Opener “Genesis” serves as the generic programming-filled/breakdown-clustered intro, and it doesn’t take off to ginormous lengths. Thankfully, things immediately change course with “The Oath.” This song has a dominating chorus, and the drums play a big part into making this song so good, courtesy of drummer Joe English. It’s because of an impressive series of drum fills near the bridge that totally took me by surprise. Also, I must admit there are more original moments elsewhere, but for such a young band they are expected to be given a free pass. “Somewhere In Hiding” is a song I was familiar with because of their PureVolume page, and this version is still as good as the original. Great hook, infectious vocals- definitely has the pump-your-fist type of mood.

Quickly bouncing around from more melody and clean vocal-influenced songs (See “Melodies” or “The Best You Can’t Be”), it’s obvious this band has a strong hold on melody (insert song title pun here). Of course, you will find your straight-up monsters of breakdowns and in-your-face raw yells all over the place (See “40 Below” or “Blindside”). Every so often though, the two are combined in mega catchy ways. “You Look Good In Plastic” demonstrates this well, with a strong fuck you attitude. “The Hardest Part” is a jab at a love song, and although nice, it falls short in terms of latch-able hooks to showcase their dynamic. “The Ascent” is one of their best songs in my opinion, and I’m glad it is the closer. It is serious lyrically, talking about losing one’s self to alcohol addiction and then finding strength to fight it (guess I’m not the man I wanna be/the bar’s my only friend, and it’s killing me). It is uplifting, and it’s nice to see that change of pace.

In general, this is an album that is similar to a lot of albums out right now, but shows signs of progression and improvement. Let’s put it this way: the secret’s out. They have ability and on their next record I’m looking forward to a more progressive sound within the crowded genre.

Being around longer than a good number of bands shoving their way through the scene now-a-days, these guys know a thing or two about solid music. “Lies” is a track boasting a pure infectious hook, slathered together with solid instrumentation courtesy of the whole band. What I love about this song is its depth wrapped in such a simple package. What I mean is that although it contains the simple verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge structure, the transitions are what make it flow. There are little breaks of short instrumentation here and there to stop choppy transitions. Nick Moore is a shining beacon here, because the line “I know you’re dying inside/the things that you hide/won’t let you rest at night/when you’re full of lies” in the chorus is as catchy as the common cold. There’s a pleasant balance of screams and cleans, and it never feels overpowering.

I like the controlled chaos approach that this band takes to their heavy parts, because they never take the inch and push it to a mile. There’s enough original instrumentation in the background to separate itself from other “chug-chug” styles of post-hardcore, but it could always go further. It doesn’t stray too far from previous material, so old fans will likely dig this track. I’m definitely hoping for more instrumentation and creative expression further down the road. Otherwise, this is a great start and I’ve got my fingers crossed for smooth sailing here on out.

I’ve had my doubts because of the success of The Dawn of My Death and Before Their Eyes, but I can say based off of this song that their upcoming release Redemption should be a tongue-in-cheek reference to a well-deserved return.

What do you guys think? Let us know in the comments section below!

“Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space” is the return of a raw, bombastic Every Time I Die, slathered in dissonant melody and Keith Buckley’s prominent growl. From the opening shout of ‘I want to be dead with my friends’, the track never gives an inch, pushing forward with the intent of punishing your eardrums with crunching guitars and trade-offs of driving drums and a blitz of snare drum-laden choruses. We journey through several passages of manic guitars and drums, though sandwiched near the center is a clean-vocal led break in the action that brings just as much heat instrumentally to keep the energy moving.

The track finishes off with a slowed breakdown that is sure to incite riots when played live, as Buckley’s ending lines of ‘I refuse to be the only man put to rest in a mass grave’ and ‘You are all there with me’ gives off a feeling of urgency and relates in a way to the arguably disturbing, but quite fitting nature of the music video the band has released to coincide with this track.

Rest assured, whether you are a fan of Every Time I Die new or old, this is the track to start your year – and anticipation for their new record Ex Lives – off right.

Buffalo’s magnificently brutal metallic punk ensemble Every Time I Die are set to unleash brand new album titled Ex Lives this March 6th via Epitaph Records. The new album was produced by renowned heavy rock producer Joe Baressi (The Melvins, Queens of the Stone Age, Parkway Drive) and offers an unrelenting onslaught of ingeniously composed and furiously executed cathartic hardcore.

This is the band’s highly anticipated follow up to 2009’s raging masterwork New Junk Aesthetic which Absolute Punk heralded as a musical “weapon of mass destruction” and Allmusic.com described as “the group further refining its signature approach with a new sonic clarity – energized and passionate, delivering its blend of old and new sounds with a directness that gives the ferocious music an unusually broad appeal.”

You can now watch a video for the song “Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space” from the new album. The powerful clip was directed by the band’s vocalist and lyricist Keith Buckley and features a barrage of startling visceral images which perfectly match the raging brutality of the track. As Buckley explains, “In order to write lyrics I had to pay attention to the defeatism that the music suggested. To compile this video I had to acknowledge the masochism I wrote of to myself. You don’t get rewarded for your faith and you don’t get celebrated for your heroism. Just when you find yourself attached, you have lost it. Everything is borrowed. C’est la vie.”

Every Time I Die’s new album Ex Lives is currently available for pre-order at: www.ex-lives.com.

Being different doesn’t make us any different. It might not be the mantra of UK-based electro-rockers Enter Shikari, but the ups-and-downs of its career thus far, including the lead-up to the band’s third full-length, A Flash Flood of Colour, would probably suggest otherwise. Though the band has a knack for lacing post-hardcore with lashes of techno, house and yes, even dubstep, the four boys from Hertfordshire find themselves in a particularly interesting situation this time around. Even as they sit in a chilly green room high up in Royal Oak Music Theatre’s staircase labyrinth, the feeling of warmth has seemingly been replaced with one of both internal and external excitement.

“We’re not used to being the lighter sounding band on the bill,” jokes Shikari bassist Chris Batten as he and vocalist/electronics master Rou Reynolds share a seemingly cozy, although noticeably worn couch. Enter Shikari is on their second to last date as support on the Dead Throne Tour, alongside The Devil Wears Prada, Whitechapel and For Today – a tour that has, according to the band, served them well.

“I think it’s kind of gone beyond what we expected,” says Reynolds, of the crowds who are beginning to hear a mix of old favorites and cuts from Colour. “Not that we ever sort of consciously sat down and thought ‘Well I think this bit will do well and this bit won’t’, but “Arguing with Thermometers” in particular, we haven’t released that yet, we’ve only released “Sssnakepit” and that seems to be going down really well live. If they’re singing the lyrics back already then they must have just been trolling YouTube or something.”

It is interesting to see that while the two are certainly parts of a whole, Reynolds is eager to point out the characteristics of the track – “It’s very sort of specific, different types of sounds. The parts in it are all quite different, so it’s quite immediate as a song so it works well live” – Batten’s reassurance is equally just as warming.

“It’s exciting for us, you know, that that’s going down well live, it does give us a really great feeling that people are going to enjoy the album.”

Enter Shikari’s journey to a third record started with a trip to Thailand, where they bunkered down with Dan Weller (ex-SikTH) to record and program the essentially already written tracks for A Flash Flood of Colour. Enter Shikari’s relationship with Weller has some roots to it though. Besides living in the same area as Enter Shikari, Weller did guitar production on the band’s last record Common Dreads and produced “Destabilize” and “Quelle Surprise,” both stand-alone singles from the band.

“Just having someone with a similar age as us, who comes from the same place, who we work well with together, who loves experimenting, and he let us do what we wanted – he just kind of put it all together,” says Batten.

The experience itself seemed different as well according to Batten. Quick to point out a level of comfort from the band actually having the desired time to complete the record this time around, Batten says the band’s preparations prior to recording also helped guide the recording process. “We set ourselves up at the beginning of the year, we took off three or four months for writing. By the time we went to Thailand, we had pretty much the songs all demoed and written, we knew what we needed to do, we just had to focus on making everything sound as great as possible. A lot of times we would experiment and it was just really exciting and refreshing.”

But for a band known more for trying to turn the tables rather than playing it safe, what’s to be expected of Enter Shikari this time around, given what we’ve heard from the trio of tracks already surfaced from Colour – “Sssnakepit”, “Arguing with Thermometers” and “Gandhi Mate, Gandhi”?

“I think people expect from us these days is what we’ve always done, which is not be afraid of anything really. I think they expect us to be kind of experimental and change a lot within our sound because that’s what we’ve always done,” says Batten, of the general idea of Colour. On a slightly different scale, Reynolds, aside from pointing out an increase of software as opposed to hardware and reusing much of the same equipment for electronics as he did with Common Dreads, recalls the structuring of the album as literally nonexistent. “This was probably the first album where we didn’t pay much attention to how it flowed as a whole. We didn’t worry about getting from one song to the next. Just gave us a bit more freedom to work on each song, just sort of by itself.”

Those who have listened to the already released cuts from Colour can hear Reynolds with a revitalized, often ‘call-to-arms’ mentality in the lyricism of “Gandhi Mate, Gandhi,” a notion he says is sparked from the intention of trying to create something, whether it was in 2007’s Take to the Skies or the newer material, that is both global and inclusive. “We always try and write things that work on a global scale. I don’t think we write anything specifically about Britain. That’s kind of conscious because we believe most of the problems today, the roots, the foundations of the floors are sort of systemic. They involve the way the whole world works, so I don’t think anything is specific to Britain. Obviously, a lot of the first and second album were mostly about unity and there’s so many things out there today that are just trying to divide us, or trying to use us to divide one another and fear one another, whether it’s religion or race or patriotism, nationalism. We’re just sort of trying to rebalance the scales and say ‘Look guys, we’re all one species, we’re all family, we’re all just people wanting the same things.’ It’s about time we started working together and were more cooperative, which is obviously the same sort of message that we’re seeing in the Occupy movement, and we’re seeing in the Zeitgeist movement. Things are finally starting to look like they’re going somewhere.”

Yet, as the band plans to emerge with a new album just after the beginning of a new year, their plans don’t stop there. With plenty of touring already in the works, fans who missed the opportunity to see them this time around are in for a real treat in the upcoming months. “We’re doing a headliner in April and May,” says Reynolds, “it will be our first, proper, full North American headlining tour. It’s been ages coming, we’re excited. It’s our first chance to do the Enter Shikari show properly, going to bring our lighting rig and everything.” Besides that, the band has plans to be in Australia for several dates of Soundwave, as well as some UK and mainland Europe dates in the books. Truth be told, it’s going to be a busy year for Enter Shikari – though Reynolds seems rather unphased by it.

“I’m sure it’ll be our downfall one day, but we’re not a very organized band, and we don’t really look to the future in any way whatsoever. We’ve never really set ourselves any goals. We’re not hugely ambitious. So, nothing really of what we do is very conscious. We just try to take it each day as it comes.”

When I spin an album for the first time, I almost expect that kind of “perfection”, and when I reluctantly hit play on English metal band Archetype’s first track “Tinnitus” from their EP, simply titled, well, E.P., this was definitely the case. What blasted through my wonderful Macbook Pro speakers, however, was muddy, distorted, poorly produced brilliance, and I couldn’t be happier about this fact. Archetype represents the theory that production simply isn’t everything, and at some point, you have to rely on good, old-fashioned talent to make a moving, cohesive piece of music, which is exactly what E.P. manages to be.

“Tinnitus” the explosive opener, displays the band at their finest, mixing sounds of The Chariot and Glassjaw together, while successfully creating their own authentic sound that is both powerfully insane and intricately melodic. “Desolate” follows this same pattern, but features a fantastic vocal delivery from Bean Mckinlay, who’s able to expertly shine on both clean and unclean vocals. The musicianship on “Bada Bing” is staggering; the drumming from Nathan Garratt, fueled by the all-over-the-place guitars from Tommy Snowden and Ali Stacey is a marvel in itself.

E.P. is definitely over before you know it, but it simply demands replay after wonderful replay. The production (I obviously enjoyed the rawness of it) may throw some people off, but it’d be a shame for any metal or hardcore punk fan to turn away from this album because of that alone. After all, this is only the first building block being set in place, and the band has already found a method that just clicks together so well. Archetype may be young and new, but with a few tweaks and a decent producer (I’m aware you need this to succeed and reach a larger crowd, unfortunately) they could really blow up here in the States. Even if this is not their eventual goal, I’m a better music listener for having found Archetype. While they may not be perfect, it’s the imperfections that bring out their greatest quality: unfiltered, unlimited, good old-fashioned talent.

This collection of abrasive tyranny and cold concrete aggression, called the Seas EP, shows their furious reality in multiple lights. Taking charge with opener “Foundations,” a muffled spoken word intro gives way into a punishing guitar riff before the disenchanted roar of vocalist Nabil Sanaullah comes pushing and shoving its way through the mix. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill hardcore we’ve come to expect; it doesn’t follow the path of typicality most other bands that dominate the scene do. It beats down on you, verse to verse, with gorgeous harmonies floating in the background near the end. For many this will take some growing and harboring appreciation, but I can see it immediately; these guys are diverse and full of tricks.

The album title track is a morose and depressing interlude, but it is constructed with great melody and impressive programming. It suddenly changes pace when cutting into “The Surface.” Its intro is fast, belligerent and ruthless. Reminding me of older Architects material, it doesn’t stop. What I love about this song in particular is how well these guys change from non-stop thrash to beautiful cleans in completely unexpected positions. Another thing I’ve noticed is their total open-mindedness in doing what works. Take for example the next track “Tabula Rasa.” It has a two-minute long instrumental section that in some ways is dissonant, featuring off-the-cuff percussion and strange melody. Just as quickly as it comes though, it warps into this beautiful singing verse that seems to rise out of (pun intended) the sea. It isn’t heavy like the previous numbers, but its gritty overtone serves a dynamic purpose with the vocals.

Now before you think it’s all mellowed out, check back in because they aren’t finished yet. “To The Beginning” is the closer this EP needs. It beats your face in with no filler, and no bullshit. Again, not following the typical format for such a sparse release, it’s a welcome sound. It rivets back and forth from fast to slow brutality, but its common theme remains the same throughout. With no pause for breath, the song ends as quickly as it began; was that the best move? I personally would have loved to see more instrumentation, but all in all I was very impressed by what I found here.

For such a young group, this is a record to take notice at. They’ve got the elements to lay down a solid force, now they need to run with it and show everyone what they’re made of. This EP is the groundwork; it’s time for them to build the walls of their impending success, as long as they continue with what they’ve shown us here.

It’s hard to find an album that has so much depth to it. The brooding, growing, and twisted sense of cathartics that echo from its vast well of sounds is astounding. This is an art record, born to help differentiate between depth and shallow. It is not meant to be interpreted as anything less, and it is rooted in the atmospheric integrity of its predecessors, plus a few changes. It’s a long listen, clocking in at over 50 minutes in the span of seven songs. Make sure to be prepared for what’s in store.

When I got this record, I placed it in the most thought provoking and solitude-inducing environment I could think of: a long drive at night in the middle of nowhere. I adjusted the various frequencies in my stereo so I could feel the broad spectrum of sounds. At full listening capability, I pressed play and took a journey beginning with “Calm.” The gain-filled sound that they are known for immediately crushes my eardrums. I feel the tension that bellows eloquently, as it rivets back and forth from thick and fuzzy guitar strums and vicious yells, to the soothing singing that promotes such complacent thought (“If truth is what we truly seek, then strike us blind/because we all refuse to let these scales fall from our eyes”).

It flows smoothly into the next track, “Out of Ruin, Misery,” a slow-burner, which starts slowly with gritty yells and sparse ambiance. It has a bleak feeling, much like the apocalypse if such reality was ever presented. It ebbs and flows, and casts a gloomy fog of post-rock and metalcore. The whole album is exactly like this, ebbing and flowing in one consistent motion. The clean vocals that pop in near the 5:45 mark are gorgeous, with a feathery harmony and falsetto overtones. From here, you can tell how much work went into crafting something as textured and dissonant as this. “Firewind” will fit snugly in the heart of any fan of Realis. Much like “First Light of Dawn,” it is as compelling as it is ambient. For a while it drifts through light kicks and hits on the cymbals, while guitars ring in and out through pockets of sound until venturing off into a breezy, clean vocal section. It reaches a blast point near the end where a swelling vibe takes the listener into another tense confrontation.

This album is not an easy listen; it takes an open auditory complex to approach it. All of these songs have long intros before getting into their groove, but that does not make them any less beautiful. “Tides” is one of the best songs on the album, because it features a few more hooks to grapple on to. The screaming that carries it along is so strong and emotional, it’s hard not to get swept along with it. It is gut-wrenchingly deep, and is cathartic for anyone who needs an escape. I invite you to listen closely, with no further foreshadowing on this one. “The House Where You Were Born,” albeit shorter, delivers its intentions with a gripping grasp on poetic storytelling and unsettling questioning. The melody trapped inside is so eerie and withering, I can just picture the room being dim while the crowd stares in awe as they play this live. Vocally, the higher register vocals dominate the perfectly placed execution. It is one that will induce many chills.

While the heavier moments on this album are few, “Weaved” is the self-confessed slow-burner of the epic, drifting along with lots of pauses and chances for breath. Take a listen to the impeccable harmonies that make their stance right by the 4:25 mark. I felt goosebumps on every inch of my skin the first time that hit my ears. Coming to the destructive closer “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” I can feel the band teetering on the brink of something huge. Beginning with an almost whispery clean guitar melody that drives it, the chaos finally begins about three minutes in. It is a controlled chaos that feels neat rather than messy. The ending is utterly electrifying in a sense of inner conflict, and I’ll leave it to you to experience that.

The only real fault with this record is its attachable-ness. Because of its depth and magnitude of layers, consumers with the urge to listen to music for the face value and rushed expectations will find something boring and too long. For those of you who appreciate music for more than this, I present to you real musical art. Although I do wish there was bit more “heaviness” in terms of less ambiance and more vocally-involved music, when it comes to this band, what they do works. Encompassed here is a work of art that combines melodic brutality with catharsis, harmony and inner peace. Get ready. This is a progressive step in the right direction. Releasing this new record on the cusp of the new year brings proves one thing: they really do save the best for last.

Mind Equals Blown staffer Shaun Tan recently had the opportunity to interview two members of Japanese Metal/Electronica band, Crossfaith. He spoke to vocalist Kenta Koie and Terufumi Tamano, who handles sampler/panorama duties, through band manager/translator Rew Kubayashi.

How did Crossfaith manage to break in to the European market with their first album? (The Artificial Theory for the Dramatic Beauty was released by Zestone Records in Japan in 2009)

Thank you so much. We used to be with Zestone Records, in Japan, but as of right now, we’ve signed with Sony Music Japan. The Dream, The Space was released in Japan in April this year, and in September in the States and on iTunes. Crossfaith’s dream is to eventually have a world tour!

Speaking about The Dream, The Space, now that the band has gotten wider exposure, how did the sound shift from the first album to adapt to a wider market?

They wanted to create a more passionate, sensitive sound, which they felt they were not able to fully portray on their first album.

There are a lot of bands that combine metal and electro and hardcore music – like Asking Alexandria and Attack Attack! – so how does Crossfaith distinguish themselves from the scene? What makes the band different?

Crossfaith is completely different from Asking Alexandria and Attack Attack!. We’re taking it to the next level (laughs). We know the kids say our music sounds like those bands, but we feel that it’s completely different. After we released TDTS, we started writing new songs for our next release, which should be out next spring. There’s going to be a more “hyper” sound.

I have to ask about the cover of “Omen” by The Prodigy that the band did. Why cover The Prodigy?

We really love The Prodigy so much! We were thinking that if we were to cover any song by The Prodigy, we had to make it better than the original!

How has the 2011 Japan tsunami and earthquake impacted the band?

We’re from Osaka and didn’t suffer any losses from the tsunami or earthquake, but we did a charity concert to help benefit our friends in Sendai. We help where we can. Some of the venues for live shows have been wrecked because of the earthquake.

Do Crossfaith plan on touring in America though? 

Actually, we are speaking to booking agents right now, and we can’t say who or what company, but I can say that it’s going to happen early next year. We might be doing a full tour of over 30 shows – as much as possible.

Let me start by giving Tosin Abasi the credit he deserves. Abasi is one of the greatest guitarists of his time, and it’s really hard to find where his talent crests off. He’s getting better and better with everything he puts out, from his beginnings with Reflux to eventually signing a solo deal, and now his mammoth instrumental metal creation Animals As Leaders. I fell in love with the band’s self-titled album, thanks to the emotional guitar openings, the insane strumming and pensive solos, all drizzled with an often jazzy feel that is shown off at the perfect times within each song.

Weightless takes this full-blown chaos and expands their sound over a canvas of spastic, mysterious electronic beats (“Odessa” and “Cylindrical Sea”) and often takes their sound into new territory, like in the rumbling, stringy “Earth Departure.” Animals As Leaders expands their sound a bit more in Weightless, including great transitions between melodies and beats. The transitions, which are smooth and often really chilling, are probably why the music is so attachable; one moment you’re getting sucked in by an insanely huge guitar riff, and the next, some jazzy, more progressive-sounding metal hits your ears, and it’s hard to let go. Tracks like “Somnarium,” where the two guitars depend on each other, and the first single, the Periphery-esque “Isolated Incidents,” have memorable guitar riffs and solos that have great replay value.

What makes Weightless so great compared to the self-titled album, however, is the fact that they’re a full band now. There’s no computerized drums; instead, Navene Koperweis takes over the duties in full force. Sounding more reminiscent of thrashier metal bands like As I Lay Dying, they fit snugly behind each bursting riff. Also, there is a second guitarist, Javier Reyes, who jams with Abasi with his deadly eight-string. The two guitars bring a lot of variety into the record as they complement each other extremely well, especially in tracks like “New Eden,” where an infinite solo transcends somewhere beyond the space-time continuum, while the powerful, driven guitar chords from Reyes keep everything dense and well balanced.

Though there is a little less emotional appeal in Weightless, there’s no doubt that it affects the listener on a vast level. At times everything is just insane, then the progressive sound chimes in, and suddenly all of my life fears are drowned out behind the sound. I’ve never heard instrumental music this well composed and this well structured, as if it’s some sort of progressive metal opera. Everything has flow to it and there’s hardly anything worth skipping over. Animals As Leaders continues to prove that they’re a band that makes classical guitarists’ mouths water (my friend’s a classical guitarist, I know what this is like).

Try listening to this album and think about being weightless; it’s nearly tangible. This is instrumental metal at its finest. Weightless is a record that showcases all of Abasi’s work and talent, along with a full band this time, and the result is something that may fully make you understand what the feeling of zero gravity is like, at least from a metaphorical standpoint. I’ve never found an album title so befitting.