The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 384

Also the main support, Doll Skin, are fantastic live. They are a kind of punk/metal hybrid, and the guitarist and bassist absolutely rip at their instruments. The guitarist did loads of really cool guitar work and the bassist did a thing where I noticed she used all four fingers to play which is rare, and they performed a Led Zeppelin cover and aced it. Definitely worth checking out, and it was great to see a more diverse lineup on a bill too with them being an all female band.

 

That's cool, I've seen that name before but never actually checked them out, they definitley sound like my sort of thing.

I've seen Miss Vincent a fair few times before as they're local to me. They've always been proper nice guys whenever I've chatted to them. I quite like their sound but I still feel they're lacking in decent material other than a couple of songs (I'm hoping their new material fixes this).

 

Yeah their final song was good but they didn't leave a massive impression. They seem to have potential, and they were pretty nice guys after the gig.

 

I know I owe someone a bonus review. Sorry! It’ll be up soon.

 

I think it might be myself and I owe you one, too. Had a bit of a busy week so mine will be up soon, too!

 

Also I am going to the Friday of this in two days, pretty hyped.

 

Mansions
Doom Loop
2013



This past session I had the pleasure of being partnered with @figureitout and she assigned me Mansions' 2013 album Doom Loop. Prior to this session, I had heard their 2011 release Dig Up The Dead and I saw them live once sometime around then as an opening act (I think it was opening for Taking Back Sunday on their Tell All Your Friends ten year tour, but I'm not completely sure). I enjoyed Dig Up The Dead a fair amount, but for whatever reason they weren't an artist that was in my regular rotation. After listening to Doom Loop, I can confidently say that will change!

From what I can gather (the band's Wikipedia and Bandcamp pages leave a bit to be desired), Doom Loop is the band's third full-length release following 2009's New Best Friends and the aforementioned Dig Up The Dead. Doom Loop is also the band's latest full-length release and the only music that they've released since Doom Loop was last year's Deserter which is a 6 song EP. In addition to these three full-length albums and the recent EP, they have quite an extensive back catalogue of EPs, demos, and splits of which I'm entirely unfamiliar.

Wikipedia lists two members of Mansions - Christopher Browder and Robin Dove. It appears as though Browder writes all of the songs and is responsible for vocals, guitar, bass, and percussion. Dove contributes vocals to several of the tracks (again, from what I can tell). Reading a bit more about this album, Browder was quoted as saying "I want this record to be a kick in the teeth. I want people to go listen to some other rock record they think is cool, and now that record sounds tame and turned down in comparison."

He absolutely got what he wanted! The album starts off with Climbers and it's the kick in the teeth that Browder was talking about. This sound is really loud and has a very catchy chorus with catchy lyrics. It's absolutely a song that I can see lots of people on this site being into. Flowers In My Teeth is next and it's a bit more subdued than Climbers until the final minute of the song. Wikipedia classifies Mansions as indie rock/alternative rock/emo and I think the single descriptor that best describes this album would be alternative rock. The guitars are loud and distorted on nearly every track, which it appears was done quite intentionally. Flowers In My Teeth is yet another catchy song with fantastic instrumentation. I particularly enjoyed the lyric "when I'm with you I don't want to leave" which is simple yet relatable.

Two Suits is another really good song (spoiler: there are no bad songs on this album) and Crowder's vocals remind me a bit of Beck at times during this song. Dove's backing vocals provide nice depth to the song. The bridge was my favorite part of this song. La Dentista is another one of my favorite tracks. It features a catchy and memorable chorus. Like most of the album, this song is guitar driven and it's just great. Out For Blood is another very loud song with prominent guitars, but it didn't really stand out to me much to this point. That's certainly not to say that it's a bad song, but I would put it behind several others on this album.

The Economist kicks off the second half of Doom Loop with a bang. This song is loud and awesome. It was right around this point of the record where I started having feelings of regret for not listening to this album sooner. Oh well, better late than never I suppose! I particularly enjoyed the lyrics during the bridge:

I just wanna be good at something I like
Something I might wake up for
Cause I've been sleeping so long

If You're Leaving is another song with crunchy guitars and Dove's backing vocals that again add nice texture and depth. Last One In has a very enjoyable chorus and lyrics that I appreciate:

Could be the last time your friends are gonna be
One place, one town
Cause I'm out of here
I was the last one in
I won't be the last to leave

The fuzzy/distorted sound works really well on this album and it's a really fun album to play loud!

Doom Loop closes out with two fantastic songs 100 Degrees and Falling Down. They are both loud songs with catchy choruses and memorable lyrics. In fact, loud songs with catchy choruses and memorable lyrics pretty much sums up this album in a nutshell! As I've said before, I think that the majority of people on this site would really be into this album. I'd recommend this for fans of guitar driven alternative rock and fans of bands including Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, and Manchester Orchestra will all find things that they love on this album.

This album is only 10 songs and 37 minutes long, so I'd encourage everyone to just listen to the entire thing. But if I had to narrow down a list of my favorite songs I guess I would say that it'd be Climbers, Flowers In My Teeth, La Dentista, The Economist, Last One In, and 100 Degrees.

Here's one of my favorites Flowers In My Teeth for your listening pleasure:

Thank you for the terrific recommendation @figureitout ! This has inspired me to revisit Dig Up The Dead! This album (and band) will absolutely be in my regular rotation in the weeks and months to come.

 

Great review @bachna84 I’m like you I enjoyed Dig Up The Dead but never checked this one out. Going off your review I should probably fix that.

 

This is awesome, I love it when artists use looping like that, I always find it so impressive. I’ll have to check his album out.

One of my favs doing that atm is Tash Sultana whose dropping their debut on the 31st.

Another who I think does that in such a unique way is Beardyman who is a UK beat boxer. This is a live set of his I saw at a festival a while back that just blew my mind.

Anyways to keep this CMCS related I think I might have my review up later for @anonimito tonight if I can shift my headache I’ve got right now.

 

Sylar and Light Years both dropped new songs today and having listened to both I can say that I am 100% ready for those albums and you should stop what you’re doing and check the songs out now

 

NYVES - Anxiety (2015)



So last week @anonimito gave me this album by NYVES to review. Acording To Wikipedia NYVES are a dark synth-pop/industrial side project of Demon Hunter vocalist Ryan Clark and former Project 86 member Randy Torress. I'd never heard of this band or either members previous bands so had no preconceived ideas about this album going in other than that @anonimito gave me an amazing album by Jome (and a fairly decent album by Tonic) last time we were paired up.

So the sound of this album kind of a electronic synth-pop, industrial album with sort of gothic, new wave styled vocals over the top of it. Most of the songs on here have a good pounding industrial beat to them with lots of synth wave electronics layered over the top of them producing an good album to make you bob your head along to. The vocal stylings on this album reminds me a lot of Nick Holmes from the goth rock/metal band Paradise Lost, it has that deep dark softly spoken tone to it but it still holds a tune to it when it needs to.

This album varies in pace throughout sometimes you get the upbeat faster paced songs like Smoking Gun and Just Give Up that rattle along quite nicely. Then you get the slower paced songs like Return and Fools that tend to focus more on the soaring melodies from Ryan the vocalist. Musically it tends to take influence from new wave bands like Depeche Mode and Gary Numan and blends it in with gothic rock tones of bands like Paradise Lost and then adds a load of synthy electronics and industrial beats over the top.

To sum up this album review, I enjoyed this album a fair bit and it seems to be growing on me more and more with each listen. I'd recommend this album to anyone that enjoys any of those bands I mentioned above or anyone that enjoys synthpop or wants a slower paced version of all the darkwave stuff that seems to gaining traction atm (like Perturbator or Gost). Thanks for another great rec @anonimito

RIYL: Depeche Mode, Paradise Lost, Perturbator, Gost
Favourite Songs: Smoking Gun, Something Divine, The Exit.

 

Awesome review @bachna84! Really glad you enjoyed it. New Best Friends and most of the old EPs and stuff aren't quite on the same level overall as DUTD and Doom Loop for me, but there are still a number of my favorite Mansions songs scattered throughout their old material. A lot of it is more stripped down and kind of lyrically immature though.

Btw I've listened to Blue a few times now, just finishing up my review. Should be able to finish up and post sometime tomorrow.

 

Great review! I'm glad you found elements to enjoy in it - it was a grower for me, too. The Depeche Mode comparison is exactly right (I don't know those other bands, lol).

Sorry for the constant delay on (all of) my review(s) - work should settle down for a bit soon!

 

LOVE Ryan Clark and all of his various projects including Demon Hunter, Training for Utopia and Focal Point. @anonimito had me check this out a while back and I loved it. Great review!

 

These are great! Another artist who is really good with looping that you might not expect is Howie Day. Saw him live once and he really impressed me.

David Ford's albums are great. Really honest, soulful, story-driven folk. Much more straightforward than his live performance for sure, but still really good.

 

Just found out that there's a new Vinyl Theatre album out next week. Hype!

Their album from last year was in my top 10, I feel like they're super underappreciated around these parts.

 

I'm REALLY sorry, everyone. Count me out for next week's pairing so I can finish the ones I've got. I'll do a bonus review with someone midweek but for now I'd rather complete the back log .

 

Also; That bonus review should be Gang of Youths. Never heard it and it's got much hype.

 

Emerson Hart - Beauty In Disrepair 8.5/10

I have never heard of this dude and I'm fairly picky when it comes to singer-songwriters, but I loved this. His guitar skills are impressive and his voice is pretty good. The album isn't too complex. It's a dude singing songs and playing the guitar, nothing revolutionary, but Hart is good at it. Although, some lyrics are kinda corny, but then I'll go to another song and it sits better with me. The chorus to The Lines is in my head lately and is a jam. His voice almost has a modern-country sound to it at parts, like a Keith Urban thing. My other favorite on here is Hurricane. This is a track with some great lyrics:

"So I pray for a hurricane
For a heavy rain
To wash over again
Cause the answer's are out of my hands
I've learned not to touch what I love
Everything that I touch will get burned
So please, wreck me."

Overall, this isn't something I would seek out, but because I listened to it multiple times for this review, it's really grown on me.

Thanks, @anonimito !

 

The Venetia Fair - The Circus 5/10


For the most part, I've outgrown this genre, but I tried to stay objective to during my listenings. I would describe the album as post-hardcore...I guess. The songs are very theatrical with elements of Panic! at the Disco, but I also hear similarities of The Dear Hunter because of the story-telling elements. And the vocals are similar to The Used or Pierce the Veil, with some screams and early 2000's emo. The motif of the album is a circus with lyrics telling stories of them. Unlike Panic!, TVA's songs are all over the place without anything for me to come back to, except for Let's Just Forget About This and What Do We Have Here. But, the musicianship warrants some recognition. With everything going on in the songs, the different instruments playing keep you listening and surprised with the directions the songs take.
Thanks, @GBlades !

 

I'm ready for the next pairing.
briiiiing it on.

 

I’d like to take a second to mourn the passing of Kyle Pavone (clean vocalist) of We Came As Romans at the young age 28. If we take away only one thing from 2018, it’s that suicide is a real thing and we have lost too many beautiful people to it.

 

I heard he passed away, but not the cause of death. Ugh.

 

Very sad and it’s way too young. Another very talented young person lost to mental health.

Interested to see what the band do. They were heading in a cleaner sound but i’d Love them to go heavier again and make a real tribute to him.

 

I think Dave could probably just take over both, I know he has been singing a lot on the last two albums but it’s going to be a hard task to fill Kyle’s shoes.