Hollywood Undead - Swan Songs

This is Hollywood Undead's first full album release and has been much anticipated. They became an overnight success on myspace about 3 or 4 years ago and since then has been probably the most referred to 'scene band', they were probably the first real 'Hip-Hop'/'Screamo' band, though more have been following in their footsteps over the past few years. Their style is rather original and combines rhymes as well as screams, and bass as well as guitar riffs. The lyrical content is extremely fun, as long as you don't want to take them seriously. They do have some songs focused on somewhat pressing issues, but there are plenty which sound like stereo-typical 'Mtv hip-hop' coupled with some humorous lines.

This album begins with the song 'Undead' which is a good summary of their sound, hip-hop versus coupled with a chorus with screaming and a few guitar riffs. Track 2 is called "Sell Your Soul" and is personally my favourite song of theirs, which holds more true to their older style with a more screamo feeling with an amazing chorus. 3 is entitled 'Everywhere I go' and consists of the opening line "Everywhere I go, Bitches always know that Charlie Scene has got a winnie that he loves to show" coupled with their usual 'man-slut' attitude, one of their more humorous songs. Other songs include 'Bottle and a gun', another really amazing sounding song; 'California' which will quickly be a favourite for those living on that side of the West Coast. As well as 'Paradise Lost'.

If you have been a fan of the older Hollywood Undead stuff I would recommened you give this new album a listen as it's still bringing in plenty of elements from the style with some slightly improved rhyming and catchier tunes. And for those of you who have no heard them yet, you can go stream some stuff from their myspace.

www.myspace.com/hollywoodundead

Alkaline Trio - Agony And Irony

Alkaline Trio has always added a unique feel to the pop punk genre, though some fans will try to keep the words 'pop' away from them. Their subject matter has always been on the dark and gloomy side with plenty of emotion.Many punks will feel Alkaline Trios sound is too clean cut and pure, while some pop punk fans will find their lyrics too dark.If you like good lyrics written with both heart and talent then Alkaline Trio is for you. If you want a slightly less pop sounding Alkaline Trio you can buy some of their old records (Goddamnit) which while they still have a generally clear cut sound, are some what more 'punky'.Alkaline Trio definitely bring a feeling of the emo genre to their music with their logo design being able to be the poster for the word 'emo'.

Agony & Irony keeps the same melodic sound which has become apparent in Alkaline Trio's later releases. 'Calling All Skeletons' is a classic example of Alkaline Trio's sound.Personally I preferred 'Crimson', but this album seems to bring plenty of mixed reactions, with some fans loving it and some fans preferring the other albums.If you are a fan of the albums Alkaline Trio have put out in the recent years this album is recommended for you, and for those of you who still haven't heard Alkaline Trio I suggest you go stream some stuff off myspace and give them a listen.

www.myspace.com/alkalinetrio

Bring Me The Horizon - Count Your Blessings

This band is very controversial, as the band actually offers nothing extraordinary and sounds like every generic metalcore band.The band's primary source of fans seems to be the vocalist 'Oliver Sykes' who has become somewhat the poster boy for scene males.The truth is that without Oliver Sykes the band's popularity would be a lot less famous and there would be a lot less girls with "BMTH" t-shirts on.Think of Oliver Sykes as your average myspace scene kid with 50 000 friends, who plays in a band and has a line of girls waiting to sleep with him.

The band consists of various screams and growls, typical for your generic metalcore band. To be quite frank the genre of hardcore has taken quite a beating in recent years with plenty of misconceptions.Bring Me The Horizon is definitely not a hardcore band, don't get that wrong.The vocals are not that great and is often muffled out by the guitar riffs and sound like a distant scream, as if he isn't close enough to the mic at times.

But on the other hand, if a generic metalcore sounding band which can help bring you scene points is what you are after, this is the album you want.But do note, if your intentions are to buy an album with good lyrical content and something fresh within the metalcore genre, this is definitely not it.Some of the lyrics are really bad, although to be fair I don't think you'll hear the lyrics unless you are reading them off a website while listening to the song.The album is filled with breakdowns almost everywhere they could fit one in, if you want to sound hard and scare some parents (Or little kids) jam this album loud while driving in a car, you'll definitely see some heads turning.The album gets 105% for scene style, but about 65% for musical talent, but some people will definitely like this album.

www.myspace.com/bmth

Dead Poetic - Vices

One of the more interesting post-hardcore style bands, though they have been called an emo, screamo and even hardcore.Their older album "New Medicine" is actually one of my favourite albums and had some really cool tracks on it.The lyrics were deep and the melody was catchy.The band had a fairly decent punky sound on New Medicine.

The new album 'Vices' seems to stray away from the post-hardcore and emo feel that the previous album had, and now seems to be far more closer to rock than to punk.It's not a bad album musically, but if I had to suggest one of their albums I would tell you to get New Medicine.And if you have already heard New Medicine, don't expect the same emotional vibe from this album.

The riffs aren't nearly as catchy as New Medicine and the vocals seem to somewhat lack the feeling one looks for.So if you like post-hardcore I'd suggest you check out Dead Poetic's 'New Medicine', if you are on the rock side of things you may even like this album.

www.myspace.com/deadpoetic

Dear Whoever - Sound The Trumpet

Another band that I personally really enjoy, though they tend to get a lot of shit from those who don't enjoy the typical screamo style of music.The band's production quality is not very good but I enjoy that about it, it somewhat fits in well and it sounds like something you find after searching myspace for unknown bands that actually sound good.

The lyrics may lack somewhat from more in-depth bands who use a number of clever metaphors, but they are better than Bring Me The Horizon's lyrics.The screaming is not the best but it is certainly not the worst you will hear and the vocals are not professional sounding, but if you want to listen to an enjoyable screamo band without wanting it to sound like it's ready for Mtv2, this band can provide what you want to hear.

There isn't any other albums of theirs to compare this to as it's their only album, and is actually an EP.So that's all there really is to say, thankfully with the wonders of the internet you don't have to spend your money on something you may actually not enjoy.Listen to their stuff on myspace and make up your own decision.

www.myspace.com/dearwhoever