version doesn't do better. Just a standard cover. It's good, but doesn't provide anything new. (74 / 100)

13) Asking Alexandria - Famous Last Words: It would just so happen that my two favorite songs on the original album happen to be the worst on this cover album. Perhaps it just goes to show how My Chemical Romance absolutely nailed what they were working to accomplish. If you read our review of Asking Alexandria's album The Black, you'd know that I was already unimpressed in them. If you haven't read it yet - click here to check it out. They completely tossed out the energy of the original song, making it feel like you're listening to a weak rendition by a cover band. Where's the punch of the final chorus? Why is it shortened? Why is the instrumental so undynamic? It's overproduced, uninspired, and just plain weak as a cover to end the album. It's a sad listen. (38 / 100)

Rock Sound's compilation is hit or miss, really, though the sentiment is sweet. My Chemical Romance truly created something amazing, and to see all these different bands come together to say thank you to the music and bring this dedication to them. It's humbling, even as a fan, to see these artists perform these songs that are close to so many people's hearts. You can't recreate what The Black Parade made, but you can always pay respect to it.

Favorite Tracks: Cancer, Sleep, Teenagers, House Of Wolves

Least Favorite Tracks: Welcome To The Black Parade, Famous Last Words

Rating: 73 / 100

Touché Amoré - Stage Four

Cancer is a cruel monster. It strikes at the most innocent and undeserving people, regardless of age, sex, religion, race... its only mission is to destroy. Thousands of people lose their lives to the condition daily, and even more people lose their loved ones every day as a result of it. That's what Jeremy Bolm, Touché Amoré's lead vocalist, discusses on the band's new album Stage Four.

Bolm lost his mother to cancer in 2014, during the band's cycle for their critically acclaimed third album Is Survived By. In that time, Bolm has been learning to cope with the loss of his mother, going through the stages of grief. He's channeled that flurry of emotions in Stage Four.

Touché Amoré's music isn't exactly the normal type of deep. There's meaning often hidden within the provocative lines Bolm writes. There's something different with the writing on Stage Four, though. Perhaps it's simply the fact that the album covers a topic that's much more easier to understand as a whole, but while listening to the lyrics you can really get a sense of the meaning without having to think too much. It's not to say the meanings are blatant, but rather they're written in that perfect balance of what he feels and what he wants to say. The clearest example is in lead single 'Palm Dreams', where he screams "Was it all the palm trees / Placed where they shouldn't be" in the choruses. It's a line that invokes a dreamy image of things being out of place, but goes even deeper to reference his mother's choice to move from Colorado to California.

The reason why she did that is unknown to Bolm, and that's the premise of the song: the regret of not asking these questions before it was too late. A lot of the album is about regret, or simply just confusion. Opening track 'Flowers and You' brings the album in on a light note with sweet guitars and a light hi-hat, leading into a uncharacteristically upbeat instrumental under Bolm's heavy vocals that shows struggle with the idea of how his mother stayed so faithful to God when it would be he who granted her with cancer. The idea is pondered about again in 'Displacement', this time with an edgier yet still optimistic instrumental, where Bolm screams of not being able to have faith in God like his mother did after her passing.

Other songs express personal sadness, as well. 'New Halloween' is about how her passing still seems like it happened yesterday, even though its been well over a year (at the time of writing the song) since her passing. The instrumental is oddly upbeat and happy sounding, unlike the premise. One of the hardest hitting tracks is 'Eight Seconds', which is about the immediate depression upon learning the news. The ending lines are so simple, yet so hard-hitting all the same: "Made the call and stared at my feet / She passed away about an hour ago / When you were onstage living the dream."

Outside of its phenomenal writing, Stage Four shows a new musical direction. It became evident in 'Skyscraper' - which we reviewed upon it's release (read that here) - that this album was going to be something very different from the band. You can hear it in a lot of the instrumentals, too. There's not pure darkness and heavy instrumentals on the record. There's upbeat, optimistic songs (as mentioned before) that seem to contrast the vocals in a sad way, as if they're the joys of life and the world surrounding Bolm who can't appreciate them due to his loss. Dreamy guitars and clean vocals build into a massive explosion of emotion in 'Skyscraper' as Bolm sings of his mother's dream of seeing the east coast, which unfortunately never got to happen. An added part on the album version is a voicemail from his mother - the last one he ever received from her. It's a cathartic ending to the album, taking it out on a tragic but fitting finality.

Cancer is cruel. When it takes the people who are closest to us, it's hard to cope with. It'll stay with you for a long time, if not forever. Touché Amoré channeled all of Bolm's grief and confusion in Stage Four is a beautiful way. It's not perfect - the new sound is something they need to work on - but its emotional, and a strong release of emotion for Bolm, even a necessary one. Turning pain into art can become a beautifully tragic thing.

Favorite Tracks: Eight Seconds, Skyscraper, Displacement, Palm Dreams

Least Favorite Tracks: New Halloween, Benediction

Rating: 77 / 100

Taking Back Sunday - Tidal Wave

Alternative rock is a great genre - my personal favorite. The saddest thing to see in such a great genre is when bands put the absolutely standard effort into their releases, trying to boost sales and appeal by doing the absolute minimum. You can imagine the disappointment when Taking Back Sunday's new album Tidal Wave has little if any innovation, or even an attempt at getting out of their comfort zone.

In such an extensive and massively populated genre, you need one of two things to succeed in it: either something different in your sound or a following that you got at the start of one of the genres movements. Taking Back Sunday followed the second of the two, their formation in 1999 and their post-hardcore roots gaining them a following as they evolved from the screamo mainstream to alternative rock.

It doesn't seem to have done them any favors as far as Tidal Wave is concerned. Seeing progression like that from a band is always great, but it needs something to it, or else it just seems like they're selling out and doing it for the money. This album starts off with promise in 'Death Wolf', a big beginning to the record that does sound pretty standard as it progresses. The rock vibes are evident within the verses and chorus, creating momentum and setting the tone of the album. The title track 'Tidal Wave' follows suit, carrying the momentum and tone forward in much the same way the previous track did. It's almost hard to differentiate the two songs, them being so similar and appearing consecutively.

It's excusable to have a few tracks that have a familiar sound, but the line has to be drawn when the music has little, if anything to offer that'll pique your interest. There are lots of tracks that have little pieces in them that may perk your ears at the start, but don't follow through with the new ideas: 'Fences' has sweet strings in its intro, but are replaced by guitars until the bridge, which sounds weak in comparison to the bustling guitars that formed the verses and choruses, 'Call Come Running' has synths in the intro that just don't sound right in the context of a song that's otherwise pretty good, if not for the odd dissonance, and 'I'll Find A Way To Make It What You Want', the album's closing track, with potential to be one of the album's best with its engrossing intro and massive ending, is ruined by the awful drumming at the end. It has no rhythm to it, it's just a "hit things on each beat until its over" deal.

There are some good tracks on the album yet. 'I Felt It Too' is a very sweet song, not plagued by brickwalled guitars (seriously, this album is loud and clips horrifically) and the monotonous vocals. Instead, it's a clean track that builds into a big epic moment that ends right before it climaxes in just the right way. It's as if the emotions of the song are about to spill over and let loose, but it's held back by remembering the message of the song. 'We Don't Go In There' is a song that begins on a peaceful acoustic guitar before evolving into a powerful, anthemic rock track. This is alternative rock done correctly.

Tidal Wave is the band's seventh album, but it sounds like they have a long way to go before they crack the surface of true success. This album has less substance (and even less quality with the horrible mastering) and a heavy commercial influence laced in it. It's simply just boring as a whole. It's good moments are there, but everything else is highly unmemorable. Better luck next time.

Favorite Tracks: We Don't Go In There, I Felt It Too

Least Favorite Tracks: You Can't Look Back, In The Middle Of It All, Holy Water

Rating: 56 / 100

Usher - Hard II Love

Usher is a household name all around the world. He's earned it - his brand of R&B blended with pop has made him a sensation. You know you've made it in pop when you're a coach on The Voice. His eighth album Hard II Love is here, and you'd expect it to show a masterful show of his skills. Sadly, that's not the case.

Hard II Love is far from his magnum opus. If anything, it might be one of the weakest records in his discography. This sprouts from nothing more than the fact that the album is just plain underwhelming. Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra says on an interlude following the abrupt ending to opening track 'Need U', "Everybody wants somebody that's got confidence. He should make me feel safe, make me laugh. Everything about him should feel sexy. His walk, his talk. He's gotta be effortless, you know? Not trying too hard." Unfortunately for Usher, he is literally the opposite of that.

It doesn't help that he puts on a bad-boy attitude immediately after that little conversation piece. You'd think something a little more sincere than "Everybody wants somebody that's got confidence. It's in her attitude, the way she walks, nice legs. She's gotta be beautiful. Nice thin waist, fat ass. Oh, and those soft little lips." That's exactly how the following track 'Missin U' begins, and the writing isn't any better than the start. The instrumental has some edge to it, which is good, but the writing is so blatantly uncreative and overly self-confident that it's just annoying to listen to.

These bad-boy attempts don't stop there. He's trying so desperately hard to be Drake on a lot of tracks. He even got Future on this album (on 'Rivals', which really isn't too bad). 'No Limit' sounds like a satire, though it's regrettably a very serious track. Instead of Future he has Young Thug on this song, and he's okay. It's encouraging to see Usher's hip-hop roots come back, but this isn't exactly the way for that to happen. He channels the most annoying sides of himself in the thick of the album; 'FWM' is just plain obnoxious (we've heard this song in about 300 different ways in the past). Just when you think his attitude could get worse, he drops the line "All I think about is bitches" in the most hilariously retrospective way he could've possibly delivered that line. Instead of saying something meaningful, he just revealed his own dickishness in one line.

There really isn't much to praise on this album. There are some sweet moments, some okay moments, but everything's swallowed in a storm of bad moments. 'Downtime' is the one song that's wholly enjoyable, its sweet vibes and ending harmonies making something beautiful that gives the song a surreal feeling. The background vocals of the chorus are lo-fi add a lot of dimension to the atmospheric piano, the great chorus leading into a brilliant set of vocal harmonies that make way for a hip-hop influenced second verse. The song ends with that beautiful array of harmonies and the pulsing bass synth, ending the song on a blissful note.

That song is the only one that's strong from start to finish. Maybe "strong" isn't the right word... "evocative" is more correct. Lots of the tracks have their good moments, but they all fall short in some way or another. It's hard to find these moments between standard and forgettable tracks like 'Crash'. 'Tell Me' towards the end of the record has a great build up... but that build up happens over the course of eight minutes. It's way too slow of a build up to justify it being eight minutes; its like he didn't understand how to make the song progress in a fashion that he wanted it, so he spread it out for a long time so he could get what he wanted. There's some nice guitar in the title track 'Hard II Love', but again it doesn't amount to anything. The album's ending is perhaps the most anti-climactic song of all; 'Champions', the album's lead up single, closes it out, and the potentially great and chilled experiment becomes the worst possible ending this already boring album could have.

Usher is the R&B king. That begs the question: what happened here? Why is Hard II Love so... hard to love? Usher got too cocky. It's not right to assume his personality, or anyone's, for that matter, but he builds his own image of himself on this record, and it's not kind. It's trite and downright boring. Usher may be losing his crown soon.

Favorite Track: Downtime

Least Favorite Tracks: Mind Of A Man, FWM, Champions, Need U

Rating: 42 / 100 

Psychic Twin - Strange Diary

Everyone loves channeling the 80s in electronica nowadays. There's something in that warm nostalgia that really brings something out of its listener. However, there's a fine line between a sweet nostalgia and just boring and unoriginal. That's the trap Psychic Twin falls into on their debut record, which beams with hope but doesn't amount to much.

The duo currently consists of vocalist Erin Fein and drummer Rosana Caban, a strong pair, but this lineup wasn't achieved without lots of error. Their debut Strange Diary was a long work in progress - written when Fein was in the process of divorce. Written on the group's Facebook page is an introduction of sorts to the record, which states: "In dreams, we rarely know what we are running from or toward. We only know we must keep running, continue searching... Strange Diary lives in that state of surreal urgency. What’s in front of us or behind us can’t be described, but we are sure in our bones that what we are searching for exists just a few steps away. "

Fein reprimands - and sometimes begs for - an anonymous "you" in plenty of songs, and while it's not certain who it's about, it seems to point in the direction of a lover whom she was with or desires to find. This is most evident in 'Strangers', a song released in 2013 as a single that has found its home at the beginning of the record.

There's a surreal urgency, as they put it, in this album, and it's clearest in that song, with the spiraling synth arpeggios providing a pulsating flow. It's lyrics croon to the mysterious "you", the chorus explaining, "I know the way that I lie awake for hours / And you don't even know the night is all I have / But even when we build these mighty towers / I know that we can take them down again." "You" is the force that's keeping her up.

The sad thing is, this album essentially lives off of that sentiment. There's not much to discuss as far as song meanings go - it's all just the standard songs of love and desire, without any memorable lines or melodies to justify them. The middle chunk of the record is boring as a whole, from the wobbly synths of 'Stop In Time' to the lackluster 'Hopeless', there really isn't much to stick around for. It's a collection of dream pop songs with occasional sweet synths but no punches.

Psychic Twin seems to have been driven too much by their heartbreak to be focussed on anything else but that. Breakup albums are always good, but those have some emotional punch to them. Strange Diary is very monotonous and overall just boring. There's not much more to say about it. If you like minimal dream pop above love songs with lo-fi vocals, this'll be a great album for you. If you're looking for something unique and memorable, you may want to keep searching.

Favorite Track: Strangers

Least Favorite Tracks: Unlock Yr Heart, Stop In Time Hopeless, Stop In Time

Rating: 57 / 100

July Talk - Touch

Without blues, there would not be rock today as we know it. There are plenty of bands who combine the roots of rock with their modern flair - Alabama Shakes being a prime example. What's rarer to see than a blues rock band is a rock band with a tenor singer singing in that raspy blues and jazz tone that was the signature of Louis Armstrong.

That rare, if not unique combination can be found in Canadian rock n' roll outfit July Talk. They've just released their sophomore album Touch, and it begs the question as to why this band doesn't get more attention. Their sound is something truly special.

Going into Touch, you don't expect to her that raspy tenor powerfully leading the tracks. The beautiful thing about July Talk is their seamless combination of blues and rock. Kicking off with the groovy 'Picturing Love', the intro number really sets the pace for a rocking record. It starts in an understated manner, a strong drum beat followed by some keys. Suddenly, the magic of Peter Dreimanis' vocals kick in and you know something brilliant is ahead. Dreimanis' voice is powerful and bassy, yet is contrasted by the sweet and strong voice of Leah Fay throughout the record, providing for lots of color. The relationship between the two vocalists' voices becomes clearer in 'Beck + Call' where the two come together in a stunning manner.

Even though it's so easy to get lost in the voices, the instrumentals cannot be ignored. The aforementioned 'Beck + Call' is pure rock n' roll with its big guitars. Some songs exhibit a punkier attitude, such as 'So Sorry' towards the end of the record, booming with Leah Fay's challenging tone and the wild guitars. It's bridge is something else - the instrumental comes to a halt as Fay and Dreimanis sing under a palm muted guitar as the song builds back up to a giant explosion. 'Lola + Joseph' also has an absolutely immense instrumental, the brass section just as influential as its guitars. The deep brass really accent each chord with a definitive presence that you can't be indifferent to. It's so good. Softer moments are also present on the record - the pianos and smooth bass lead to dreamy strings and synths in 'Strange Habits' giving it a chilled back and ethereal vibe while still remaining memorable.

The best part of this album is definitely its vocals, but everything works together in a very amazing way. It's as if each element of the song is the support for another, in a form of musical symbiosis. The vocals are just like guitars, the higher register held onto by Fay while Dreimanis handles the low-end. The lyrics are something else, too. Single 'Push + Pull' expresses the duality of a volatile relationship, the chorus ethereally stating, "We're used to the night that leaves us unstable / We're used to the night, we take more than we're able / We're used to the night or whatever's on the table." There's also 'Jesus Said So', which is a huge bashing of modern culture. Through slamming words such as "White babies cry / On reality TV / Plastic surgery disaster / Inherit obesity" and the provocative imagery of "
The cops put men in cars / Drove them out into the snow / Find women's bodies in the rivers / But nobody seems to know", it really leaves a lot to wonder about.

The final track, the eponymous 'Touch' is a brilliant conclusion to the album. It's not an upfront track like a lot of the other big tracks were, but it instead builds into one wallowing crescendo of moody noise. The bluesy piano licks that repeat themselves from start to finish back the harmonies between Dreimanis and Fay, while the drums slowly build into the song's climax, bringing a thousand voices together for one big closure.

Touch is an album you can't really understand until you see it through. All you can tell is that it's something unique and strong. July Talk is only on their second album but sound like they've been together for decades, their sound so crisp and knowing. It's a musical astonishment. This band deserves more attention than their reputation for crazy live shows has garnered. They deserve worldwide fame

Favorite Tracks: Beck + Call, Lola + Joseph, Touch, Picturing Love

Least Favorite Track: Johnny + Mary

Rating: 86 / 100

Twin Atlantic - GLA

Part of your home will always be inside you. The environment of where you were raised built you. Your idea of home is what it taught you. Music tends to shape the culture of many places across the world. Twin Atlantic hoped to thank their home of Glasgow, Scotland in their newest album, GLA.

GLA is Twin Atlantic's fourth record, so their sound has been honed and it's very clear that they know how to own it. Right off the bat, you're thrown into 'Gold Elephant: Cherry Alligator' with it slamming beat and big guitars. Sam McTrusty's vocals aren't perfect, but they're just the right amount of imperfect that it adds that punk flair to the track without it being able to be brushed off as lazy or unprofessional. The bridge builds up epically, McTrusty's vocals and a thick bassline being the only sound as the elements of the song come back together for one big explosion to the end the track.

There's just the right amount of punk on this record to give it that extra punch as a whole. Huge, crunchy riffs dominate a lot of the tracks on the album. 'No Sleep' has a big riff that brings the chorus together into a big rock uproar. Crunchy guitars are the signature of 'You Are The Devil', as well. 'I Am Alive' has choruses with soaring vocals above massive bassy riffs, the groovy track climaxing with that huge riff that reprises itself throughout. An anthemic presence can be found in 'Overthinking' within its big choruses, as well as in 'The Chaser' and its epic guitar solo. The latter of two has a very big call-to-arms vibe in it, showing that the energy doesn't falter at any point of the record - it's incredibly consistent.

The softer moments of the record are just as brilliant as its most upfront moments. The acoustic 'A Scar To Hide' is the only track with a fully stripped-down instrumental. It's just an acoustic guitar, McTrusty's vocals, and an absolutely gorgeous orchestra backing it. There's not many songs that utilize strings on this record, which really is a shame considering how beautifully they implemented them in. 

The last song on the album isn't acoustic but it isn't the most upfront. 'Mother Tongue' uses just a crunchy guitar and eventually the beautiful orchestras of 'Scar'. It's an ode to Scotland, McTrusty singing about how powerful the band's bond is with their home country. Its lyrics are some of the most powerful on the record; while most of the album is focusses on pumping you up and building power, 'Mother Tongue' is the song that is the dedication to their home. It becomes powerfully apparent with the chorus, which chants, "I've been lonely / I've been holding out for days / I miss your spirit / I am more than just a name / Our blood runs deeper / Our blood runs soaked in our mistakes."

Twin Atlantic make it very apparent that their home is what shaped who they are. GLA is an album that really captures the sound of Scotland. It's rebellious yet still has a sense of pride throughout it. Its ending number sums it all up with powerful imagery, closing the record on a very personal note. It's up there in all the bests of the band's discography. There's a lot of heart in this record, and that's half of its charm.

Favorite Tracks: The Chaser, Mother Tongue, A Scar To Hide, Overthinking

Least Favorite Tracks: You Are The Devil, Missing Link

Rating: 79 / 100

Grouplove - Big Mess

Everyone needs a good album full of anthems to keep on repeat for a long car ride. Grouplove has delivered their third album Big Mess, and that album definitely fits the criteria. It's full of big moments and honest fun.

Grouplove has churned out indie tunes for years now. Big Mess is their third album, so they're no longer in that range of records with the high pressure on them. By the third album, most bands have found what works for them and can start really being themselves without needing to worry about the implications of their sound. That's very evident in Big Mess.

Right from the start, this album sounds like it has a very good understanding of what it wants accomplish. It opens with the synthy intro of 'Welcome To Your Life' that leads into a light verse with sweet vocals from Hannah Hooper before she trades off with Christian Zucconi who takes over with a country twang to his voice. The chorus explodes with a reckless abandon, and the bridge brings that energy one step further. The song ends bigger than it was at any point, powerchords strumming and vocals sounding high and mighty.

The album has a bit of rebelliousness to it. 'Do You Love Someone' might as well be a pop punk track, and Grouplove pulls off the sound better than most pop punk bands do. Zucconi belts out high and strong above the guitar. The final chorus explodes as Grouplove reaches the most anthemic sound they've pulled off since they started. Gang vocals reign huge in 'Cannonball' which give it an extra edge above the distorted basslines and keyboards, allowing it to sound absolutely giant.

This album isn't all jams and rebellion - there are some great softer moments on the record. 'Standing In The Sun' is a quieter track, beginning with acoustic guitar before building into a bigger feel-good rock track with an awesome guitar solo in the middle. It ends as sweetly as it began, with the rest of the instruments joining in for a peaceful jam to close out. 'Enlighten Me' progresses from a quiet piano intro and evolves into an epic electronic rock banger. The bridge of 'Traumatized' has a great quiet bridge that adds a nice contrast to its rocky interior. The album ends on a sweet track with 'Hollywood', too. It's almost comedic with the droopy trumpets, but takes the album on a light hearted note.

Grouplove has really owned their sound. Big Mess feels free and fresh no matter how many times you listen to it. It's relatable while still sounding upbeat, rebellious, and anthemic. It's more pop punk than most pop punk bands think they are, and that's saying something when this album is equally as indie rock as it can get. Big Mess isn't perfect, but it's a great record all around. There's a charm in that reckless abandon.

Favorite Tracks: Welcome To Your Life, Standing In The Sun, Enlighten Me, Traumatized

Least Favorite Track: Don't Stop Making It Happen

Rating: 74 / 100

Of Mice & Men - Cold World

If something in 2016 earns the privilege of being tagged as "nu metal", you know it's going to be a disaster. Of Mice & Men have done it. 2013's Restoring Force was a powerful and emotional record, full of anger and loss. You could feel its big moments bombarding you and you'd remember them vividly.

Their fourth album Cold World is not Restoring Force. It doesn't even sound like Of Mice & Men. It's a bunch of songs that bring to question where the line is drawn between "influenced by" and "copied from". It started with the lead single 'Pain' (see our review of it here), which basically ripped off the old sounds of Slipknot, probably so that they could appease the crowds of their opening slot with them. It only gets worse.

I've never heard an album where every song sounds like a carbon copy of a different artist. I'm really not sure what they were doing here. The album starts off with 'Game Of War', which is literally just a worse version of Puscifer's 'Grand Canyon'. It's an awful intro, too - it's four minutes long and incredibly underwhelming. 'Real' features Austin Carlile singing, which is cool, if it wasn't clearly trying to be a heavier version of Minutes To Midnight-era Linkin Park. Maybe the boys spent a little too much time with them on tour in 2014... There's also the complete mess of a Limp Bizkit song with 'Relentless'. It's the most nu-metal thing to be released since nu-metal died. That is not good.

To it's credit, it's not completely horrible. Just mostly. 'Like A Ghost', the one track on the album I can actually say has some substance. Aaron Pauley's singing in the verses are a bit odd (it sounds like he's trying to imitate Marilyn Manson), but Austin Carlile screams powerfully in the background as he sings, making those powerful accentuations that made a lot of the vocals on Restoring Force so great. It's the first energy with raw energy, too, but it's a bit too late. By the time you get to this song you've already lost hope in the album. At least the interlude '+' has nice strings.

When the band isn't copying another, the tracks are just painfully average. There is absolutely nothing special in songs like 'Down The Road' and 'Away'. They're boring. They don't even have the quality of another band for fans of that particular band to enjoy. The album ends on 'Transfigured', sounding like even they gave up on this record. Where is the soul of the album? What happened?

It doesn't feel right to assign blame to any band member; after all, an album has to be a team effort. But it's hard to ignore the overwhelming presence of Aaron Pauley on the album. It feels like he took this album over. It has his sweet singing parts that featured in a few tracks on Restoring Force (most of which were really great) and gives himself a part in almost every song. It feels less like an Of Mice & Men record and more like a demo CD of a solo Pauley record. His highlights on Restoring Force were so good because they were refreshments between brutal screaming and metal tracks. Now that he's in literally every song, it's hard to enjoy his voice, which is a true shame. Of Mice & Men has Austin Carlile for a reason, and it's not to make him sing. It's to let his screams make the music stronger and more vivid. Why silence him?

Cold World feels like a step in the wrong direction. It's hard to even call it an Of Mice & Men record - it sounds like Aaron Pauley featuring a backing band and a guest screamer sometimes. It's a sad and boring record. It's nu-metal moments don't help, either. Of Mice & Men had finally found their signature sound, and after building on it for a single album, they dropped it almost completely. The only response I have to this record is a question: why?

Favorite Track: Like A Ghost

Least Favorite Tracks: Relentless, Down The Road, Transfigured, Away

Rating: 52 / 100